Mamoru Shono's "Adventures in Sri Lankan Studies" Summary and Comments - An introduction to Sri Lanka from an unexpected perspective! A book full of new serendipity!
We are pleased to present "Adventures in Sri Lankan Studies" by Mamoru Shono, published in 2013 by Nansen Hokumasha.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
The author's unique approach and familiar themes are used in this book, which traverses a variety of genres, from language, ethnicity, community, politics, economics, religion, history, literature, animals, food, disease, folklore, customs, to the urgent issue of peace studies in the aftermath of the civil war. This is the definitive introduction to Sri Lankan society, a revised and updated edition of the first edition published in 1996.
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This book will give you an insight into Sri Lanka as told from an unexpected angle as the title of this article suggests. As you can see from the table of contents above, "Cashew Nut Distribution," "Soseki's Curry Study," "Crow Ecology," etc., at a glance, you may wonder, "What is this about Sri Lanka? But it is a brilliantly written book that gives us a clue to the world of Sri Lanka. It is extremely interesting.
In the "Introduction" to this book, the author describes the book as follows
Sri Lanka is still often referred to as "Ceylon," the name of the country before 1972, but further back in history, it was known to Arab merchants as "Serendip" during the era of the Silk Road by Sea.
In his day, Marco Polo was quoted as saying, "Of all the islands of this size, this is the finest place in the world. A papal envoy in the 14th century wrote, "According to local tradition, it is 40 miles from Ceylon to Paradise. There you will even hear the sound of the springs of Paradise.
Author Arthur C. Clarke, who lived in Sri Lanka, had the following message
Ceylon is a microcosm. It has landscapes and climatic variations that rival any country twelve times the size of Ceylon. What you get out of it is up to you.
But there is also this.
Ceylon is a snooty place" (Eric Linkletter)
The word "serendipity" is derived from the ancient name Serendip in Ceylon.
Serendipity means the ability to find something else of value when looking for something else.
For example, the writer Arthur C. Clarke "discovered" Ceylon on his way from London to Australia's Great Barrier Reef by boat because of his longing for the beautiful sea. Since then, he has been on the road to "Ceylonization" (serendipitous). He settled in Colombo, where the sea and its history have inspired him to write a large number of novels. The first chapter of his essay collection "Looking at the World from Sri Lanka" begins with "Of Serendipity. Without the writer's Ceylon film, the original story of the movie "A Space Odyssey in 2009" would not have been possible, and the content of the U.S. space program, for which the writer has served as an advisor, might have been different.
The word "serendipity" is a neologism created by the 18th century English writer Horace Walpole, inspired by the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip. The story's princes discover by chance and wisdom what they are not seeking. ...... The word "serendipity" was created to describe this.
After first appearing in print in 1754, serendipity became a civil word in the English language. Nowadays, few people pay attention to the etymology of the word. But that is the English world.
In 1993, a book was published in Japanese with the same title, "Serendipity". The former creators of the new word could not have dreamed of it.
This book, "Adventures in Sri Lankan Studies" is a field note to the land that gave birth to the word "serendipity" and an experiential deciphering of the people and climate of Sri Lanka. Each theme has been acquired through serendipitous discoveries and encounters. In other words, my encounters with each theme have been "serendipity" for me. I also consider this book as my own style of "comprehensive regional research. It is a "synthesis" with an awareness of the totality of human life. In approaching the theme, I used various methods (styles). Therefore, it is called a "Trial Thesis.
We hope you enjoy reading this article.
Minamifune Hokumasha and Mamoru Shono, Adventures in Sri Lankan Studies, p. 7-9.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the book was a serendipitous encounter for me as well.
I especially appreciated this because I had never heard of Saratchandra's novel "The Deceased" in the chapter "Sinhala Literature of Japan" and Takashi Okamura's novel "To the End of the Muddy River" in "Sri Lanka in Japanese Literature," until I read this book. I decided to read these novels as soon as possible. I love novels and books, so these works of literature have really caught my attention, but I am sure that each person will have some kind of serendipitous encounter with them.
As you can see from the table of contents above, we will be looking at Sri Lanka in a wide variety of ways anyway.
I thought I had read quite a few books on Sri Lanka, but this book stimulated me once again to realize that there are still many interesting things to see. I highly recommend this book. Why not pick up a copy?
The above is a summary and impression of Mamoru Shono's "Adventures in Sri Lankan Studies" - an introduction to Sri Lanka from an unexpected perspective! A book full of new serendipity!" This is a book full of new serendipity!
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