Readers of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will recall that
Elizabeth Bennet, the future "mistress of Pemberley," on first seeing Mr.
Darcy's home "standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody
hills" felt an intense admiration for its site and natural grandeur.
Jane Austen's famous fictional Pemberley was based on Chatsworth in Derbysbire. Now a real
Pemberley exists in picturesque, though war-torn, Sri Lanka, a few miles from where a mob
killed more than two dozen inmates at a rehabilitation camp for suspected rebels last
fall.
The conflict between the Sinhalese majority on the island, who are mostly Buddhist, and
the Tamil minority, who are mostly Hindu, dates from the 19th century. In 1948, the
British colony of Ceylon became independent; it was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972. The
government-dominated by Sinhalese-instituted policies designed to reverse the favoritism
most Sinhalese believe the Tamils received from the British. Since then, the conflict has
become increasingly violent, with 60,000 combatants and civilians killed so far. The Tamil
Tigers, terrorists notorious for suicide attacks, are demanding a separate Tamil nation.
The Pemberley International Study Center is a beautifully realized island of culture,
everything Jane Austen and Janeites would wish for. Modeled on the Rockefeller
Foundation's Bellagio Study and Conference Center, Pemberley's buildings and gardens are
magnificent (some photos of them appear on the Web at http://www.pemberleyhouse.com). The
center is located just outside Haputale at an elevation of 4,000 feet in Sri Lanka's
central mountain range and has some of the finest views in the country.
|
The center's trustees select applicants from around the world to spend up to four weeks
as resident scholars at Pemberley. The trustees particularly welcome applications from
people who are studying or writing about certain specified fields, including Jane
Austen, the environment, and archaeology, or whose current work involves the fine arts or
creative writing, as well as Sri Lankan subjects. The wide variety of topics is designed
to attract scholars in many different fields, so that Pemberley will become a landmark
international institution.
Pemberley House is used during another part of the year to provide educational programs
for Sri Lankan youth. Members of the Gooneratne family, which owns Pemberley, often speak
of their gratitude toward their native land and emphasize their goal of using Pemberley to
give something back to Sri Lanka.
Inland from the cemetery at the port of Trincomalee, where her brother Admiral Sir
Charles Austen is buried, Jane Austen might be surprised to see the name Pemberley
attached to a 19th century tea-estate bungalow gloriously restored, furnished in
traditional style, and equipped with up-to-date amenities. But on an outside wall of the
house is a prominent brass plaque with a quote from Pride and Prejudice about Elizabeth's
reaction to her Pemberley-"She had never seen a place for which nature had done more,
or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste."-and the
words "For Yasmine."
The house and the center are a tribute to the Austen scholar Yasmine Bandaranaike
Gooneratne from her Darcy, Brendon Gooneratne. A physician and, in his younger days, an
acclaimed cricket player, Brendon Gooneratne is a conservationist devoted to the history
of Sri Lanka and the protection of its wild elephants. Yasmine and Brendon divide the year
between Pemberley and Australia, where she is an Emeritus Professor of English at
Macquarie University.
Yasmine's aunt, the late Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, was the world's first female prime
minister, and Mrs. Bandaranaike's daughter, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, is the
current head of Sri Lanka's government. Professor Gooneratne's publications include Relative
Merits: A Personal Memoir of the Bandaranaike Family of Sri Lanka, and two insightful
novels on postcolonial themes, A Change of Skies and The Pleasures of
Conquest. During her long career, she has taken a special interest in the colonial
and postcolonial world. Her finest portrayal of the colonizer's mentality is the 1999 This
Inscrutable Englishman, a biography of Sir John D'Oyly that she wrote in
collaboration with her husband.
D'Oyly worked in the Ceylon Civil Service in the early 19th century, a time when Britain
controlled only the periphery of Ceylon, not the ancient centers or Kandy, the mountain
capital. Although he fell in love with Ceylonese culture, by extending British rule over
the entire island he is directly responsible for the British cultural influence in Ceylon
an influence ironically illustrated in the tastes of the Gooneratnes
Today, as when D'Oyly arrived, Sri Lanka is politically divided. The central government
has been unable so far to subdue the insurgents, centered in the northern Jaffna area and
the eastern provinces. Today also, Sri Lanka proves more complex and intriguing on close
sight than at a distance. Those of us who were resident scholars at Pemberley House in the
summer of 2000 experienced some contrasts and surprises. Initially, the center seemed far
away from ethnic conflict, but we could not forget the ties of the Gooneratnes to the Sri
Lankan political aristocracy and prominent Sinhalese families.
The staff members at Pemberley are nonextremist Tamils. Hard-working and English speaking,
they maintain an elegant, old-fashioned standard of life at Pemberley. Although many of
them come from poorer backgrounds, the manager of tea cultivation is in fact the
former owner of the entire estate. A well educated man, he occasionally joined me and my
fellow scholars before dinner, telling stories of the old life of the local tea planters.
Across the road from Pemberley House is an orphanage founded by Father Bosco, a Tamil
Christian who takes in needy children without regard to any of the barriers that divide
Sri Lankans elsewhere. The orphanage uses innovative agricultural practices in its
production of eggs and vegetables, which it sells to raise money. It is thus a prototype
for solving Sri Lanka's two biggest problems: poverty and tensions among religious and
ethnic groups.
Back at Pemberley House, conversation at meals, with one of the Gooneratnes presiding,
centered on anecdotes of their early lives in Ceylon along with a formidable blend of
literary topics. The Gooneratnes clearly hope that their scholars will equal those at
Bellagio, where they once studied. We were to use this unique opportunity to concentrate
on our projects, with generous help from their numerous academic and professional friends.
Nothing detracted from the intense intellectual atmosphere not the splendid tropical
landscape, the beautiful house, or the news that a cobra had been shot near the new
ornamental pool (constructed in the shape of Sri Lanka). Even when everyone watched a
complete lunar eclipse from the porch in the light of dozens of tiny oil lamps, Yasmine
Gooneratne pointed to the sky and quoted Tennyson's "Locksley Hall": "Many
a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, / Did I look on great Orion
sloping slowly to the West. / Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow
shade, / Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid."
On another evening, the guests were army officers, including two young men recently
returned from the Jaffna front. Even then, any conversation about politics was
discouraged.
At the Bellagio of the east, in the mountain heart of an Asian nation at war, the
nostalgic Gooneratnes and the resident scholars discuss Austen, elephants and their
protection, the attraction of 19th century British poetry for upperclass families in Sri
Lanka, and the failure of the world to see through the publicity of Tamil emigres.
There is a strange isolation to Pemberley House, as if one were on a luxury liner. For the
moment, all else in the world is utterly remote, beyond the island of the dinner table,
beyond the smoky haze from brush fires. Even the capital seems far away, and no one
mentions the latest in Sri Lanka's civil war.We read the Colombo newspapers, bought each
morning in Haputale, only in our elegant bedrooms.
Anne Tagge is a writer: She was a member of the first group of resident scholars at
the Pemberley International Study Center in Sri Lanka, where she studied the history and
literature of exploration.
APPRECIATIONS OF PEMBERLEY
From Professor John Richardson,
Jr., USA (2001):
“Though
I will do so more formally later, may I take this opportunity to thank you for welcoming
me so graciously into your home and at your table…The rich lodes of Sri Lankan
context and history you shared will make me a more informed, sensitive observer of your
country. This part of my stay was far more valuable than the significant writing I also
accomplished. Hopefully my scholarly and other contributions to Sri Lanka will help
recompense your contributions and other personal contributions, generously given, that I
have received over many years. In sum, thank you for being my teacher, this past two
weeks. I have learned a lot.”
From Mr. Robin Walsh, Australia
(2002):
“Pemberley
is such a visually seductive place that there is always a danger in choosing to remain on
the estate writing all the time, and not venture outside into the wider community…Now
my challenge will be to make a meaningful whole out of these diverse aspects in the
upcoming months and to create a worthwhile public exhibition… to mount next year. I
will have a rich archive of photographic images to draw upon-once I have had all the 40
rolls of film developed!
Thank you
again, for providing a context in which my project could move forward, For the
encouragement and advice that you provided me, and for the chance to meet and share with
my other resident scholars.”
"Pemberley was like a sumptuous guesthouse,
with just a touch of the Raj-a safe,
peaceful environment,
away from the somewhat uneasy political calm on
the outside, where I could discuss and fine tune
my project in the company of other
researchers," Walsh says.
Mr. Robin Walsh -Pemberley
Scholar 2002
For information about scholars', writers' and artists' residencies
at Pemberley International study Centre,
visit
http://www.pemberleyhouse.com
From Ms. Anjum Hasan, India and Mr.
Sakari Nuottimaki, Sweden(2002):
“Thank
you all for this wonderful opportunity you gave us to write and think in this magically
tranquil and lush setting, to be here in Sri Lanka again and learn a little more about its
history, its people, its ways, to meet fascinating, gifted people from elsewhere, to stuff
ourselves with Arulraj’s lovely food, to be in these exquisite hills
From Professor Sachidananda Mohanty, India
(2002):
"This is an amaizing place. I am frankly
wonder-struck as to how such a place could be convinced and implemented in the highlands
here.... Thank you once again for giving me an opportunity to come to the Centre and visit
your beautiful country. I am also privileged to have gained acquaintance with you. Dr.
Brendon Gooneratne, and the staff members at Pemberley."
From Ms Dawn Krol, Canada(2002):
"I can't thank you enough for the opportunity
given to complete my work. The time, space and company were invaluable. I have
certainly fallen in love with Sri Lanka, and, no doubt, will be back... with book in hand
if the fates smile on me rightly.
Thank you again for your hospitality and table
talk. I would heartily endorse Pemberley. It fulfilled my expectations and beyond".
Dr. Manjushree S. Kumar ,
India ( 2004):
I came, I saw , I was
conquered. Pemberley is one of those wonders of nature where and
when the heart, mind and intellect work in unison. Pemberley
makes things happen : here, creativity rides the crest. I think, I
was instantly afforded the opportunity to take off
for any field of research. The more I heard about Sri Lankan
literature from Prof.Yasmine Gooneratne, the more I could
sense the quintessential "serendipity" !.
Dr.Brendon Gooneratne
,with his phenomenal store of knowledge of about everything
under the sun has been of such immense help with everything, both
mundane and the extra-mundane. His help and concern really do
glisten.
Prof.Yasmine Gooneratne
has so, so much of offer by way of help with and in the acadamics. I
have yet to fathom her deep and abiding love of literature and life.
She is truly a wonderful exponent of both. I have for them (
Dr.Brendon Gooneratne and Prof. Yasmine), a deep
appreciation, The dimensions of which I have yet of discover. May
Pemberley happen to everyone.
|
