{"id":86942,"date":"2019-04-03T14:21:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T21:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=86942"},"modified":"2019-04-03T14:21:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T21:21:17","slug":"appachchi-avith-name-of-the-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/04\/03\/appachchi-avith-name-of-the-father\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAppachchi Avith\u201d (Name of the Father)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Book Review: By Maximus Jayantha Anandappa (Sydney, Australia)<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The recipient of the prestigious Swarna\nPusthaka Award<\/em> for the best novel in 2018, Saman Wickramaarachchi\u2019s\nAppachchi Avith\u201d (titled Name of the Father\u201d in English) has been commended\nas an unqualified success in the Sinhala social and print media which had\nprompted me to pen my comments on the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me as a whole the novel is\nfundamentally flawed, too contrived and unconvincing with little literary merit\nto speak of, or to savour.  In keeping with what appears to be the\ncontemporary norm, written in vernacular Sinhala, I found the book to be easy\nlight reading and generally jejune (partly due to the quality of the language\nand partly due to the lack of sincerity of the novelist and his superficial\nlevel of observation).  As soon as finished reading the book, I was struck\nby this involuntary thought: If this work can win a major award as the best\nnovel and also receive high \u2018critical acclaim\u2019 from the literary fraternity,\nthe contemporary Sinhala literature and criticism is in dire straits and in a\nserious crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author has stated that his\nnarration is a hybrid of hypothesis (theory) and fiction (niyaaya ha\nprabandaya: \u0db1\u0dca\u0dba\u0dcf\u0dba \u0dc4\u0dcf \u0db4\u0dca\u0dbb\u0db6\u0db1\u0dca\u0db0\u0dba) a technique though may be a novelty to the Sinhala reader,\nhas been recently used by few others in overseas.  This particular\ntechnique which is being promoted as its innovative strength has led to\nmultiple weaknesses and limitations.  (It may be worthwhile to recount\nthat Tolstoy\u2019s War and Peace (1862-69) with its narration interspersed with a\nlong chapter on military theory and author\u2019s views on history as an epilogue is\npossibly an early precursor to this technique)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will expound on that point later,\nbut to start with, whether this book can qualify as a full length novel is\ndebatable.  This should qualify more as a novella or a long short\nstory.  If printed on the standard A5 size paper with standard margins, Appachchi\nAvith\u201d<\/em> is likely to be a slim book of 115-120 pages.  On a smaller\n4.75 inch x 7 inch paper, with generous margins and white spaces and a larger\nfont this runs to 223 pages.  I would not bicker with the length so much\nif the content has substance and literary merit.  I can only assume that\nthe judging panel was not unfair by other novelists when picking Appachchi\nAvith\u201d<\/em> as the best novel in spite of its short length, obvious faults and\nthe pretentious shallow nature.  Having not read the other novels\nshortlisted I cannot comment on these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Modern and the Postmodern Novel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly the writer\nhas made a conscious attempt to emulate the genre of the modern or the\npostmodern novel and adapt a new narrative technique for his discourse. \nHence it may be relevant at the outset to briefly look at some features or\naspects of the modern<\/em> or the postmodern<\/em> novel as a means to\nprovide a framework to critique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modernist literature\nis characterised by a conscious effort to break away from the traditional way\nof writing which includes a clear beginning, middle and an end (or an\nintroduction, the conflict and the resolution).  Historically the\nthird-person omniscient perspective has been the most commonly used in\nnarrative writing: it is seen in countless classics by those 19th<\/sup> century masters including the works of Dickens, Turgenev,\nTolstoy and George Eliot to mention a few.  An omniscient narrator will\npresent an all-encompassing point of view, seeing and knowing everything that\nhappens within the world of his story from his inner eye including what each of\nthe characters is thinking and feeling and how should be acting in a\nsituation.  The omniscient writer ideally is a great psychologist like a Tolstoy, a Dostoevsky or a\nFlaubert with an unfailing insight to his characters, so that the characters\ncan be presented to us with unerring vividness as if they are real life\ncharacters.  The ever reliable omniscient narrator will leave no stone\nunturned to ensure that the truthfulness or the objective<\/em> of the plot or\nthe realization of his themes is not compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pioneers of the modern\nnovel can be traced to the likes of Virginia Woolf (Mrs Dolloway-1925 To the\nLighthouse -1927), James Joyce (Ulysses -1922) and Franz Kafka with some important\nprecursors being Dostoevsky and Conrad.  The postmodern novel which starts\nin around early 1950\u2019s after the outbreak of the 2nd World War is virtually an\nextension of the modern novel (Source: Wikipedia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The modern or the\npostmodern novelist has been looking for more flexibility on his role. \nCritics generally agree that the modern and the postmodern novel can be\ncharacterized by reliance on narrative techniques involving fragmentation,\nparadox, an unreliable narrator; rejection of the rigid boundaries between high\nand low art, lack of clarity in the way characters behave, use of irony satire\nand metaphor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stream of\nConsciousness<\/em> is a new narrative\nvoice used by some modern novelists- notable early exponents being Joyce,\nVirginia Woolf and Marcel Proust.  Stream of consciousness<\/em>– loosely\ncomparable to an internal monologue can be described as a literary style in which a character’s thoughts, feelings, and\nreactions are depicted in a continuous flow uninterrupted by narrative\ndescription or conventional dialogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themes of the Novel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appachchi Avith<\/em> is a clear attempt to break away from the\nthird person omniscient narration- the novelist has leant to a large extent on\nthe Stream of Consciousness<\/em> as a literary style or a narrative\ntechnique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us now move on to\ncritically looking at Appachchi Avith<\/em>\u201d. The novel is underpinned by two\ninterdependent themes.  According to the author, the primary or the\ncentral theme is derived from a concept the French psychologist Jacques Lacan\n(1901-1981) presented (in mid1950\u2019s) to cover the role of Father in the\nSymbolic order which he termed The Name of the Father\u201d from which the English\ntitle of the book is derived.  This concept (though downplayed by Lacan\nhimself later) describes the influence of cultural and social law within the\nfamily associated with the actual figure of the Father.  Taking Name of\nthe Father\u201d as a signifier Lacan postulated Father as a symbolic function to\nwhich all group or community members are subject to, a community or a family\ncannot function without the influence of the Father who can be the Real,\nSymbolic or an Imaginary Father.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other theme of the\nnovel is a study of a paranoid \/ schizophrenic \/ psychotic government official\nand his interaction with his family and the workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The storyline can be\nsummarised as follows:  Nissanka Senadheera the protagonist is a senior\nexecutive officer in public service and is married to Sumali whom he had met\nwhilst studying in the same university.  They have a 10 year old daughter,\nSumudu.  Sumali works in a bank.  Nissanka\u2019s manager is Nihal\nSamaradivakara who is about to retire from service which will open the door for\nNissanka, his next promotion as the director.  With a humble beginning\nNissanka have been raised in a dysfunctional family headed by a drunkard father\nwith loose morals.  Though the medical doctors (surprisingly) fail in\nclinical diagnosis and declare him as a normal\u201d person, Nissanka suffers from\nparanoia \/ schizophrenia\/psychosis but is blissfully ignorant of his condition. \nNissanka imagines that his infirm ageing\u201d father had come back to live in his\nhousehold again.  He is obsessed with communicating\u201d secretly with the\nfather endlessly.  His father in fact had died sometime back and all these\nencounters are hallucinations in his schizophrenic mind.  In all these\nimaginary dialogues\/ monologues, with his patronizing ways it is the Father who\nhas the first and the last say in keeping with Lacan\u2019s concept.  He is\nvirtually possessed\u201d by his father.  Unable to cope with the husband\u2019s\nhighly irrational behaviour, Sumali leaves him, taking away the daughter with\nher.  Highlighted by irregular attendance, negligence of duties with very\nserious lapses, his behaviour in office is equally absurd.  Culmination of\nthis story is that Nissanka kills his wife and daughter by slitting their\nthroat after preplanning murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel unfolds\nroughly in three parts.  It opens in a courthouse with statements of three\nkey witnesses after the double murder had been committed.  Through the\nstatements of their inquisitive neighbour Hilda Gunawardena (the first to visit\nthe murder scene), Sumali\u2019s father and Samaradivakara, Nissanka\u2019s manager who\nis the head of a government department, the reader is presented with some key\npoints of the storyline and how the characters notably the protagonist should\nbe perceived.  Once the testimonial of the three witnesses is over, the\nauthor moves on to the second part presenting pages and pages of monologue \/\ndialogue Nissanka is having with his (non-existing) father and other fantasies\nor hallucinations caused by his paranoid \/ schizophrenic \/ psychotic mental\nstate.  With these discourses the reader is provided with an insight to\nthe character of Nissanka, his relationship with his father, mother, school\nteachers, his father\u2019s past, university life, his wife and child, workplace\nrelationships and his (imagined) amorous adventures.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final\nconcluding part the writer brings the reader back to the courthouse where the\nlawyer (or the novelist) presents his argument in defence of the accused\n(Nissanka)- the argument in fact is a lecture to the (ignorant) Judge on the\npsychological theories the writer is attempting to expound.  This is\nintended to be the hypothetical or the theoretical part of the book that would\nexplain the enigmatic behaviour of the protagonist.  