Wimarshana Wijesuriya
Wimarshana Wijesuriya is a Sri Lankan writer, social critic and thinker. His book Colombo: A Critical Introspection explores sociological issues that face Sri Lanka on entering modernity. It proposes to ask and answer the question — "Who is the prototypical Sri-Lankan? And how do these defining psychological & socio-diabolical ingredients conspire and culminate to create his [the prototypical Sri-Lankan] contemporary reality?”.[1] Colombo drew attention for being critical of traditional Sri Lankan culture and religion, particularly Buddhism (Sri Lanka's predominant religion) and Islam. Allegedly, Wijesuriya received death threats for the blasphemous content in Colombo.
Early life[edit]
In an interview with Good Morning Sri-Lanka, Wijesuriya revealed what little is known about his childhood. In the interview Wijesuriya reveals that he spent his early childhood in England before returning to Sri-Lanka. And it was the culture shock on return to Sri-Lanka that stimulated Wijesuriya's interest in sociology, resulting eventually in him writing Colombo.
Personal life[edit]
A long time lecturer in various tertiary academic institutions,[2] Wijesuriya married his student — Roshani Kumarasinghe in 2012. It is not precisely verifiable whether their relationship commenced during or after Kumarasinghe was Wijesuriya's student.
Colombo: A Critical Introspection[edit]
The publication of Colombo: A Critical Introspection received nothing more than the usual media coverage when it was launched in early 2012. However from then on the controversial content of the book garnered publicity well beyond the average English non-fiction book written for the Sri-Lankan market — primarily on social media.[3]
The book itself was considered to be extremely wordy and at points quite impenetrable, which some in Sri-Lanka have attributed to be purposefully so on the part of Wijesuriya to defend himself against political and religious backlash. The alleged controversial backlash that did occur centers on two essays in the book: The Relevance of Buddhism and Islam, Muslims and Society's Misgivings. This backlash alleged to include vandalism of Wijesuriya's parents' house in which death threats were sprayed across its walls. More controversy was to follow, though this, too, is unsubstantiated, centering on Wijesuriya being taken in for questioning by the police regarding his thoughts on Buddhism contained in Colombo. Since the Sri-Lankan state is constitutionally bound to protect Buddhism this seems plausible and has happened to authors who have criticized Buddhism before in Sri-Lanka. However counter allegations persist that Wijesuriya merely fabricated this scenario to generate publicity for Colombo.
Third World Soul[edit]
After the publication of Colombo, Wijesuriya had a column in the Sri-Lankan national English daily — the Daily Mirror[4] — entitled Third World Soul. However the column, in which Wijesuriya seemed to be simplifying the arguments he first made in Colombo for a wider readership, was for unknown reasons cancelled after just one installment.
Post Politica[edit]
In a follow up interview with Wijesuriya that was supposed to focus on the reception to Colombo, Wijesuriya dramatically announced that he had finished work on his next book: Post Politica — A dystopian novel.[5] Wijesuriya revealed very little beyond this about the book except that unlike Colombo it had very little to with Sri-Lanka and that he would be attempting to release it by January 8, 2014 for sentimental reasons (Colombo was released on January 8, 2012).[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Ceylon Today | Sri Lanka Breaking News Updates 24/7".[dead link]
- ↑ http://www.ft.lk/2012/01/07/the-book-that-may-change-the-country-colombo-a-critical-introspection/[dead link]
- ↑ http://www.ft.lk/2012/01/07/the-book-that-may-change-the-country-colombo-a-critical-introspection/[dead link]
- ↑ : http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/22339-the-third-world-soul.html[dead link]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJJ44f54LIs[unreliable source?]
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJJ44f54LIs[unreliable source?]
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