Column: Nabokov’s Last Novel Almost Burned and Thoughts on Lost Books

Apologies for the lack of updates. We will start doing so by posting the backlog of Read or Die articles that has been published in Manila Bulletin. This one saw print on June 21, Saturday.

Nabokov’s Last Novel Almost Burned and Thoughts on Lost Books
By Kristel Autencio

It was one of those literary scandals that would seem trivial to many, but was a matter of earthshaking importance to the World of Letters. Dmitri Nabokov, son of Vladmir Nabokov (famous for the controversial novel Lolita), had been tasked with the decision whether or not to burn the manuscript of his father’s last unfinished novel, titled The Original of Laura.

As part of his last will and testament, the older Nabokov wanted his notes burned after his death. According to Dmitri, his father couldn’t take the idea that his most cherished work, “the most concentrated distillation of [his] creativity,” to see the light of day in its unfinished form.

The death sentence on those index cards has been hanging for a long time, kept in a vault of an undisclosed Swiss bank, since the writer’s death in 1977. Now in his seventies, Dmitri had recently hinted to the public that he wanted to honor his father’s request of actually burning the manuscript.

Cue drama here. Newspaper articles and blog posts erupted, eloquent pleas for him to cease and desist, along the lines of, “Oh no, this manuscript is an important piece of literature. Don’t burn it! Who cares about your dead father’s wishes? He’s dead, isn’t he? Think of Virgil (his Aeneid was reportedly meant to be burned as well)!”

There were, of course, people who disagreed and said, “Just burn the blasted thing! A writer is still a human being, famous or not, and his wishes should be respected. Shame on you, literary public. You people are no different from those vultures who scrounge tabloids for celebrity paparazzi shots.”

Writers as notable as Booker Prize-winner John Banville (don’t burn it!) and famous playwright Tom Stoppard ( burn it!) weighed in on the issue. Of course, it would not be a good drama without a satisfying climax and recently, Dmitri mentioned that he wouldn’t be destroying Laura in the near future. Sighs of relief and ill-tempered grumblings circulated in the blogosphere. The question however, still remains: who truly owns a work of art?

When it comes to law, the answer is clear-cut. From the moment the pen is put on paper (or fingers on the keyboard as the case may be, in the digital age), copyright law protects the creators from any form of plagiarism, as well as giving author the right to demand payment if his characters, plot and concept is used by another party. In the Philippines, copyright lasts up to 50 years after the death or author, 70 years in the US and UK.

In the world of literary scholarship, however, the distinction is a little murky. William Shakespeare, for example, has long ceased to be only just the man who lived in Statford-upon-Avon in the 16th Century. With more than 600 years of theatrical interpretations, publications, research and discussion, he has evolved into a concept, a historical artifact– so valuable that even census documents and baptismal certificates of him and his family are considered priceless.

Vladimir Nabokov is arguably one of the most revolutionary writers that emerged in the 20th century. He is certainly one of the most controversial, as to the topics his novels continue to intrigue and enrage his readers. The mere mention of “Lolita” can send conservatives in throes of censorships and book burnings. His literary style is also one of the most unique. Understandable then, how his fans felt horror at the idea of destroying one of his works. Even if he himself wanted them burned.

This dilemma is nothing new. Franz Kafka, before his death, asked his friend to burn all of his notes. The friend’s disobedience allowed the world to see masterpieces like Metamorphosis and The Trial, works which are considered to be definitive of 20th Century European literature. If it wasn’t for Emily Dickinson’s family members who scoured through her belongings, one of America’s most famous female poets would have never garnered so much fame after her death.

The real conflict lies in the line between the author as person and his work. People who have argued for the execution of Vladimir Nabokov’s wishes assert that the writer is still a human being and should not be peddled as a commodity. His wishes should be held sacred, most of all by his family, on whom he has entrusted this task. Whatever the fate of the manuscript, it should be decided by them, and not by the public.

However it is the concept of the “perfect work” that is highly problematic. Nabokov wanted his notes burned because it has not attained its ideal form. But does it matter? This kind of thinking for me is, in all honesty, a little snobbish. If some of the writer’s work is “not perfect,” does it taint the other works? Does it lower a writer’s batting average, like some kind of baseball statistic?

