Colombo is in the throes of an explosion. Its face changes continuously, its vices are legion, its future as yet obscure and its paths speak of sunlight as well as of shadow.’ Carl Muller begins his quasi-fictional portrait of this beautiful, war-torn city by describing the great battles fought over it by European colonizer. In AD 1505, a Portuguese fleet blown off-course took shelter in Galle, overthrew the local kings, fortified Colombo and decided to stay. The Dutch came along, ousted the Portuguese, made Colombo their capital and ruled till the British arrived and sent them packing. Muller intersperses the tales of the past into descriptions of the battles that are being fought in Colombo today—political battles in which vested interests play a major role as well as battles fought on the individual level in the struggle to survive: young women and children turning to prostitution to earn an extra buck, people begging in the streets to make ends meet, unemployed young men turning to crime in frustration, students demonstrating against atrocities, lovers pining for nightfall in order to push away loneliness if only for a few moments. Written in Muller’s lucid style, Colombo: A Novel is a chronicle of a city’s trials and triumphs.
About the Author
Carl Muller (born 22 October 1935) is a Sri Lankan writer, poet and journalist best known for his trilogy about Burghers in Sri Lanka: The Jam Fruit Tree, Yakada Yaka and Once Upon A Tender Time. He has won Gratien Awards for The Jam Fruit Tree in 1993[1] and a State Literary Award for his historical novel, Children of the Lion.[2]Muller was born in Kandy, the eldest in a family of thirteen. Dismissed from three schools, he left home at the age of eighteen to join the Royal Ceylon Navy as a signalman.[3] He went on to briefly serve in the Ceylon Army and later joined the Colombo Port Commission as a signals officer.[1] Next, Muller tried his hand at journalism, eventually marrying Sortain Harris and leaving Sri Lanka in order to work at newspapers in the Middle East.[3] Muller has currently retired from his life long work as decades of chain smoking has taken a toll on his health. He and his wife live in Kandy with their two children and his grand son.[4]
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