Novel
Out of the Darkness
අසත්ය කතාවක්
Gunadasa Amarasekara · 1977
Synopsis
Somaweera Madurasinghe, a village boy turned policeman in Colombo, supports his family and awaits a promotion. He is taken to see his younger brother, Nimal, an engineering student at Peradeniya and a student leader won over to communist ideas, who has died after a demonstration near the president's offices: did he throw himself from a window, or was he pushed? The case comes before the court, and a superior makes him understand that his promotion depends on the side he chooses.
Context
The book appears in 1977, the date of the edition cited by an academic study, in 1981 according to other sources; a sequel, Premaye Sathya Kathawa, follows in 1983. The narrative advances through flashbacks, through the hero's thoughts, with little dialogue. The two novels together appeared in English in 2003 under the title Out of the Darkness, in a translation by Vijita Fernando that won the Gratiaen Prize and a State literary prize.
Who it is for
A short novel in Sinhala, readable in English along with its sequel; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Studied by academic critics as a reflection on truth and fear in the time of the island's conflicts.
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