If The Original of Laura ends up to be disappointing, it doesn’t mean that Nabokov’s other works are any less remarkable. I guess the digital age has spoiled me of this idea that publishing makes a work permanent. I no longer have any delusions of literary perfection. The worth of a writer’s body of work lies in the sum of his efforts, not merely in the most obvious products of his genius.

Writers have private lives, yes, but what they should realize is that in the books that they write, they inevitably reveal themselves, even if it’s but a glimpse. It may be a bit prying and vulture-like for people like me to want to take a peek, but it is one of the impossible quests of a reader to find out a little bit more, peer a little deeper. It satisfies a yearning that any human being who wants knowledge feels.

E.M. Forster, one of the most celebrated British writers of the 20th Century knew a thing or two about keeping his deepest thoughts private. Famous for works like A Passage to India and Howard’s End, he had also written, unknown to most of his contemporaries, Maurice a story about an Oxford student battling societal pressures because of his homosexuality. The moral dilemma of publishing the novel in his lifetime plagued him. It would have caused a massive scandal and would have undoubtedly “tainted” his other works. On the manuscript discovered after Forster’s death, his descendants found a handwritten note by him, “Publishable, but worth it?”

There are countless other factors in the world that can destroy or suppress a literary work. History has already done a pretty good job of destroying books, thanks to war, censorship and simple neglect, so why try to help out by deliberately incinerating one more?

June 30, 2008 | Filed Under Reviews | Leave a Comment

Two Poems: Kenneth Koch and Louise Gluck

April is National Poetry Month and okay, it’s not a Philippine activity but let’s appropriate their holidays for better poetry appreciation, yeah? I’ll be posting two poems every weekend of the month, with a personal commentary about my views towards the poems and as a way to showcase how reading good poetry doesn’t have to be academic in order to be worthwhile.

That being said, I will put a disclaimer here. Many of the things I will write are extremely subjective. Poetry is something I’m passionate about, but it’s an n00b’s brand of love–I do not use the correct terminologies and I may be severely uninformed. For those who would want to correct me though, feel welcome to do so. There’s nothing more stimulating than a good discussion.

First, let’s start off with a love poem:

To You
by Kenneth Koch

I love you as a sheriff searches for a walnut
That will solve a murder case unsolved for years
Because the murderer left it in the snow beside a window
Through which he saw her head, connecting with
Her shoulders by a neck, and laid a red
Roof in her heart. For this we live a thousand years;
For this we love, and we live because we love, we are not
Inside a bottle, thank goodness! I love you as a
Kid searches for a goat; I am crazier than shirttails
In the wind, when you’re near, a wind that blows from
The big blue sea, so shiny so deep and so unlike us;
I think I am bicycling across an Africa of green and white fields
Always, to be near you, even in my heart
When I’m awake, which swims, and also that I believe that you
Are trustworthy as the sidewalk which leads me to
The place where I think of you, a new
Harmony of thoughts! I love you as the sunlight leads the prow
Of a ship which sails from Hartford to Miami, and I love you
Best at dawn, when even before I am awake the sun
Receives me in the questions which you always pose.

This will be a central theme for most of the poetry I will post, eheh. The other is also about love, but a mournful one, and something that is told in quiet, distilled verses. But for simple love declarations, I find that I’m partial to rambly, extremely naive poems like this one and Having a Coke with You by Frank O’Hara. There is, of course, a danger in it, because it can so easily sound uh, retarded. And admittedly “To You” has less of the musicality I search for in poetry, but I’ve forgiven lesser poems than this in the face of one kick-ass metaphor. This poem has more than five. My favorites are the first line (of course), “I am crazier than shirttails / In the wind, when you’re near,”"I think I am / bicycling across an Africa of green and white fields / Always, to be near you.” I have read that Hartford is actually landlocked and so his analogy is absurd in this way, LOL. But it’s exactly the way we are at love, I feel, because trivial things like geography can easily be overlooked.

Kenneth Koch was associated with the New York School. Here is an interview talking about John Ashberry and Frank O’Hara. Also, I’m sad to discover that he’s dead.

The New York School and the Beat Generation of San Francisco are indispensable if you want vibrant, witty poems that never run out of odd images and similes. Other favorites that write on the same vein are Lawrence Ferlighetti (still alive! :o), Kenneth Rexroth and Gregory Corso. I find Allen Ginsberg (especially the latter poems) and Jack Kerouac highly overrated, sry. :/

The Triumph Of Achilles
by Louise Glück

In the story of Patroclus
no one survives, not even Achilles
who was nearly a god.
Patroclus resembled him; they wore
the same armor.

Always in these friendships
one serves the other, one is less than the other:
the hierarchy
is always apparent, though the legends
cannot be trusted–
their source is the survivor,
the one who has been abandoned.

What were the Greek ships on fire
compared to this loss?

In his tent, Achilles
grieved with his whole being
and the gods saw
he was a man already dead, a victim
of the part that loved,
the part that was mortal.

I’m sorry for not having a lot of things to say for this poem, because I’ve read it more than a dozen times and it still leaves me speechless. I’ll say though that my favorite part is this: “though the legends / cannot be trusted — their source is the survivor,/ the one who has been abandoned.” I may be horribly misreading this line, but it feels to me like the very act of ‘tribute’ or ‘remembrance’ will always say something more about the grieving one than the actual dead person. The way that Patroclus comes down in history as “friend of Achilles” and not the other way around also layers their relationship in terms of the equality(?) between them. It’s also interesting to note how the title contains the word “triumph” yet the body of poem describes Achilles grieving.

Glück has a knack for fleshing out mythological figures into flawed but still super-human characters. Her latest poetry collection, Averno, uses the Hades and Persephone myth to talk about the shadows of love, marriage, and possession.

April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Reviews | 1 Comment

Name! That! Shakespeare! LOLCAT!

Our Kapitan is in Bacolod and w’ere holding the fort by… killing grammar? In the venerable spirit of Caturday, I give you Lolshakespeare with a twist. I’m challenging RoD Blog readers to guess the character and the play each one is based on. The prize for anyone who gets all the answers right: a cheezeburger. Read or Die has the budget for that, srsly. So, are people up for the challenge? Please play, for I iz dork and lonely. @_@

y-u-fooln-me-in-ur-boi-drezz-u-luk-hott-in-tyts-tho.jpg

October 20, 2007 | Filed Under Miscellany, Caturday | 3 Comments

Biglang Kambyo–Poetry Time!

I’ve been writing down a review of Love Gather’s All an anthology I bought during Read or Die’s July Meeting. But, um, got distracted. So I decided to make a poetry post instead. I was inspired by what Mia
has been doing.

Pablo Medina isn’t in Love Gathers All, though. I got this from an awesome poetry community in LiveJournal called Breathe Poetry. They post one poem a day there, with an emphasis on contemporary poets. Their archives reach back to 2004 so there a ton of poems there to dig through. I like to go back from time to time, and am always able to find a gem. Go have a look. ^_^ This is from Burnt Sugar, a collection of contemporary Cuban poetry. I like this one especially, even if the Philippines is currently having a different kind of precipitation.

A Poem for the Epiphany
by Pablo Medina
for Ellen Jacko

It snows because the door to heaven is open,
because God is tired of working
and the day needs to be left alone.
It snows because there is a widow hiding
under her mother’s bed,
because the birds are resting their throats
and three wise men are offering gifts.
Because the clouds are singing
and trees have a right to exist,
because the horses of the past are returning.
They are gray and trot gently into the barn
never touching the ground.

It snows because the wind wants
to be water, because water
wants to be powder and powder wants
to seduce the eye. Because once in his life
the philosopher has to admit
to the poverty of thought.
Because the rich man cannot buy snow
and the poor man has to wear it on his eyebrows.
Because it makes the old dog think
his life has just begun. He runs
back and forth across the parking lot.
He rolls on the snow. He laps it up.

It snows because light and dark
are making love in a field where old age
has no meaning, where colors blur,
silence covers sound, sleep covers sorrow,
everything is death, everything is joy.

Give a link of a recently discovered poem, a favorite, or anything you want to share.

September 27, 2007 | Filed Under Miscellany | 3 Comments

Sounding off on Philippine Fiction

I was going to write about the Philippine Specfic issue, thanks to the links provided by Kenneth Yu and Bhex, but it careened into something entirely different. Sorry guys, suffer my verbiage for a while. Also, the “you” I talk about here is always, always a generic “you” unless otherwise indicated.

