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Curfew and a Full Moon
Curfew and a Full Moon is concerned with the excitement of the election year of 1970 and the troubled weeks of the 1971 insurrection and its aftermath, seen in terms of their impact on a microcosm, the University of Ceylon of Peradeniya.
223 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1978
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About the author
Ediriweera Sarachchandra
13 books6 followersEdiriweera Sarachchandra (Sinhala: මහාචාර්ය එදිරිවීර සරච්චන්ද්ර) was a Sri Lankan playwright, novelist, poet, literary critic, essayist and social commentator. Considered Sri Lanka's premier playwright, he was a senior lecturer at the University of Peradeniya for many years and served as Sri Lankan Ambassador to France (1974–1977).
Sarachchandra produced his first stylist play Maname in 1956 to widespread acclaim. Maname is generally considered the first real Sinhala drama, signalling the transition from the Nadagam or folk drama to the modern theatrical drama format. It was praised especially for drawing influence from the traditional nadagam play style. He continued as a playwright, developing his play Sinhabahu in 1961, which is widely considered as his best work. Most of his plays were adaptations from Buddhist Jathakas or Sinhala folklore giving his work instant and lasting popularity with the population that identified with their roots.
The University of Jaffna and the University of Peradeniya conferred Sarachchandra the degree of Doctor of Literature in 1982. Also in that year he was made an Emeritus Professor at the University of Peradeniya. In 1983 the State of Kerala in South India awarded Sarachchandra the Kumaran Asan World Prize. In 1988 he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Literature.
Sarachchandra produced his first stylist play Maname in 1956 to widespread acclaim. Maname is generally considered the first real Sinhala drama, signalling the transition from the Nadagam or folk drama to the modern theatrical drama format. It was praised especially for drawing influence from the traditional nadagam play style. He continued as a playwright, developing his play Sinhabahu in 1961, which is widely considered as his best work. Most of his plays were adaptations from Buddhist Jathakas or Sinhala folklore giving his work instant and lasting popularity with the population that identified with their roots.
The University of Jaffna and the University of Peradeniya conferred Sarachchandra the degree of Doctor of Literature in 1982. Also in that year he was made an Emeritus Professor at the University of Peradeniya. In 1983 the State of Kerala in South India awarded Sarachchandra the Kumaran Asan World Prize. In 1988 he won the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Literature.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 22, 2009
Sarachchandra was one of the premier playwrights and authors of 20th-century Sri Lanka. Curfew and a Full moon follows a fictional college professor during the first JVP period, when a Marxist student movement nearly overthrew the government.
I really liked the structure of the story, which put the professor in the role of the idealist naïf and swirled the events around his disbelieving discoveries of the activities of the JVP. Sarachchandra's characterization of the students rebelling against their new world and the seemingly innocent motivations of the professors is extremely engaging. His storytelling adds an air of detachment to the description of an armed insurrection that manages to capture the feeling of confusion extremely well; no one in the book ever knows quite what is going on, and this seems to make sense.
It's a quick read, but it left me pondering unintended consequences and human motivation for the next week.
I really liked the structure of the story, which put the professor in the role of the idealist naïf and swirled the events around his disbelieving discoveries of the activities of the JVP. Sarachchandra's characterization of the students rebelling against their new world and the seemingly innocent motivations of the professors is extremely engaging. His storytelling adds an air of detachment to the description of an armed insurrection that manages to capture the feeling of confusion extremely well; no one in the book ever knows quite what is going on, and this seems to make sense.
It's a quick read, but it left me pondering unintended consequences and human motivation for the next week.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews