Prominent figures of modernity and modernism in 20th century Sri Lanka, including Lionel Wendt, George Keyt, Geoffrey Bawa, and the 43 Group, have been extensively written about. Yet Martin Wickramasinghe, despite his obvious importance in the context of Sri Lankan literature and literary and cultural modernism, has yet to be the subject of a serious biographical study-an analysis which actually contextualizes him, and which helps us see him as a product of his time and place.