Sinhala Novel and The Public Sphere

Author – Wimal Dissanayake

Publisher – Visidunu Prakashakayo

First Edition 2009

ISBN 978-955-1741-14-3

215 Pages

In this book, Prof. Wimal Dissanayake has sought to elaborate a distinct problematic closely associated with the evolutionary trajectory of the Sinhala novel. His interpretations of the novels of Piyadasa Sirisena, Martin Wickramasinghe and Gunadasa Amarasekara focus specifically on the concept of the public sphere – a topic on which critical discussions so far have been disappointingly perfunctory. In order to understand the true nature and significance of the fiction of these three writers, the author contends that it is important to make certain distinctions within the Sri Lankan public sphere. Prof. Dissanayake, in presenting his analysis, has engaged critically current thinking in humanities and social sciences to great effect.

Prof. Wimal Dissanayake teaches in the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaii. He also the Director of the Cultural Studies Program at the East-West Center, Hawaii. Prof, Dissanayake is the author and editor of a large number of books on Cultural Studies, Literary Studies, Cinema and Communication. He is widely regarded as a foremost international authority on Asian Cinema and Asian Communication Theory.

Prof. Dissanayake is a bilingual writer. He has had the unique distinction of serving as a Professor of Sinhala and a Professor of English. He has won National Awards for his poetry and literary criticism in Sinhala as well as for his critical study Enabling Traditions: Four Sinhala Cultural Intellectuals.

#SinhalaNovelAndThePublicSphere #WimalDissanayake #EnglishBooks #OnlineBooks