Thoughts on Independence Day

by Prof. D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke

(February 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Independence Day is an occasion when, after contemplating the past, we dedicate ourselves in the present for the welfare of the country in the future.

Patriotism is a human feeling that has been articulated from ancient times. "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" (It is sweet and seemly to die for one’s country) is a widely known classical dictum, whose original source in Horace’s Odes has been long forgotten. In English Literature, patriotism has been expressed in stirring, ‘poetic’ lines such as Sir Walter Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel:

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,

Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land.

Patriotism and nationalism are not one and the same. Both have been subject to criticism and can take undesirable forms. But for its citizens to be national-minded is the need of the hour in Sri Lanka.

It is useless to preach a credo without practising it oneself. I decided to serve Sri Lanka as an academic without seeking greener pastures in developed countries though I had the academic record to do so. Routledge (London & New York) stated in my book "Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness" (2007): "He is a well-established and recognized critic of twentieth century and post-colonial literature." In my book "Salman Rushdie: Second Edition" (2010), Palgrave Macmillan said the same thing and also added that I was "the leading authority on Sri Lankan English literature."

I have shown that it is possible to reach the top of one’s profession on the international level while remaining in Sri Lanka and at the same time contributing to the education of those at home. Thereby, I am hopefully making a contribution to stop the brain drain by example.

Instead of devoting myself wholly to researching foreign literature, I was keen on making a contribution to development and study of our own literature. "Sri Lankan English Literature and the Sri Lankan People 1917-2003" is a complete history of our literature from its beginnings to the present as well as a social and political history of the period. The two volumes of "Kaleidoscope" were meant to provide a cross-section of our literature to readers here and abroad. Altogether, I was trying to fill a blank space in the literary map.

One has to be national-minded in whatever ways are open to one.