Reading Shyam Selvadurai’s Funny Boy in Post-War Sri Lanka

Abstract

In the post- war era there is dire need for addressing the grievances of those who suffered in the ethnic issue that prevailed in Sri Lanka over the last three decades. Shyam Selvadurai in his novel Funny Boy narrates the story of a young boy coming in to terms with his sexuality and budding into adolescence in a country that is hostile towards his ethnicity in the early 1980’s. Selvadurai specifically focuses on the socio-political events leading to 1983 July riots in Sri Lanka and the reasons for many families to migrate the island they lived for generations that fateful year. Interestingly, Funny Boy gives a glimpse to the insight of the minority group that suffered during the said riots in Sri Lanka. The novel focuses solely on one class of individuals who try to overcome the turmoil, the Tamil community in the Western province of the country. Critics therefore tend to believe that the novel in question does not transcend the geographical boundaries and as a result tend to restrain the author from observing a broader perspective. This study will focus on Selvadurai’s reading of the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka and its beginning and how the observations he made in the novel are applicable to the post-war era with the civil war coming to an end in 2009. Furthermore the study will focus on the reconciliation process of Sri Lanka in the contemporary society in contrast to Selvadurai’s notion of reconciliation presented through Funny Boy. Significant focus will be given to the observations made regarding the contemporary reconciliation efforts undertaken by the state and other Nongovernmental organizations in the country to this day and the drawbacks of such attempts. Inter-textual references will be brought from the author’s other work and the other literature written on post-war Sri Lanka.