Simon Navagattegama lso spelled Nawagattegama (September 15, 1940 – October 9, 2005) was a Sinhala

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He is well known for his novel Sansararanye Dhadayakkaraya (Hunter in the wilderness of the Sansara) for its magical realism which is influenced by Buddhist mythologies,

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

Buddhist concepts and Freudian and

Jungian Analytical psychology (, sometimes translated as analytic psychology; also Jungian analysis) is a term referring to the psychological practices of Carl Jung. It was designed to distinguish it from Freud's psychoanalytic theories as their s ...

psychoanalysis.

Literary style

K. K. Saman Kumara, a literary critic and writer in Sri Lanka, calls Simon as the predecessor of

magical realism Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical rea ...

in Sri Lanka and calls his literary style as a Buddhist

Borgesian Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known wo ...

one. Saman Kumara terms the Simon’s Literature as the ‘

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Wisdom Literature’, taking it as a separate genre, which is unique to Sri Lanka. He compares Simon’s Literary endeavor to the philosophical attempts of Erick Fromm, who tried to merge Buddhism,

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, and

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

psychoanalysis.

Malinda Seneviratne Malinda Channa Pieris Seneviratne (born September 23, 1965) is a Sri Lankan poet, critic, journalist, translator, political commentator, and activist. Known for his outspoken political views, his opinion pieces are among the most widely read in ...

, who translated the Simon’s novel Sansararanyaye Dadayakkaraya (Hunter in the wilderness of the Sansara) into English, says that it "was an important literary landmark and Simon is one of the best writers in Sinhala in the second half of the last century." Deepthi Kumara Gunarathna, has identified ‘Hunter in the wilderness of the Sansara’ as a novel which shows a

postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...

unique to Sri Lanka. K. K. Saman Kumara recognizes Simon Navagaththegama as one of authors, which he calls as the ‘Modernist Trinity’ in Sinhala Literature, Tennyson Perera and Ajith Thilakasena among others.

Books

*Ohuge Kathawa (ඔහුගේ කතාව) *Saagara Jalaya Madi Handuwa Obasanda hort Story collection(සාගර ජලය මඳි හැඬුවා ඔබ සන්දා) *Saahithyaya, Samajawadaya saha kala vicharaya *Suddhilage Kathawa (සුද්දිලාගේ කතාව) *Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya unter in the Wilderness of Sansara(සංසාරාරණ්‍යයේ දඩයක්කාරයා) *Sansaranyaye Urumakkaraya (සංසාරාරණ්‍යයේ උරුමක්කාරයා) *Sansaranyaya Asabada (සංසාරාරණ්‍යය අසබඩ) *Dadayakkarayage Kathawa (දඩයක්කාරයාගේ කතාව) *Saankawa (සාංකාව) *Sapeshani (සාපේක්ෂණී) *Ksheera Sagaraya Kalabina (ක්ෂීර සාගරය කැලඹිණ) *Himalaya tharanaya kala Arjuna kumarayage Kathava *Wanaraya *Acharya Bryan De Cretser, Ohy saha ohuge adahas *Kalawa, Samajawadaya saha Kala Vicharaya *Bawanawa (බාවනාව)

Film scripts

* Suddilage Kathaawa * Siri Medura * Sagara Jalaya Madi Haduwa Obasanda *

Seilama ''Seilama'' () is a Sri Lankan drama film directed by H. D. Premaratne and produced by Soma Edirisinghe for EAP Films. It was released on the international circuit in 1993 and later released in Sri Lanka in 1995. Plot Bande ( Cyril Wickramage) ...

* Shieera Sagaraya Kelabina (production of the movie delayed due to the cost involved)

Radio play

*Wanaraya

Stage drama

*ගංඟාවක්,සපත්තුකබලක් සහ මරණයක්1970 *Puslodan 1973 *Suba saha Yasa 1974 (සුබ සහ යස) *Sthrii (woman) *Sudu saha Kalu *Pandukhabaya *gagana sarana kurullane 1971

References

External links

Simon Nawagaththegama on Sinhala Cinema Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Navagattegama, Simon 1940 births 2005 deaths Sri Lankan dramatists and playwrights Sri Lankan radio writers Alumni of the University of Peradeniya 20th-century Sri Lankan novelists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Kala Keerthi 20th-century Sri Lankan screenwriters Alumni of Anuradhapura Central College