*drawsbreath*

Okay, the first part, addressing the issue. As a long-time reader of fanfiction, of course I believe that people have the right to write whatever the hell they want. That is why I occupy myself with reading stories about anorexic Japanese boybands (many months before, that time was spent on reading stories about a cantankerous Diagnostics doctor and his love for the Department of Oncology head). But this isn’t exactly the kind of fiction we are talking about, is it? Azerbaijani detectives and yuki-onnas in Neptune are all well and good, but are you really going to write something like it and declare it Filipino? Really, really? If I write, say, Naruto fanfiction, I wouldn’t do it with the intention of declaring it as Philippine Fanfiction. If ever get the urge, I’d probably choose a fandom closer to home. Like, you know, Encantadia. Or Noli Me Tangere.

This might sound Machiavellian but you do have to tailor your means to whatever end you envision. If your intention is only for lolz, that’s great, be sure to send the fiction my way. I am of the school that believes in LOLZ as the ultimate source of subversion. But if your great over-arching project is the creation of a benchmark in Philippine Speculative Fiction, you’ve got to invest some braincells into determining its nature and parameters. And you should be willing to take on the responsibility for it.

That’s not to say that fiction, to be distinctive of that nation, should be serious or even earnest. And by all means, plunder all the cultures you can think of to achieve it. Case in point: Gankutsuou. It’s basically a futuristic retelling of “The Count of Monte Cristo” with mecha robots and inappropriate boy-touching. The characters all speak in Japanese, though it is set in Paris, with occasional trips to outer space. I love this anime, particularly because they turn the original Dumas novel on its head. They impose their own paradigms, their own mores, on the original text and come up with an entirely different animal. A hybrid, so to speak.

If you go with Charles’ interpretation of Bhex’s post, something like Gankutsuou would be anathema. Or at least, it shouldn’t be labeled as Japanese. But it isn’t like that at all. The whole series reeks of the creator’s culture. And it’s not just the mecha that makes it Japanese, it’s the way they re-fashioned the plot which included the special brand of wackiness only the Japanese can create. From where I’m sitting, Bhex did not give a fundamentalist declaration of “what Philippine Spec Fic OUGHT to be.” She simply recognizes that appending those two words, “Philippine” and “Speculative” limits the field in a finite way, and goes on to posit her own boundaries. If you’re going to append those two words in the crap you write, then accept its ramifications. And shit, what’s wrong with asking for Tagalog science fiction? Of course, if it ever exists, it should be evaluated by its quality and not by the fact that it’s science fiction and written in Tagalog. But wouldn’t it be awesome if there was something like that?

I have no ready answers for the definition of “Philippine Spec Fic” but I do demand something substantial from the writers who are attempting it. There are a lot of books in the world, no need to waste my time with something insipid. This of course, comes from the point of view of a reader and an officious one at that. But I will say this: I want you, Writer, to write stories that strip away layers of myself and expose them to the light. Everything about me–culture, nationality, gender, religion–I want it all spilled on a page. I don’t care what conceit you use (or cosmetics, as Dean Alfar called it), but you do it, preferably with imagery that slays.

(Please the reader or die, ahaha.)

Personally, I think the key to the creation of Philippine Speculative Fiction is re-appropriation. I effing love that word. Our colonizers appropriated us first, molding us into an image that they felt comfortable with. We were the passive, indolent indios who weren’t smart enough to read social contracts and therefore not worthy of so noble a thing as freedom. Then we became those sorry savages who needed to be “benevolently assimilated.” It’s now our turn to appropriate, grab back the missing pieces of ourselves. Steal the histories denied of us, and if there is nothing left of it, take whatever that we find. Attack, plunder, and sail off with the spoils. (Forgive me, Talk Like a Pirate Day had lingering effects.) We may not be able to do that with physical artifacts, but through creative re-imagination, through writing ourselves, we can invent our past and our future into something distinctively ours.

Now for the matter of language. Jesus Christ on a cornfield.

Let me just say this, once and for all: Being unable to write in Filipino is not a virtue, stop treating it like one. If you don’t want to apologize for it, that’s fine, I don’t think you should. But the inability to string a decent Tagalog sentence on paper does not mean you are automatically a great writer in English.

It’s hardly fair to compare the change in Filipino language with that of English. The English language might be evolving quickly, but it’s not atrophying due to it’s people’s apathy, the way I sometimes feel it is with our languages. Because we don’t use them, certain words disappear. How many languages in different Philippine regions are lost to oblivion, either because people did not write it down or the document were destroyed by hostile aggressors? Benedict Anderson has said that ones language is the cornerstone of a nation. What does that say about us, with our collective amnesia?

