Elitist writers at Galle Literary Festival (GLF) have one ‘golden rule’: do not give interviews to no-homework journalists. Quite contrarily I could approach Thomas Keneally with the ‘no homework’ confession, because he was glad to welcome someone with a vacant mind - at last! The Sydney-born Nobel and Booker winner hence had an uninterrupted audience.
The sunset in Galle Fortress lifted Keneally’s spirits to head out with his much-talked ‘Schindler’s List’, which was earlier published as ‘Schindler’s Ark’.
“In 1980 I was in a luggage store waiting for my flight. Over a small talk, I found out that its owner is a Schindler survivor. I wasn’t familiar with this name, but Leopold Pfefferberg, the Schindler survivor, gave out some important information about him. I came to know that Oskar Schindler is famous for his Holocaust activities. I was established as a writer by then, and that made Pfefferberg have faith on me. Later we were on our way to Poland to unearth more materials.”
Most of his works are far more fiction. Except for ‘Schindler’s List’ (1982) and ‘Searching for Schindler’ (2007), he admitted. Oskar Schindler is alive with his real name in 1989, and the 2007’s work ploughs on with the Keneally-Pfefferberg journey in search of Schindler’s list. The novel on Oskar Schindler earned Steven Spielberg his first Oscar award for being the Best Director as well as the Man Booker Prize for Thomas Keneally.
Listless people ask Keneally what his fav is. For him Schindler’s has raked in fortune, but ‘Towards Asmara’, a novel on conflict of Eritrea, is one of his favs. Which didn’t perform well like Schindler’s.
“Enough of Schindler’s. Now tell me what do you think about famines?” I was stunned with this abrupt question. I did not need to answer his question on purpose and he took the hint.
“What I believe on famines that they are not natural or god made, but man made. They are political. Politicians need to create them, so they can get benefits from them.”
What an interpretation? And he goes on, “Well, we have exceptions like Tsunami in your country, which are, of course, natural disasters.”
“I have seen many famines myself including Ethiopian famine. You see, I was born with the World War – Australia was never invaded, thank God. But I know the pain of war. And how people suffer from famines. War and famines are both man-made ones to gain benefits.”
Then suddenly he changes the subject to families.
“I love studying families. I have seen families in Bengal, Ireland and Ethiopia in particular. I have written many novels on those families. I fancy seeing them as one entity.”
Family subject tempted Keneally to talk about his own.
“My father was a good storyteller, but he could easily get depressed. In my early childhood I wanted to be a priest, but soon I lost interest when I got disillusioned with the religious system. I took up studies of law, and that was when I started writing my first novelist. I was a schoolteacher and university lecturer for sometime until novel made my destiny.”
Love came to Keneally’s life when his mother was in sickbed. He felt love when he saw Judy who nursed his mother. Finally as in any other story, Thomas Keneally, a young novelist was marrying a beautiful young woman. Change was going to happen in his life.
“Literary festivals are essential for countries like Australia and Sri Lanka. Australia is a country located a little close to Sri Lanka. But Australia comes to know about Sri Lanka through festivals held in either London or New York. When Sri Lanka has a literary festival we can have direct contacts with you.”
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
“I am a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject Our Republic in 1993. Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league football club in the NRL.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/02/10/fea10.asp
