Thus spoke Malini Govinnage | Daily News

Thus spoke Malini Govinnage

Perhaps it was no coincidence. It could be certainly appropriate that Malini Govinnage carried baggage heavier than an average journalist could carry. That baggage was very much literary and added colour to journalism. The field never added colour to her. Govinnage left us to our own devices just last week.

Govinnage, so to say, belongs to the rare calibre of journalists who went beyond the usual scope into poetry, translations and publishing. Journalists who work beyond their scope are not so common at this age, though it was in the past. Govinnage was widely known as a bilingual translator of Sinhalese and English literary works. Her English medium contributions appeared in various forms such as book reviews in the Daily News. Be it Sinhala or English, Malini Govinnage’s writing style had a marked simplicity and at times intricacy.

In an interview with this writer, however, Govinnage expressed her concern that the journalist in her was killing the poet inside. She reasoned: “it is partly my struggle to keep all these three, journalist, poet and translator.”

Intellectual atmosphere

The troika was well and alive in Govinnage thanks to her exposure to the vibrant academic and intellectual atmosphere at the University of Kelaniya during the first few years of the 1970s. It created the persona in her whom we now consider as a ‘journalist with a rare calibre’.

The socio-political atmosphere in the country as well as in the world at large during the early 70s had a profound effect on Govinnage’s generation, the young, raw undergraduates who were thirsty for knowledge. They were impatient to capsize what they saw as prejudiced and wrongful. There was no TV at the time, let alone the incumbent Internet indulgence. But they had a corpus of indulgences with richer gains: books and teachers.

“The teachers like A G M Sirimanne, Gamini Hattetuwegama and Ranjith Gunawardena were different from many other lecturers at the time. They brought the wide world outside into the class,” Govinage harked the good old times.

The Vietnam war and the student struggles in many parts of the world - new poetry and literature- works of literary and theatre personalities like Bertolt Brecht, Garcia Lorca and Samuel Beckett, philosopher writers and theorists like Franz Fanon Andre Malraux and the likes roamed in that ‘world brought into the class’. They saw the lion in Professor Ediriweera Sarachchanddra’s Sinhabahu in a new light when Gamini Hattetuwegama sang Sinhaba.

Enjoying fiction

Veteran literary critic Reggie Siriwardana identified her as the epitome of the Sinhala-medium-educated generation well versed in European literature.

If we are to weigh Sinhala and English translations against each other in terms of cultural impact, the former emerges as the winner. Govinnage, as a translator of both from English into Sinhala and vice versa, knew that Sinhala readers are somewhat tired of or less enthusiastic in reading original Sinhala works. She cited the reasons: “Readers don’t find any novelty in the plots, the experience of the characters or the settings. Most of these works of fiction hardly offer reader anything let alone enjoyment of reading a work of fiction.”

In contrast, Sinhala translations from English - the original work may be in a language other than English - appeal to the Sinhala reader. Cultural settings of a foreign land, true-to-life characters, out of the ordinary plots are some reasons for this appeal.

Following the tradition of Dr Lakshmi de Silva and Dr Ranjini Obeysekera, Govinnage also undertook the challenging task of translating Sinhala poetry into English. Inquired how and where she drew inspiration, Govinnage had this to say: “Poetry for me is imaginative painting. Translating a poem is freezing your interpretation of the original poem. Then it is no more a ‘translation’ but a new creation. So is with translating fiction.”

Revolt against tyrannies

Malini Govinnage was also the founding editor of Daily News Vesak Annual titled Buddha Pradeepa and edited the Buddhist Spectrum section of the newspaper until her retirement. She knew the strengths and weaknesses of her audience.

“Generally it is the older, English educated who read the Books on Buddha Dhamma. They are mostly retired professionals. There are others who read for research purposes. Other than that, the young or not-so-young are not interested at all. Anyway, there has been a steady readership for lighter writing on lighter Dhamma themes. They do not want to, or they cannot, comprehend deep aspects of Dhamma such as Abhidhamma or Paticca Samuppada,” she commented.

When she chose a book to translate, Govinnage had a strong purpose. The translation was her way of conveying a message to the reader. It may be either political or social. When she translated Fontamara, Cry, the Beloved Country or Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee her purpose was very much political. She wanted to show a strong woman who defied male tyranny when she translated Life with Picasso.

Malini Govinnage lived and roamed in a unique literary landscape. She shared that landscape with fellow Sri Lankans. More interestingly, she lived the very heroism of that landscape. Singlehanded, she led revolts against the tyrannies and what she saw as tyrannous. She was not ready to remain a mere underdog wherever she served. A case in the point is when she sued a former bigwig of Lake House management. This so-called Goliath took things easy as no ordinary employee would dare move the mountains against him. Most employees used to condemn his actions and decisions, behind his back of course. Yet, Malini Govinnage was the only extraordinary employee who challenged this Goliath and won the court case. Because of one representative’s malicious behaviour, the then top management of the Lake House lost a court case. Even in life, she was not ready to be an underdog. She chose to fight in a manner atypical of the rest of us.

Malini Govinnage’s story signifies her mental and spiritual strength to overcome her physical frailty.


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