Our history has always been a story of loss. Ambeth Ocampo has written an article about “unwritten Filipino books” in his opinion column and it’s staggering, how many narratives we can never retrieve. Do you know that aside from documents and letters, there are only three memorabilia from Andres Bonifacio’s early life that still survives? According to Adrian Cristobal’s “Tragedy of the Revolution,” a great fire swept Tondo in 1896 and burned all of Andres and Gregoria’s possessions. The only evidences Bonifacio’s life that were left were a telegram from an English company Fressel and Co., an unfinished baston that Andres himself crafted, and a dessert plate they lent to an aunt. Knowing this makes me want to weep. Language is even more ephemeral, especially if it’s not set on paper.

Going about it like things like these things don’t matter–it’s an attitude that I frankly find disdainful. As if the loss of a language (or one’s proficiency with it) is trifling and incidental. As if the erasure of words, narratives, and myths is something to be taken lightly. I am a much better writer in English than in Filipino, and you know what? I mourn that. The (bad) poetry I’ve written in Filipino fills me with despair because it feels borrowed, artificial. Isn’t that a kind of mockery, perceiving as strange something that should have been a part of you? Our history is characterized by waves of violence, including the history of our language. Reading people so cavalier about it–let’s just say it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Bienvenido Lumbera said in a RoD interview that identity is not clothing that you can take off and put back on, depending on convenience. It’s something that you continuously search and invent, so you might as well do it in your fiction. Write about your country and what you feel about it, whether it’s love, apathy or revulsion. And stop tiptoeing around the issue in the guise of “internationalism” or “open-mindedness.” What kind of a writer are you, if you choose not to be conflicted? I like to read because literature gives me painful questions that cannot be answered by pithy one-liners and I appreciate a writer who does not shirk from that. Fiction has no room for emotional cowards.

September 24, 2007 | Filed Under Latest, Miscellany, Reading | 5 Comments

September 2007 Reading List: Crime Novels

Kristel (um, that’s me) has compiled this month’s reading list, which delves into the underbelly of society, to give a glimpse of lives defined by crime.

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
- Dashiell Hammett is the earliest hard-boiled crime writer and still its master. This early work paints a bleak portrait of the American small town during the Prohibition. The nameless Continental Op tries to solve the murder of a newspaper-owner in Personville but gets caught up in the affairs of the city’s most ruthless criminals and the government officials who work for them. Hammett creates the quirkiest, most unscrupulous characters and gives them the wittiest lines. He never wastes a sentence, always honing it into something sharp and precise.

Double Indemnity, James M. Cain
- The title refers to a clause in a life insurance policy which allows the beneficiary to receive double of the expected amount if the insured person’s death is declared as an accident. The novel is short and fast-paced, typical of the period, but it is remarkable how James M. Cain depicts Walter Huff, an insurance salesman, and his slow, inexorable seduction into murder. Phyllis Nordlinger is the ultimate femme fatale with her capricious and irresistible beauty, more a force of nature than an actual human being.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith
- Tom Ripley is smart, personable and lustful of the wealth that his benefactor takes for granted. When this temporary lifestyle is threatened to be taken away from him, he takes ruthless steps to ensure his own future. Patricia Highsmith turns every Henry James novel on its head in this story of a murdering opportunist. With exquisite descriptions of Italy, Highsmith’s lush prose works ironically well in a psychological thriller. A portrait of the sociopath as a young man.

Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith
- Three frozen murder victims found in Moscow’s Gorky Park plunges Chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko into the search for a fur dealer exploiting Russia’s resources and also its justice system. His search for the truth robs Renko of his secure party-official life and plunges him into the unknown territory of America. Martin Cruz Smith paints a Russia during the heart of the Cold War but he never sensationalizes, never veers away from his clear, assured prose.

The Black Dahlia, James Ellroy
- Based on the sensational 1946 murder of a beautiful Los Angeles prostitute, “The Black Dahlia” adopts the language and sensibilities of a bygone era to tell the tale of a “psycho-sexual obsession. (The Times)” More than a murder investigation, the novel is about the history of the two cops that investigated the crime and how the spectre of Dahlia haunted their careers and ultimately their friendship. James Ellroy does not shirk from writing about violence and perversity, painting it all with disturbing elegance.

