Emphatic Symbolism and Drastic Insinuative Events Employed in ‘Uprooted’ (The English Translation of Gamperaliya) by Martin Wickramsinghe

Authors

  • K. G. Swarnananda Gamage

Keywords:

Gamperaliya, Symbolism, Social Transition, Textual analysis, Fiction realism

Abstract

This study sheds light on the symbolism and insinuative events of Uprooted, the English translation of Gamperaliya by Martin Wickramasinghe. Gamperaliya, being a landmark fiction of Sri Lankan literature in Sinhala and the first work of trilogy that includes ‘Yuganthaya’ and ‘Kaliugaya’ is embedded with powerful symbols and suggestive events that exemplify the socio-political scenario and the cultural sensitivity found in the novel. Thus, the study is aimed at identifying and interpreting these to grasp the true and proper social message generated in them through intense textual analysis. In the novel, Martin Wickramasinghe’s main concern is to depict the ‘fall’ of feudal system and the ‘rise’ of capitalistic social system in the face of global changes that inevitably effect on Sri Lankan society. It is rather evident that Martin Wickramasinghe is more or less influenced by Victorian English literature in which fiction dominated the literary scenario with the new trend, fiction realism. The methodology heavily depends on the profound textual analysis of Uprooted, through which, it is attempted to identify symbolism and insinuative events that reinforce the themes and techniques of the novel. Though Martin Wickremasinghe has set the story in a provincial hamlet, Koggala, the social transition highlighted in the novel is common to both national and international contexts. The particular social transition is rather effectively reinforced by emphatic symbolism and insinuative events in the novel by Martin Wickremasinghe.

Downloads

Published

2021-11-22

Issue

Section

Articles