Written as a first-person narrative, it puts forth the autobiographical story of the antagonist in sparkling vignettes, rather than in chronological order. It follows the spiritual problems of a fragile Sinhalese youth raised in a traditional Buddhist home after being confronted the shades of adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it, while also having to face the complexities caused by the modernization of society. Its significant theme and sophisticate technique made it popular as the greatest work of Sinhalese fiction. Martin’s most heralded work was Viragaya written in 1956. The books were used for film by the renowned Sri Lankan director Dr. The story is of a successful family in a Southern village who experiences the gradual replacement of traditional economic and social structure in the village by commercial city influence. Martin Wickramasinghe is famous for authoring the trilogy with the books Gamperaliya, Yuganthaya, and Kaliyugaya in the 1940s and 1950s. He went on to write several other novels, prose and essays until the 1940s, when he became a literary critic in conjunction with being a creative writer. His maiden work was the was the novel ‘Leela’. In 1914, at the age of 24, Martin formally began his career as a writer. This period became key to his mindset and formed a base for many of his future stories. He enjoyed exploring the unknown depths of the swamps and lived the fun life of an adventurer. During this period, Martin became a child who wandered around the swamps and wilderness around his village, together with a gang of other village boys. Soon he lost interest in school and studies, and stopped going. The sudden change, almost drop, in environment was not very good for little Martin either. He had lost his biggest support with the death of his father. But there were so many problems at home and nobody to encourage and listen to Martin. Martin had to give up on studying at Buono Vista, and reenroll at local vernacular school in Ahangama. Shortly after little Martin’s father passed away. Two years later Martin became fluent in not only English, but also Latin.īut the growth was not to last. Later in 1897, he was sent to learn English at school named Buono Vista in Gallle. He gained expertise in the Sinhala language during the two years that he studied there. Taking note of his genius language abilities, the monk had him sent to a nearby vernacular school. While it is unknown whether Martin truly understood it at that young age, he did also manage to memorize and quote several long sections out of the manuscript. This allowed him to read the Buddhist manuscript of Hitopadesa. He was very quick at picking it up, and therefore the monk also taught him the alphabet of the ancient manuscript language Devanagari. When Martin was 5 years old, he was taught to read and write Sinhala by the village monk. His childhood environment definitely played a huge role on his future writing. It was a place filled with nature and adventure, a place that was perfect for a growing boy and his sisters. The lagoon had many mangrove forests along the shores, and was studded with delightful islands to explore. The area lay between a reef on the coastal end and a swampy lagoon where the tributaries of Koggala River drained into. The writer Lama Hewage Don Martin Wickramasinghe, popularly known as Martin Wickramasinghe, was born on the 29th of May 1890 in the village of Malagama (in the area of Koggala) near Galle. Once the home of he famous Sri Lankan Writer and Poet Martin Wickramasinghe, it is now a place filled with his memories and remnants. The Martin Wickramasinghe Folk Museum is located the Koggala Free Trade Zone, not far from the coastal city of Galle.
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