Features
Winner of Nobel Prize for Literature and Booker shortlist
“It was a way to save life, save from nothingness – the thing that most resembles it” so admitted the 2022 Nobel Prize winner writing about her book of diary entries of an affair she had with a younger man
in 1988-90. Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901 for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature in Stockholm, Sweden. I was glad to note literature was included among the ‘hard’ science subjects. The Peace Prize was also first awarded that year but from Oslo, Norway.
This year a French woman novelist who writes autobiographically won the Literature Prize; she being the 17th woman to be awarded the prize among, so far, 119 Literature Nobel Laureates. Louise Gluck, American poet, won in 2020 and 82-year old Annie Ernaux carried away the award for 2022. Of the previous 16 women Nobel Laureates, the more familiar (at least to me) are short story writer, Irish/Scottish Alice Munro (1931-) who won the Nobel in 2013 and British/ Zimbabwean Doris Lessing (1919-2013), winner in 2007. Asians who have won the Lit Nobel are Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali (1881-1941) who won in 1913; Yasunani Kawabata, Japanese (1899-1994) in 1968, Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese (1935 – ) in 1974 and Gao Xingjian, Chinese, (1940 -) in 2000. American balladeer Bob Dylan receiving the prize in 2016 resulted in much controversy. The Nobel is awarded considering the writer’s total output of creative writing, and perhaps the influence s/he has had.
Annie Ernaux (1940-) writes in French but many of her 20 novels have been translated to English and published in the US, so she is known to the Western and English reading world. I admit I have not read her nor knew of her, but take delight in the fact of a woman winning this most prestigious prize. I however read widely on her, particularly the New York Times comments and critiques and shall quote from these.
The 2022 Nobel Laureate for Literature
“For decades, Annie Ernaux had dissected the most humiliating, private and scandalous moments from her past with almost clinical precision.” Her writing has spoken particularly to women and to others who, like her, come from the working class “seldom depicted with such clarity in literature.” She has described her upbringing in a small town in Normandy where her parents owned a grocery store and café. She described graphically her father attempting to murder her mother when she was 12 years old; the first sentence in her memoir Shame being this fact. She felt compelled, in particular, to keep examining the inequality and struggles that women face. “Speaking from my condition as a woman,” she said, “it does not seem to me that we women have become equal in freedom, in power.” She described her work as a political act meant to reveal entrenched social inequality and her writing on this viewpoint is compared to her using a knife as language. She was hugely influenced by Simone de Beauvoir.
She first attempted writing for publication when in College, but her mss was rejected. She took up writing again when she was 30; a teacher, married with two children. That effort led to her 1974 debut novel Cleaned Out, deeply autobiographical and kept secret from her husband, pretending it was her PhD thesis she was working on. He belittled her writing until she was published by a renowned French publishing house. The marriage was stormy and finally ended in divorce when her third book – A Frozen Woman 1981 was out and acclaimed. She did not remarry preferring to live alone.
Commercial success came to her with Simple Passions in 1992, a very candid and detailed account of a relationship with a Russian diplomat, much younger to her. She was obsessed by him and in her autobiographical novel as diary entries, plunged into revealing female desire and passion. “I shall carry out an ethnological study of myself” she wrote in her 1997 memoir Shame. This detailed a love relationship she had when 18 (1958) which shamed her, left her feeling deserted and resulted in a nervous condition, succumbing to an eating disorder.She started off writing autobiographical fiction but cast off any pretense she was inventing a plot and went on to writing memoirs; refusing to label her work fiction or nonfiction. A coined term names her genre of authorship – autofiction.
She re-wrote about her first sexual experience in her 2000 memoir Happening. “Everything she writes, every word, is literal and factually true, but tremendous works of the imagination,” notes Dan Simon, the founder of Seven Stories Press which publishes her translations to English in America for the past 31 years. Another comment by a fellow woman writer “She achieved a hugely important formal revolution in literature, away from metaphors, pretty sentences and characters. She didn’t try to fit into existing definitions of literature, of what is beautiful: She came up with her own.”
Some of her readers did not approve of her candid honesty, but most – women particularly – approved. So different to what pertains in Sri Lanka. Write a novel or short story including an adulterous love affair and the author is thought to be writing about herself!! Also most writing purposely remains prudish, fearing censure and attribution of what is fictional to the truth about the writer. However, this tendency cannot be faulted completely, since our English readership is limited and conservative too. A comment on the Nobel Committee’s choice of honouring this writer and her work is that it was striking; an author who writes intensely personally and of ordinary experiences. At a news conference following the announcement, Ernaux promised to keep writing. “To receive the Nobel Prize is, for me, a responsibility to continue.”
Short listed for Booker Prize
We in Sri Lanka are particularly interested in the announcement of the Booker Prize winner for 2022 on October 17, since Shehan Karunatilaka is in the running having been short-listed from the long list of 16. “A bleak but slyly funny story that explores the trauma of Sri Lanka’s civil wars” reads an analysis of Shehan’s entry – The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida –
“mythic story follows a photographer who wakes up dead in an underworld where he encounters victims of political violence.”
Zimbabwean writer NoViolet Bulawayo’s Glory “obliquely tackles the downfall of the autocrat Robert Mugabe, through a narrative featuring a cast of animals”; American Percival Everett, Distinguished Prof of English in the University of Southern California, in his entry The Trees uses the story of two black detectives who investigate murders that echo the lynching of Emmet Till to expose racism in America. Small Things Like These is Irish writer Claire Keegan’s slim novel about the suffering of unmarried women and their children in Ireland’s Magdalene laundries; English writer, Alan Garner, in Treacle Walker writes about a boy who has magical visions; and American Elizabth Strout in Oh William! deals with a grieving woman who helps her ex-husband investigate his troubled family.
(NOTE: I report, not having read or even seen the mentioned books in a bookshop I visit. A friend downloaded Ernaux from his kindle and did not take to her writing. Typical of a man to be put off by absolute candidness of a woman in man-relationships!)
Sri Lankans and the Booker Prize Michael Ondaatje
magnanimously says he is Sri Lankan Canadian, even though he left Sri Lanka in his pre-teens to England and settled down in Canada. This fact endears him to us and his returning often to his country of birth. Single handedly, almost, he gave a tremendous boost to Sri Lankan English fiction writing and local readership with his placing the money he got from winning the Booker in 1992 for his novel English Patient in trust, to award the annual Gratiaen Prize for creative writing. To crown his many other successes and prizes won, he was selected winner of the Golden Booker Prize in 2018 which recognizes the best book for a decade.
Anuk Arudpragasm
though living in the UK says he is Sri Lankan. He was short listed for the Booker in 2021 for his second work of fiction, though very factual – A passage to the North. His first book –The Story of a Brief Marriage – also situated in Sri Lanka, won him the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. Shehan won it too.
This little dot of an island in the Indian ocean is on the literary world map. We hope fervently that Shehan Karunatilaka with be the Booker winner this year. The success of Shehan and Anuk are doubly great as the Booker now judges books from American writers – almost doubling the contenders to compete with, while previously it was Commonwealth and ex- Commonwealth countries that were eligible.
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
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