James Goonewardene, The Awakening of Doctor Kirthi and Other Stories

D. C. Ranjan Alwis Goonetilleke (University of Kelaniya)

Ed. by Birte Heidemann, Technische Universität Dresden
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.4: Sri Lankan Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Birte Heidemann (Technische Universität Dresden), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1976

Places

Sri Lanka (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

James Goonewardene’s (1921-1997) collection of short stories The Awakening of Doctor Kirthi (1976) was a landmark in Sri Lankan literature in English in the 1960s and 1970s, and in his own career as a writer. It responded to criticisms directed at this body of literature and his own earlier novels, A Quiet Place (1968) and Call of the Kirala (1971).

Commenting on “the complex fate of the Sri Lankan creative writer who works in English” [in the 1960 and 1970s], Ashley Halpé wrote: “there is no sustained exploration of the world these writers ought to know best – the world of the English-educated, English-speaking class – from the inside: this class has yet to …

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1651 words

Citation: Goonetilleke, D. C. Ranjan Alwis. "The Awakening of Doctor Kirthi and Other Stories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 February 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=16770, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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