Omerta, Mario Puzo
- Made famous by “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo’s final novel chronicles the last of the New York mafia families and their attempt at “legitimacy.” Don Raymonde Aprile envisions for his descendants a life free from the crime and illegality his generation has been entrenched in. He is still, however, a Sicilian to the end, so he adopts Astorre and grooms him as his strongman. Destiny seizes Astorre when Don Raymonde is assassinated during his grandchild’s baptism, an act that puts in motion the wheels of revenge and death. Puzo’s style is still unmistakable, and his description of Sicily is at once cruel and loving.

September 15, 2007 | Filed Under Read or Die, Books, Reading | 4 Comments

Blogging the Book

Sorry for posting our updates about the MIBF just now. Let’s just say we’re all caught up in the whirl of activities. Well, we did warn that our coverage is semi-live. This post recounts the events on August 29, the start of the book fair. This is not a comprehensive report though, but the impressions of a few RoD volunteers. Before our the official opening, I asked our volunteers (all of them from Ex Libris UP) to try and record their experiences throughout the day. Thank you for doing your share, ladies! and I personally want to thank them all for being a part of our activities, not to mention enduring our helter-skelter schedule and accompanying ditziness. Photo documentation is courtesy of Kate Dy, also from Ex Libris UP. To the others, Abby and Jeriel, it’s not too late to blog!

Jayeanne Vergara

Sailing through the doors of the World Trade Center yesterday, (August 29, 2007) for the 28th Manila Iternational Book Fair, I was literally swamped with books. Novels, textbooks, picturebooks, comics… almost everything that has to do with the printed word covered every inch of the WTC. Bookstores, specialty shops and publishers all converged under one roof for 5 glorious days.

MIBF3

Heaven. Pure bliss. Volunteering for the Read or Die book club was certainly worth it.

Me and Bianca (another volunteer) were supposed to man the NBDB donation booth for most of the day, but it still wasn’t set-up so we were instead assigned to help out with the Vibal Publishing’s launching of the Wikipilipinas (it’s 4 things! 1. an almanac, 2. an encyclopedia, 3. a reference (??) and 4. a community of communities! ) and Filipiniana. net ( a Filipiniana digital lib… yey! great reference for school stuff). The people from Vibal taught people how to use these websites and create their own accounts. We were the first lucky ones to try out the sites and the brand new Macs they provided for the participants. They even gave out user manuals on how to edit your page using html code (or something like that. Pardon. I’m not really into this techie stuff ^^).

But the most exciting part for me (aside form lunch break.. hehe.. ^^) was when we went to the Philipine speculative fiction forum. We got to hear Dean Alfar, Nikki Alfar and a bunch of other writers talk about the genre. As a big fan of comics and grafiction (which are often catgeorized under this genre, too) I’m glad to hear that finally this type of genre is now discussed under *serious* terms. People usually classify this genre as mere pulp and pop, and as Dean Alfar said, it’s the responsibility of writers to create literary stories to help alleviate the status of the genre.

Well anyway, I got off duty right after the forum. Before leaving (of course) I took a quick shopping run and came home with 4 new books (yay… I finally have a copy of J.D. Salinger’s short story collection ^^).

Can’t wait for the next book fair!

Bianca Canoza

Going around and harassing passers-by with the powers of my flyers gave me a good view of the people who attended the fair. There were a jillion of them, some looking happy, some looking sad, some looking as though they ought to be in a different place.

So far, I have classified the following previously unknown specimens:

The Tag-along - These are the persons who were obviously blackmailed into coming in with their friend/family/loved one/pet. Like janitor fish, they cling on to their oblivious partner, and hope to see the light at the end of the day.
The Lost People - My favorite kind: the lost people are the bunch who wanders around dazedly as if shocked by the very sight of books. Usually, they have ten or so flyers dangling off their bags and hands before they get a hang of themselves.
VERY Important and Harassed-looking People - I bet that once every year, these people go find a little corner in a dark room and sing lullabies to themselves. Well, either that or they find other means of coping with their high-tension selves. Loosen up, people!
Desperate Salesfolk - These are the sort who give flyers to random people and write blog entries about it.
Taong Bato - The only known species resistant to all flyer-giving tactics known to man. I think they’re really plants disguised as humans. They probably attended the book fair in order to gather valuable information to be used for the plant invasion.
The Barkada - You remember the time you were in highschool and were surrounded by, oh, twenty of your friends? Well, it’s time to relive those thoughtless days once more.
The Shoppers - You can’t really hand them flyers since their hands are full of shopping bags and free samples. The Shoppers are notable, not because of their unique ability to hold as much as ten plastic bags in one hand, but because of the astonishing capacity of their wallets.
The Monks - Of course I had to mention them.

