The Sherlock Holmes stories were written by Conan Doyle who was able to take readers to another dimension. There is no doubt, the stories are very interesting. Millions around the world hug the books warmly. This brings fame and wealth to Conan Doyle.Recent years these books were translated into Sinhala by Chandana Mendis. Though some translators had already translated Sherlock stories into Sinhala It was neither famous nor successful. However translations done by Chandana Mendis were very successful and were able to attract many readers throughout the Sri lanka. Reactions from readers were very encouragable so that Chandana Mendis started translating other Sherlock Holmes stories too. I and my nost of friends are also big fans Sherlock Holms and we are still in a taste to read them. Chandana Mendis must be thanked for his excellence skills in translating which are able to convey the enthusiasm as original English books to Sri lankan readers. No doubt his work was well done. The effort of Chandana Mendis to introduce new charactors of international detective literature to Sri Lanka was very successful. However there are few questions remained on my mind that I wish to disccuss in next paragraph.
There were 60 stories (if not exactly 60, it should number around 60) written by Conan Doyle and the LIST OF BOOKS can be found on Wikipedia. My question is there are morre than 60 Sinhala transalations of stories of Sherlock Holmes? If there were only 60 books were written by Conan Dolye how Chandana Mendis published more than 60?. When I forwaded this question to my friends some told me those are the stories were orginally written by Chandana Mendis. But when I searched on the internet, it was found that many other authors used charactors of Conan Dolys's stories to create their own stories. I found one of such book and photo is published below and it is sure that there are many more books like this.
I guess these are the stories which might be translated by Chandana Mendis. However in the preface of the books it was mentioned that these stories were taken from the documents in the trunk belonged to Dr. Watson. This made most readers upset. It was better if Chandana Mendis could mention from where he took the story. On the other hand he should have mentioned it because real authors of those particular stories must be respected. It was very funny that Chandana Mendis stated that he found trunk of Dr. Watson. I wonder why anyother couldn't find that trunk which was in a store for decades. I must mentioned another point in my article. I think everybody cannot be another Conan Dolye. The writing style of Conan Dolye was unique to him and nobody was able to imitate his writing style. Actually his situation can be described as some sort of intellectual property stealing. If someone is real writer he should be able to address readers in a unique way to him. But instead of being creative, copying some others story is not so good. This is my opinion and your comments are highly appreciated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_of_new_Sherlock_Holmes_stories
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Dracula-Loren-Estleman/dp/0743407148
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-canonical_Sherlock_Holmes_works
Thanks...:)
ReplyDeleteOf course. This guy Chandana Mendis is fooling his own readers. I too am a good sherlock holmes lover, and alsohave read a great deal of sherlock holmes translated by him. But I have expirenced that some of his recent books are not good as the previous ones, such as "SH agaist Dracula", "Samudure Satana", "Playing with fire" etc. Then I understood the matter. He had written some stories by himself an says that he has got Dr. Watson's trunk. huh! Whom he think he's lying?
ReplyDeleteHe's a bloody liar. Ans also this bugger says that he has more stories to translate. The whole international readers know that there are some books named "Secret files of sherlock holmes" written by other authors, which this bloody nitiwit says that he himself has found.
See here,
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Files-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/1401042570
He thinks that he can fool us forever.
Nah. the truth never fails!
And also no one can be anothet Conan Doyle!. He is the one and only!
After traslating Sir. Conan Doyle's stories, translator Mr. Chandana Mendis writing his own stories which are compiling by himself and not that he is stealing it from someone else and as a initiation he mentioned that he found these stories from Dr. Watson's trunk. So what's the big deal as a writer he can have fictitious like these. It is wrong if he publish translations as his own.
DeleteBut he says all are translations from Original books. What do you have to say for that?
DeleteI have also been a consistent SH reader for a long time still would like to wonder in that mysterious, exiting world whenever I have time. Nevertheless this particular question has risen in my mind for a long time but I myself suggested that, there is something strange in those stories written by Chandana Mendis before translating the original Conan Doyle stories. First it came to my mind that (if you closely read, you also will be able to identify) there was something strange in the character of Sherlock Holms together with his decision making and the reasoning outs and if fact throughout the whole stories. When i found such a situation in the story, I used to ignore it by thinking, "Ah poor Mendis, how come these silly decisions and predicts done by SH, how come the situation became silly as he mentions"!
ReplyDeleteEven though, these suspicions and doubts were in my mind, i didn't bother of those because, I badly wanted more SH stories to read to fulfill my thirst .But I also agree with the above article and the comment that, No one cannot be another Conan Doyle nor another SH. But to fulfill the thirst of many SH readers, it is better to have new publishers but the only thing that a reader has to keep in mind is, "I am not reading an original SH story".
If the truth is told, I myself also like to write SH stories, really feeling a story especially having read a story.in this sense, if Chandana Mendis is writing his own SH stories, it is very much appreciated and talented but he should know that, he cannot fool the intelligent Sinhala readers therefore he has to be honest to himself. If he does it, he will definitely be much appreciated and respected.
we proud about you Chandana Mendis.Write another Sherlock Holmes book quickly.We want raed more & more SH books
ReplyDeleteI was checking on the same matter because I found suspicious about this guy Chandana Mendis. In his book Secret files of SH No. 8, there are 2 references to Sri Lanka by the characters, which seemed abnormal. Then I checked on the internet, and found that there are some books named Secret Files of SH, but not written by Conan Doyle. This guy indicates that they are originals by Conan doyle, or he says that he found the file box of Dr. Watson. The character of Watson is fictional just as the character of SH. We should thank Nuwan for bringing this up. Some stories seem to be written by Chandana mendis indicating that they are written by Conan Doyle. Or he says that he has got hold of the box of Dr. Watson. It is a shame to have this kind of writers...!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76266.The_Secret_Files_of_Sherlock_Holmes
ReplyDeleteI'm a SH lover too. I also notice something peculiar about books like rusiyanu ottukaraya etc. It is better if Chandana Mendis introduce this new series as if he gave birth to it rather than saying he found the box of Dr.Watson. How can anyone find Dr.Watson's box since the character itself(Dr.Watson) being fictional? If Chandana Mendis introduce a new series as if written by himself as an addition to the previous series, I think it is the best way of getting things done. Then he may be worshipped as the Sinhalese's Conan Doyle. I think Chandana Mendis did that way in writing Abirahas Doopathe Nidanaya. Because he wrote that as a second story of Madol Doowa, which is fantastic( in my opinion ) . Anyway we are proud about you Mr. Chandana Mendis for the work you have done so far. We are grateful about it.
ReplyDelete