Wickramasinghe's most heralded work came in 1956 with Viragaya. With the development of a literary criticism movement in the early-'50s, Wickramasinghe presented the works Sahitya Kalava ('The Art of Literature' 1950) and Kawya Vicharaya ('The Criticism of Poetry' 1954). The trilogy was made into film by the renowned Sri Lankan director Dr. After the decay of the traditional life, the story details the rise of the bourgeoisie, with its urban base and entrepreneurial drive, ending with the formation of the labour movement and socialist theology and rise of hopes for a new social order. Wickramasinghe followed Gamperaliya with Yuganthaya (1948) and Kaliyugaya (1957) forming a trilogy.
The story of a successful family in a Southern village is used to portray the gradual replacement of traditional economic and social structure of the village by commercial city influence. The novel depicts the crumbling of traditional village life under the pressure of modernisation. Gamperaliya (1944) is widely held as the first Sinhalese novel with a serious intent that compares, in content and technique, with the great novels of modern world literature. Through the 1940s Wickramasinghe dabbled with the double role of literary critic and creative writer. Shortly thereafter he began a campaign to raise literary standards for the Sinhalese reading public with work such as Sahityodaya Katha (1932), Vichara Lipi (1941), Guttila Geetaya (1943) and Sinhala Sahityaye Nageema (1946) in which he evaluated the traditional literally heritage according to set rules of critical criteria formed by synthesising the best in Indian and western traditions of literary criticism. Wickramasinghe began his literary career with the novel Leela (1914) and an anthology of essays on literary criticism, Shastriya Lekhana (1919). When his father died, he returned to a vernacular school in Ahangama and subsequently lost interest in schooling. In the two years spent at the school Wickramasinghe became fluent in English as well as Latin. After two years he was taken to a vernacular school where he prospered until 1897 when he was sent to an English school in Galle called Buena Vista. He also learned the Devanagari script and could recite by memory long sections of the Hitopadesa. The landscapes of the sea, lake studded with little islands, the flora and fauna, the forested hinterland, and the changing patterns of life and culture of the people of the village would later influence his work.Īt the age of five Wickramasinghe was taught the Sinhala alphabet, at home and in the village temple, by a monk, Andiris Gurunnanse. Koggala was bounded on one side by a reef, and on the other by a large lake into which the numerous tributaries of the Koggala Oya drained. Wickramasinghe was born on, in the town of Koggala, in Southern Sri Lanka, the only son of Lamahewage Don Bastian Wickramasinghe, and Magalle Balapitiya Liyanage Thochchohamy. Wickramasinghe is often acclaimed as the father of modern Sinhala literature. His work explored and applied modern knowledge in natural and social sciences, literature, linguistics, the arts, philosophy, education, Buddhism and comparative religion. The search for roots is a central theme in Wickramasinghe's writings on the culture and life of the people of Sri Lanka. His books have been translated into several languages. Lama Hewage Don Martin Wickramasinghe commonly Martin Wickramasinghe, MBE (Sinhalese: මාර්ටින් වික්රමසිංහ) ( – 23 July 1976) was a Sri Lankan novelist.