If there are any other species, please contact me. Or at least post another entry. If we can compile all the known types of bookworms, then maybe, just maybe we can have world peace. Or at least a very concise classification of bookworms.

August 30, 2007 | Filed Under Latest | 4 Comments

Literary Cosplay Wishlist

The Stepping Out: Literary Cosplay Competition at the Manila Book Fair is turning into a highly-anticipated event (CAN’T WAIT) and Charles Tan has written about the Top 10 Characters He Wants to See Cosplayed. I don’t read much Fantasy, so most of those characters are unfamiliar, but I think it’s a brilliant idea to list down the literary characters you want to see in the flesh. At best, those people willing to enter but lacking any costume ideas would be inspired. Here is my list thus far, and I’m sure it’ll get longer:

1. Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers by Robert E. Heinlein - Because the big guns would be cool. Not the movie adaptation, please.

2. Fantomas by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre - A less well-known criminal than Arsene Lupin but you really can’t beat the costume. You can even use an unmodified Tuxedo Kamen if you already have one! Just nix the single red rose, replace it with a bloodied dagger and everything is set.

3. Cardinal de Richelieu from The Three Musketeers. Tin and Yukitsu have already professed their burning desire to see the main characters of the Alexandre Dumas novels but this one would make me SO HAPPY.

4. Marquise de Merteuil from Les liaisons dangreuses - Only if she looks like the Glenn Close version.

5. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand - Okay, I admit it, I’m pimping all the French characters because I want to people with frilly shirts walking around World Trade Center. My favorite underachiever needs love and people should oblige me.

6. Stephen King’s Carrie - WHY NOT. Fake blood and messy props aren’t allowed but a red-dyed prom dress and crazy Sissy Spacek eyes are all that you’ll ever need, really.

7. Scheherazade from Arabian Nights - Personally, it’s the Hallmark Channel’s incarnation which I find most appealing, but there are almost as many depictions of the storyteller as the tales she told.

8. Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man - I want someone to try. Please, please try. So the skin art wouldn’t move as per the description from the stories, and some people may object to partial nudity, but wouldn’t it be cool just to meet someone that looks like this in person? Just so you know, my plea does not merely extend to the yakuza crime lords out there.

9. Captain Ahab from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick - Since I’m dispensing cosplay suggestions anyway, this one goes to the POTC fans. Of course, Ahab does not have the same, er, jauntiness as dear Captain Jack Sparrow. His temperament is closer to Barbossa, I guess. Or Captain Teague. XDD

10. The Wife of Bath - Gotta represent Mr. Chaucer somehow. Lol. The dear woman has a special place in my heart and her part in Canterbury Tales is the only one I tried to read in the original Middle English.

Also, SHERLOCK HOLMES!!!!

… I think we need to make a forum thread for this.

July 27, 2007 | Filed Under Miscellany, Events | 1 Comment

Websites for the Bored

Apologies for the silence these past few days. Things have been, uh, happening for us. Anyway, while we are getting ready for real posts, I present three journals that would occupy your time.

1. StrangMaps is a blog of maps you’ll never find in your geography textbooks. Peruse these titles, if you please: a map of Stephen King’s Maine, a Tourist map of Gotham, Where on Earth Was Middle Earth?. Those are some of the more literary ones but people should check other maps of interest. I’m particularly tickled by this Map of Online Communities.

2. Giornale Nuovo, maintained by a certain man of mystery named Mr. H, is a treasure trove of information, not to mention the most sumptuous scans of manuscripts I’ve ever seen. His choice of subject matter is both quirky and erudite, ranging from the different visual representations of the Tower of Babel to an illustrated Italian cookbook featuring anthromorphic vegetables. Mr. H seems to take great pleasure in collecting miscellany (even the expensive ones, some of his books are 200 years old or more!), and the juxtaposition of various interests give this blog a special flavor. Right now, I’m in awe of the works by two artists he featured, both of them previously unknown to me: the dark and unsettling portraits by Mexican painter Remedios Varo (more examples of brilliance here), and the exuberant Arabic calligraphy of Hassan Massoudy.

