Shehan Karunatilaka, Chinaman

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Shehan Karunatilaka’s award-winning debut novel Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew can be summed up in one word: a doosra. Doosra, meaning "the other one" in Hindi and Urdu, is a surprise delivery in cricket used by off-spin bowlers that spins in the opposite direction to an off-break (the default delivery of off-spinners). Much like a doosra, Chinaman was a surprise hit and achieved an unprecedented amount of success for a Sri Lankan novel in English. Its manuscript was first recognised at the island’s Gratiaen Prize in 2010 and then went on to win both the DSC Prizefor South Asian writing and the Commonwealth Book Prize in 2012.

At the centre of …

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Citation: Ariyasinghe, Marlon. "Chinaman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 September 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38944, accessed 28 March 2024.]

38944 Chinaman 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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