University of Peradeniya conferring Honorary Doctor of Literature degree on Dr. Amarasekera

Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera spent his university life at the Peradeniya campus, which, no doubt, had contributed to the development of his career in literature and profession. Therefore, it is only right that the University of Peradeniya confer an honorary Doctor of Literature upon Dr. Amarasekera in recognition of his very substantial contribution to Sinhala literature and his many achievements in other fields. He had been awarded a similar degree previously by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Early life and education

Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera was born in 1929 at Yatalamatta, a village in the interior of Galle District. He had his primary education in the village school and later at Nalanda College, Colombo. He had shown his literary ability before he entered the university, winning a prize in an international contest, for a short story titled ‘Rathu Rosa Mala’. A collection of short stories of the same name was published by M.D. Gunasena. He entered a dental school in 1954 and qualified as a dental surgeon in 1958. He excelled in the field of dentistry and literature.

Contribution to Sinhala Literature

Dr. Amarasekera’s literary career started very early; his first collection of short stories under the title ‘Rathu Rosa Mala’ was published before he entered the university, and while studying dentistry as an undergraduate in the Peradeniya Campus, he published several collections of free verse, ‘Bhava Geetha’, ‘Amal Biso’, ‘Guruluwatha’, ‘Avarjana’ and also a short story collection, ‘Jeevana Suvanda’.

‘Karumakkarayo’ was his first novel, which created a stir in the literary arena as he ventured into new grounds, probably influenced by the writings of D.H. Lawrence. He wrote ‘Yali Upannemi’ and ‘Depa Noladdo’, continuing in the same genre. Later he realised that his style was imitative. He agreed with Martin Wickramasinghe’s views that the Peradeniya School of writers looked at our society through foreign lenses which took man out of his cultural context. He came to believe that there are no universal values that literature could make its eternal subject. His response was to write ‘Gandhabba Apadanaya’ which was published before he left for England to follow post graduate education and this work attempted to place the characters of the novel in their cultural milieu.

In England, he realised how radically different their culture was from ours. He wrote some of his excellent short stories following the ‘culture shock’; ‘Ektamin Polowata’, ‘Katha Pahak’ and also novels, ‘Asathya Kathavak’ and ‘Premaye Sathya Kathava’.

Dr. Amarasekera has always believed that literature has a social function and he discusses this idea in his book on literary criticism ‘Nosevuna Kedapatha’. He wrote several books on literary criticism in an attempt to develop a system relevant to our society; ‘Vinodaya saha Vicharaya’, ‘Abuddassa Yugayak’, ‘Aliya saha Andayo’ and ‘Sinhala Kavya Sampradaya’.

If literature has a social function it has to take into account the socio-political underpinnings of the times and this Dr. Amarasekera does in some of his novels like ‘Gal Pilimaya Saha Bol Pilimaya’, ‘Pilima Loven Piyavi Lovata’ and ‘Vil Thera Maranaya’.

He undertook the ambitious task of writing about the development of the middle class in Sri Lanka with the semi-autobiographical series of novels starting with ‘Gamanaka Mula’. It consists of seven beautifully written novels that analyse the predicament of the village intelligentsia who struggled to climb the social ladder oblivious of the value of their own culture.

He has published several collections of poetry and four long poems, ‘Amal Biso’, ‘Gurulu Vatha’, ‘Asakda Kava’ and ‘Mathaka Vatha’. In poetry he had developed a new poetic form called ‘Pasmath Viritha’ derived from folk poetry. He attempted to trace the link that modern poetry must have with folk poetry in his work ‘Sinhala Kavya Sampradaya’, which was critically acclaimed as an ‘insightful analysis’.

Professor Wimal Dissanayake in his book ‘Enabling Tradition’ considers Dr. Amarasekera as ‘the leading cultural intellectual of present times’. Several of his novels, short story collections and poetry have won national awards. His short stories are considered as comparable to the best in the world.

Dr. Amarasekera is 90 years old but he has not stopped writing. He published three books recently; ‘Sabyathva Rajya Kara’, a socio-political analysis which proposes an alternative to Neo-liberalism and Marxism based on civilization, ‘Dathusena’, a historical novel based on King Dathusena’s life story, which attempts to exonerate Kashyapa from the grave crime of patricide and ‘Sankranti Samayaka’ a novel that explores communal relations in Sri Lanka.

These three publications display the versatility of Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera. As a writer of novels, short stories, poetry, socio-political essays and philosophical theories, he is the foremost “cultural intellectual of the present times”.

Public intellectual

During the last three decades, Dr. Amarasekera has assumed the role of the public intellectual. This may have been prompted by the realisation that addressing socio-political and cultural issues directly may have a greater impact than through fiction.

His first work in this genre was ‘Anagarika Dharmapala Marxwadeeda?’. In this work Dr. Amarasekera attempts to rehabilitate Anagarika as an intellectual with a vision, taking away that dubious label of ‘a Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinist’ that had been pinned on him. This work has prompted others to rethink Anagarika as a man with a vision, deeply concerned for the country.

The outcome of this controversy regarding the Marxist interpretation was the publication of ‘Ganaduru Mediyama’ at the height of the JVP insurrection of 1987. It was in this work that he presented the concept of Jathika Chinthanaya. What Dr. Amarasekera seems to mean by the term Jathika Chintahnaya was the existence of a civilisational consciousness instilled into the psyche of a people by its civilisation. This notion doesn’t imply racial bias. It is considered to be an emotion that is ingrained in a people who had built, nurtured and protected a civilization on their land and it is protective and defensive and not racist, oppressive or chauvinist. Social scientists like Erich Fromm seem to share this viewpoint regarding civilisational consciousness.

‘Sabyathva Rajya Kara’ published in 2016 is considered the natural outcome of the line of thinking followed by Dr. Amarasekera. It is presented by the author as an alternative to the Marxist and Neo-liberal ideologies. Professor G.L. Pieris, reviewing this book says, “The central aim of this book is an assiduous search for the roots of a culture which needs to be rediscovered and revived as the only meaningful way forward.”

His next publication, ‘Danawadayata Wikalpayak’ (An alternative to Capitalism), is an extension of the same concept, a corollary. The central idea contained in this work has been summed up by Dr. Kamal Wickramasinghe in his review of the book: “He points to the need for awakening ‘social consciousness’ of a broader society that is common to all religion-based civilisations that share humane values.”

Contribution to dental profession

It may not be out of place to mention the services Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera has rendered, as a professional, to the dental services and dental education in the country. He was the first government scholar to be sent to UK to obtain the Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgery (FDS, RCS). On his return he was appointed a Consultant Dental Surgeon and the Head of the Dental institute and served that institution for over 15 years. He was the first Chairman of the Board of Study in Dental Surgery at the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine. He has also served as the external examiner for the Final BDS and the Post Graduate MS in Dental Surgery examinations.

Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga DSc