I need to thank the online fantasy anthology Unlined for pointing out StrangeMaps and Giornale Nuovo.

3. This last one is for all those who stay up late at night pondering the etymology of pandemonium. XDDD More word origins than you can shake a stick at can be found at Word Detective.com where Evan Morris writes monthly columns answering people’s most mind-boggling linguistic questions. His archive go as far back as 1995 and you can comment on his most recent columns on his blog. Did you know that hoi polloi has Greek origins? Or that maverick is an eponym of a Texas cattle rancher? Well, neither did I, but I’ve decided to read through the Word Detective’s back log and ejumacate myself. I learned a new word today: Rapscallion. Nice huh?

July 13, 2007 | Filed Under Miscellany, Reading | Leave a Comment

July 25-27: Pambansang Kumperensiya Sa Panitikang Pambata

This was forwarded to me by email, I think some people might be interested.

First National Conference on Literature for Children

The UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), will be sponsoring the first-ever Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Panitikang Pambata (National Conference on Literature for Children) with the theme “Tungo sa Gintong Panahon ng Panitikang Pambata” (Towards the Golden Age of Literature for Children) on July 25-27, 2007 at the Claro M. Recto Hall, Faculty Center, UP Diliman. The national conference will feature paper presentations by both established and young literary critics, creative writers, and visual artists for children led by renowned UP scholar Dr. Rosario Torres-Yu. Topics include interpretation and interpellation of Filipino aesthetics, historical and regional narratologies, educational and informational praxes, the culture of reading, media, diaspora, sexual politics, folklore, ethnography, peace talks, and poverty and revolution, – all in relation to literary production for children. Keynote speech will be delivered by critic and National Artist for Literature Virgilio S. Almario. The said conference will also feature workshop talks by illustrator Jose Miguel Tejido, Adarna House publisher Ani Rosa Almario, and renowned writer for children Prof. Rene O. Villanueva. For inquiries about conference fees, reservations and the like, contact Dr. Eugene Y. Evasco ( eugene.evascoATgmailDOTcom) and/or Prof. Will P. Ortiz ( bilogangbuwanATgmailDOTcom). You may also contact 9244899.

Kauna-unahang Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Panitikang Pambata

Iniimbitahan ng UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas – sa pakikipagtulungan ng National Commission for Culture and the Arts – ang lahat ng interesado sa kauna-unahang Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Panitikang Pambata, mula Hulyo 25 hanggang 27, 2007, sa Claro M. Recto Hall, Faculty Center, U.P. Diliman. May temang “Tungo sa Gintong Panahon ng Panitikang Pambata,” itatampok sa nasabing pambansang kumperensiya ang presentasyon ng mga papel-pananaliksik ng mga kilala’t bagong kritiko, manunulat at ilustrador, sa pangunguna ng kilalang iskolar ng UP na si Dr. Rosario Torres-Yu. Umiinog ang mga pananaliksik sa estetikang Filipino, pangkasaysayan ang rehiyunal na imbestigasyon, kalakarang pang-edukasyon, ang kultura ng pagbabasa, midya, migrasyon, politico-sekswalidad, folklore, etnograpiya, usapang pangkapayapaan, at kahirapan at rebolusyon. Panauhing tagapagsalita ang kritiko at Pambansang Alagad sa Sining para sa Panitikan na si Prop. Virgilio S. Almario. Ang nasabing kumperensiya ay kinabibilangan rin ng palihan at presentasyon ng ilustrador na si Jose Miguel Tejido, Tagapaglathala ng Adarna House na si Ani Rosa Almario, at kilalang manunulat ng mga panitikang pambata na si Prop. Rene O. Villanueva. Para sa mga katanungan hinggil sa kumperensiya, makipag-ugnayan kina Dr. Eugene Y. Evasco ( eugene.evascoATgmailDOTcom) at/o Prop. Will P. Ortiz ( bilogangbuwanATgmailDOTcom). Maaari ring kumontak sa 9244899.

Note: I made obvious edits on the emails mentioned here, just so spambots will not get to them.

July 5, 2007 | Filed Under Events | Leave a Comment

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