Reminiscent of the\nfinal courthouse scene in Hitchcock\u2019s 1960 film Psycho (in which a psychiatrist\nexplains why the protagonist having killed his mother out of jealousy and\nmummifies the corpse), the final courthouse scene in Appachchi Avith<\/em> is\nthe least convincing part of the book.  Meant to shed light on the\nenigmatic behaviour of Nissanka, it exposes writer\u2019s bankruptcy or the\nsuperficiality of his approach.  The lecture to the Judge is limited to\nproviding fleeting reference to the likes of Kafka, Lacan and Freud and their\nwork.  In the course of presenting his case of the defence, the lawyer\neven offers his own whimsical psychological explanation on Michael Jackson\u2019s\nappearance and why he bleached his skin which is contrary to what the autopsy\nrevealed after Jackson died.  In the end the defence lawyer urges the Jury\nto, instead of acquitting the accused, to declare that he is mentally\nderanged.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamental Flaw<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer has\ncommitted a serious mistake in combining two starkly different psychological\nthemes- both (Name of the Father and paranoia\/ schizophrenia\/ psychosis)\nwarranting serious reflective analysis- but neither been addressed seriously\nenough.  His lack of serious intent was evident throughout his\nnarration.  It looked as if the novelist was hell-bent to produce a book\nwith certain features of the modern novel and use vernacular language to make\nit marketable and readable.  Nissanka was used as his mouthpiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacan\u2019s Name of the\nFather concept is an untested theory but paranoia\/ schizophrenia \/ psychosis\nare not mere concepts- they are malaises that can be medically described,\ndiagnosed and treated to a large extent.  The writer seems only to have a\nsuperficial grasp of paranoia and schizophrenia- a major social malaise that\nneeds serious and sympathetic attention. (There is evidence that at least 0.3 –\n0.7% of the population suffers with schizophrenia).  In a country such as\nSri Lanka, with the majority labelling anyone even with the slightest mental\nhealth issue as social outcasts or mentally deranged, Wickramaarachchi should\nhave demonstrated more responsibility and maturity when dealing with a theme\ninvolving mental health.  The triumphant indictment at the end of the\nnovel that Nissanka should be declared as a mentally deranged person,\nillustrates the novelist\u2019s insensitive and unsympathetic attitude towards\nmental health issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that\nschizophrenic patients are likely to be subjected to hallucinations, the\nwriter\u2019s primary interest in Nissanka has been to use him merely as a vehicle\nto present his concept on Name of the Father through his schizophrenic\nhallucinations.  Trying to validate Lacan\u2019s Name of the Father concept\nthrough the eyes of a schizophrenic patient was possibly a deliberate ploy, as\nit gives the writer the freedom to create a fanciful storyline replete with\njuicy incidents or tales (such as Nissanka\u2019s father eloping with his mother,\nNissanka\u2019s amorous adventures etc) to cater for the popular taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When embarking on this\nnovel, if the intention of the writer was to educate the Sinhala reader (who\ncannot read English) on psychological concepts such as Oedipus complex, the\nPrimordial father, Name of the Father formulated by the likes of Freud and\nLacan, it is a positive move that is commendable but the writer should take\nupon such a task seriously and with sincerity.  Sketchy references in the\nfinal courthouse scene to the works of Freud, Lacan, Muriel Gardiner, Paul\nSchreber et al and the creative fiction of Kafka sounded more like a\npretentious apology or a camouflage for his deficiencies- adding nothing to the\nnarrative.  His interpretation on Michael Jackson\u2019s skin colour is not\nonly an irrelevant digression from the storyline but is a misrepresentation as\nthe autopsy proved that Jackson suffered from a skin condition known as\nvitiligo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not challenging\nthe writer\u2019s freedom for artistic expression, but he is guilty of trivialising\nthe mental health of his hapless protagonist Nissanka who needs a sympathetic\nstudy.  As an artist the writer ought to have shown more sensibility and\ndiscipline and certainly a better appreciation of mental health issues. \nIn the end he has produced a book which looks very phoney and fake and I am\namazed how such a work could bag a major literary award.  On the other\nhand where the standards of art had plummeted down to an unprecedented level,\nit is not fair to expect fictional writing to stand tall in exception. \nSign of the times, perhaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximus Jayantha\nAnandappa (Sydney)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

anandappaj@yahoo.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review: By Maximus Jayantha Anandappa (Sydney, Australia) The recipient of the prestigious Swarna Pusthaka Award for the best novel in 2018, Saman Wickramaarachchi\u2019s Appachchi Avith\u201d (titled Name of the Father\u201d in English) has been commended as an unqualified success in the Sinhala social and print media which had prompted me to pen my comments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86942\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}