Lakdasa Wikkramasinha

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

Born 1941
Died 1978
Activity 1961-1978

Places

Born in Sri Lanka
Active in Sri Lanka

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Wikkramasinha's Works

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In tone and quality, the work of Yasmine Gooneratne generally resembles that of Patrick Fernando, but both poets are different from Lakdasa Wikkramasinha. The latter is a radical poet, his radicalism stoked by his traumatic reaction to his English affiliations as well as by a desire to shock the reader and bring awareness. In a note to his first volume of poems,

Lustre

(1965), he wrote:

I have come to realise that I am using the language of the most despicable and loathsome people on earth; I have no wish to extend its life and range, enrich its tonality. To write in English is a form of cultural treason. I have had for the future to think of a way of circumventing this treason; I propose to do this by making my writing entirely immoralist and destructive.

I have come to realise that…

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2133 words

Citation: Goonetilleke, D. C. Ranjan Alwis. "Lakdasa Wikkramasinha". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 February 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4713, accessed 21 November 2024.]