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January 31, 2006
More from Nihal de Silva
It has been a pleasure to read Nihal de Silva’s latest 2 novels.
De Silva is a Sri Lankan author who made his relatively late but praiseworthy debut (at the age of 63) with The Road From Elephant Pass, a beautifully crafted and finely balanced novel about the civil war in Sri Lanka. At the heart of the story were the male protagonist, a Sinhalese army officer, and the female protagonist, a Tamil woman informant, formerly from the LTTE. The Road From Elephant Pass was the story of how this unlikely pair were compelled to combine forces despite their initial hostility towards one another, and make their way through difficult and dangerous terrain from Jaffna to Colombo, carrying secret and explosive news. It was a tale of two enemies gradually understanding each other and each other’s political stances and convictions, and learning friendship through appreciating another point of view. This novel depicts both sides of this highly charged and complex situation with great discernment. Published in 2003, it is a most worthy winner of the Gratiaen Award.
Following on from this, de Silva has presented his readers with The Far Spent Day and The Giniralla Conspiracy in quick succession. The Far Spent Day contains same balanced, measured tones which the reader now knows is characteristic of de Silva, but is a book packed with action and a very swift moving plot line. The protagonist is a young, middle class, apparently ordinary Sinhalese man, who finds himself a target for escalating acts of violence because he protests against injustices inflicted almost arbitrarily on him. When he finds he has nothing left to lose, he takes on the powerful forces which attempt to crush him out of existence, and attempts to fight the prevailing system of political corruption and aggression. A very riveting read indeed.
The Giniralla Conspiracy, the latest of de Silva’s novels, has echoes of The Road From Elephant Pass, and with his love for Sri Lanka’s wildlife and forests, the author once again finds opportunities to situate some parts of his plot with the jungle as a background, where the observation of birds is lovingly detailed. The Giniralla Conspiracy begins with a depiction of the ragging that goes on in Sri Lankan universities, which is taken to severe and malicious levels. It is demonstrated however, that this is part of the politicization of university life, and goes on to unfold a plot not wholly dissimilar to that in Elephant Pass. The brutality of politics is once again at the forefront of this 3rd novel of de Silva’s.
Nihal de Silva consistently includes a fair amount of Sinhalese dialogue into his novels, but these phrases are almost always translated immediately below for the benefit of the English-reading audience. The flavour of his work is distinctively local, but his appeal should be international, given the quality of his writing. His novels are all immensely readable, and his is one of the excellent new voices emerging on the English literary scene in Sri Lanka.
Posted by Lisa Lau at January 31, 2006 11:32 AM
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Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:32 AM
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