Martin Wickremasinghe as a critic a reading of his essays in english

This study seeks to find out the literary theory of Martin Wickremasinghe as manifested in his essays. From 1951 to 1975 Wickremasinghe wrote 88 essays in English and they all appeared in 7 books. It is this body of literature that the researcher has analyzed.Using James lieu\u27s framework and concentrating on the text with the help of critical tools found in Dumoulin, 1976 Freud, 1988 Tomkins, 1980 and Wellek and Warren, 1949 the researcher examined Martin Wickremasinghe\u27s greatness as a guru in the definitions of literature, elements, as well as in the functions of literature found in all his seven books of essays.Martin Wickremasinghe, the writer, is also above all a universal guru who crossed frontiers and pushed back many in order to teach the Ceylonese nation how to live the life of a Buddhist according to the tenets of Buddhism preached by Buddha, the Enlightened One. Finally, his love for the Russians is unsurpassable. He always looked to Russian writers for support and strength for life\u27s problems. Because to him the life of the Russian peasants is an example of patience and endurance and to see a semblance in their lives the type of life that Martin Wickremasinghe has read in the birth stories of Buddha and the Russian novel.After having examined Wikremasinghe\u27s literary career in all his essays, the researcher said that Martin Wikremasinghe has a clear idea about literature and that he has exposed it in all his essays