Wimal Dissanayake has just ignored a vital factor in literature which is good–taste reader or rasika. In that effort, he was largely successful, and invites close analysis.' However, Piyadasa Sirisena was a serious writer who wished to establish a vital connection between literature and the public sphere. He wrote at the dawn of Sinhala fiction and such weaknesses as I have alluded to are only to be expected.

In terms of careful construction of stories, psychological complexity of character, credibility of experience and convincing fictional forms, his work left much to be desired. He says, 'Piyadasa Sirisena is the author of nineteen novels that have had a profound impact on the Sinhala reading public. Wimal Dissanayake, in his book 'Sinhala Novel and the Public Sphere', speaks of Piyadasa Sirisena's fiction. But because of that, they can't be categorised as serious novels since good–taste is a rare quality in any society. Most of Silva's novels are still being reprinted, and sometimes made as teledramas. But it is not significant event as its readership is not of good–taste.

Piyadasa Sirisena's most popular novel Wasanawantha Vivahaya nohot Jayathissa saha Roslin (Lucky Marriage or Jayathissa and Roslin), published in 1905, was sold over 25,000 copies within a few years. The best reward for a literature is its readership. In that sense, Wickramasinghe's endeavour is path-breaking because any of his predecessors, such as Piyadasa Sirisena, W.A. These books cannot be enjoyed by a bad–taste or vulgar reader, they ask for a highbrow reader or a sophisticated audience or in Sanskrit, a rasika. Among them Sinhala Sahityaye Negima (Landmarks of Sinhalese Literature), Guttila Geetaya (Song of Guttila), Sahitya Kalawa (Art of Literature), Kawya Wicharaya (Criticism of Poetry), Rasawaadaya and Bauddha Kawyaya (Aestheticism and Buddhist Poetry) are foremost. There are significant critical works of him too that helped develop a good readership.

His novels along with Kali Yugaya (Age of Kali), Yugantaya (Destiny) and short story collections, such as Gaheniyak (A Woman) and Wahallu (Serfs) helped a lot in this regard. The best service that Martin Wickramasinghe rendered to Sinhala literature was to build a sophisticated readership. But if you look into some other Sinhala writers, especially Ediriweera Sarachchandra, Siri Gunasinghe, Gunadasa Amarasekara, you can see that they also endowed us with some good novels, one can say better than Wickramasinghe's Gamperaliya and Viragaya. When asked about the highest service that Martin Wickramasinghe rendered to Sinhala literature, most critics say it is to write the first realistic novel in Sinhalese – Gamperaliya, or to write the best Sinhala novel in realism–Viragaya. Seventy-six years have passed since Martin Wickramasinghe wrote his masterpiece Gamperaliya (Uprooted) and sixty-four years have passed since he wrote Viragaya (Dispassion).

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