මිරිඟුව

by Martin Wickramasinghe

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

The search for roots is the central theme in Martin Wickramasinghe’s writings on the culture and life of the people of Sri Lanka. He imaginatively explored and applied modern knowledge in natural and social sciences, literature, linguistics, the arts, philosophy, education, and Buddhism and comparative religion to reach beyond the superficial emotionalism of vulgar nationalism, and guide us to the enduring roots of our common national identity that exists in the folklife and folk culture of Sri Lanka...

Martin Wickramasinghe’s vision was primarily nurtured in the tolerant, humane, realistic attitude to life traditional to Buddhist folk culture. He valued the intellectual freedom and independence inspired by the Buddha’s ‘Kalama Sutta’ which he saw as a tradition to question tradition, not unlike the Western scientific attitude. Through his writings, he consistently opposed dogmatism, casuistry, elitism, and oppression in any form, be it cultural, religious, political or social.

His works have been translated and published in English, Hindi, Tamil, Russian, Chinese, Romanian, Dutch, German, French and Japanese languages.

Reviews

[Chamodi Waidyathilaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mirage in sinhala ‘Miriguwa’ novel was written by Martin Wickramasinghe before he gets married in his youth. As a young man, the author saw how Sri Lankans back in 1912, desperately trying to fit in to the European traditions and customs. They possessed themselves with a fake pride of being sri lankan Europeans. They considered village people and poor people as disgrace low people.
The story revolves around a young woman named Molly, the only daughter of a rich aristocratic family whos not well educated but desperately trying to fit in to the lankan Europeans. Molly is not like her parents but a well educated woman But with a high pride. After a mistake, extremely unsuccessful marriage she falls in love with a man named Lavison. Without getting her divorce she ran away to London with Lavison. He truly did loved Molly but he was busy with work and didn’t get much time to spend with Molly. Being stuck inside a hotel room whole day made Molly depressed. She started hallucinating. After an over drug dose Molly passed away in a hospital.
Miriguwa is a novel that reveals the dark sides of metropolitan lifestyles from a perspective of a young author.