Sojourn In Lake Country

Author – Edmund Jayasuriya

Publisher – Dayawansa Jayakodi Publishers

ISBN 955-551-383-X

167 Pages

SOJOURN IN LAKE COUNTRY, experiences in the dry zone as recalled by Edmund Jayasuriya, captures the essence of the life of people living in remote villages in the north-central province, working in their fields and chenas and living in wattle-and-daub houses scattered around their tanks. The author looks at some characters satirically and at others humanely, but his sympathy and compassion for them come out evocatively. The work, as the author insists, is not fiction, but even a casual glance would reveal that he is a gifted writer. Edmund Jayasuriya has worked as an assistant government agent, but in dealing with his characters he does not keep a bureaucratic distance; instead, he takes us to their midst showing us the day to day life of the rural folks, their pleasures and pains, with an enviable sense of empathy with them. Quite apart from its obvious literary merit it is also a sociological document that conveys valid information about a certain segment of the rural populace.

– Prof. Kusuma Karunaratne

The author was an assistant government agent in the Anuradhapura district for about seven years and in these sketches, he captures the foibles of his superiors, eccentricities of public servants, and the trials and tribulations of the villager as he tries to keep body and soul together. It is not merely reportage, but a recreation of his experiences bringing into focus the hitherto little-known aspects of rural life as also the darker side of the human soul.

Edmund Jayasuriya wields a facile pen, writes with feeling and an eye for detail, and his sketches leave the reader entertained and enlightened.

A retired senior member of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, and also a reputed author and critic, Edmund Jayasuriya has translated a selection of Thera-Theri Gathas and Totagamuve Sri Rahula Thera’s Salalihiņi Sandesa into English.

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