Old English Literature

English novels, poetry and essays are now being published in profusion in Sri Lanka, India, and in other countries. There was a time until about the end of the twentieth century when English books came mainly from the United Kingdom. There are literary prizes of many kinds galore in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. The Gratiaen Prize and the Booker, come to mind.

Amidst these developments, there is a pronounced trend in Sri Lanka to neglect the old English Literature that my generation (those born before the 1940’s) enjoyed. The works of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, George Elliot, and much later, Somerset Maugham, George Orwell, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf are examples. (Orwell’s Animal Farm – all are equal, but some are more equal than others has a resonance in the Sri Lanka of today) In poetry, the names familiar to us were Wordsworth, Coleridge, Thomas Gray, and many others. Gray’s Elegy cannot be forgotten. Even the current generation might be familiar with Shakespeare, and that is an exception to my story.

Literary groups and English faculties in universities can certainly encourage greater familiarity with these authors. If there are any inhibitions about these works as they originated in an imperial age, it is time to overcome them. These literary works I have referred to were written over a hundred years ago. Consequently, there should be no problems with copyright issues. Local publishers could print them and might find a ready market for them.

Leelananda De Silva