It is fortunate that the first Sinhala novel to be translated into French is Viragaya by Malalagama Martin Wickramasinghe. This beautiful book will amongst other things, help the French reader to understand the complexities of the inner life of a Buddhist.... The natural detachment of Aravinda makes him the spectator of his own story. Indifferent to social conventions and gossip, a stranger to his own destiny. As the anti-hero of Camus could be , Aravinda is at the same time the brother of Meursault and his anti-thesis: his non-violence is as detached as the violence of Merusault is pointless. But Aravinda's indifference is neither inhuman nor proud.



In the admirable final pages that close the story of the life of Aravinda, Martin Wickramasinghe succeeds in bringing back to Buddhism all its human completeness. Viragaya shows the author's deep attachment to Buddhism, the prism through which he depicts the hidden nuances of the Sinhalese soul