Unique roots, common Asian threads of the Philippine novel

The Philippines has become a largely English-speaking, Roman Catholic country in the Buddhist-Islamic world of Southeast Asia. Marked by 300 years of Spanish influence and four decades of American colonization, the country's difference can be seen in our novels.  

 

Two Filipino writers said as much during their talk, "Long and Hard: The Filipino Novel" during the Read Lit District, the Philippine International Literary Festival, which was held from November 14 to 16.

 

"I think we're sort of the odd person out in the region," Charlson Ong said, comparing the Filipino novel to other contemporary novels in the region. He began by reading an excerpt from of "A Bit of Earth," the fourth novel by Singapore's Suchen Christine Lim, which depicts the relationship between Chinese immigrants and the Malays in colonial Malaya.

 

"I think this is one of the narratives we share, the diaspora," said Ong, who received the Philippine Centennial Literary Prize in 1998 for his novel “Embarrassment of Riches” and the National Book Award for the Novel for “Banyaga" and "Blue Angel, White Shadow.” Lim and Ong were both winners of the 2012 South East Asian Writers Awards.

 

Historian and conservationist Bambi Harper, who on October 25 launched her first novel "Agueda: A Ballad of Stone and Wind" said Filipino culture is really different compared to other Asian countries. "From what I have seen of other Asian countries, it's a different sensibility. We are much more similar to Mexico. The history... and the emotions running wild, that sort of thing seems to be more prevalent in our literature," said Harper.

 

Saying we still have things in common with other young nation states such as Thailand and Indonesia, Ong shared that his objective is to relocate Philippine literature within South East Asia. "We tend to overlook it. We tend to think we are Americans in many ways," he said.

 

As Dr. Lilia Quindoza-Santiago wrote, "Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not escape being imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship." 

 

According to Ong, the market in the Philippines is already saturated. He said the market is now outside, with Singapore as the first step for our books to be seen by a much bigger readership.

 

"Our people are working in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, not in Mexico. More and more of our literature will concern that, the diaspora," he said. Ong also said he was most familiar with Singaporean writing, as many novels from other South East Asian countries were not available in English. "We read in English, and we need more translations," he said.

 

Meanwhile, Harper said she was more concerned with our own rather than the rest of Asia. "We should have more translation back and forth between Tagalog and English," she said. To illustrate her point, Harper cited the case of Hiligaynon writer Magdalena Jalandoni, who despite having 36 novels, has little chance of becoming a National Artist. Before her death in 1978, Jalandoni was given the Republic Cultural Heritage Award. However, when she was being nominated to become National Artist, only two out of 20 people in the room had read her, Harper recalled.

 

"I think it is important to reach out to our neighbors, but I think we should reach out to our own people," said Harper.

 

She shared that her objectives in writing "Agueda" included showing "that there was another time and place that seems to have disappeared totally." "How can our children and grandchildren appreciate the past... how can the younger generation be supportive of a cause when there is no evidence of its existence?" asked Harper.

 

Her purpose, she said, was to tell a story and to entertain. "If in the process this awakened some interest in our history and leads to research into the very rich material of our archives, I would have more than accomplished my purpose," she said. –KDM/KG, GMA News