Rational Insanity
The heart and soul of our literature
Young writers have been coming to me lately asking what it is that makes our local literature different and more noticeable from all the rest. I have to answer this with a comparison.
When I was in Manila about a month ago, I met with a fellow participant in the 12th Iligan National Writer's workshop who is a Palanca Awardee for One-Act-Play herself. Marcel and I told her that those in Manila are luckier than those in the provinces when it comes to the technicalities involved in literature because they have numerous critiques in their midst. They can easily go to any of the literary big-wigs in Manila and have their work critiqued. Even better was the fact that they come face to face with some of these literary big-wigs almost everyday because they have a class under these masters or work for them. The question therefore is, why is it that with a technical paradise within their grasp, it is those in the provinces who tend to get noticed by the more demanding critiques in the field? Well, while it is true that technical expertise is no new matter to writers from the big cities of Manila, they are often left wanting of a cultural platform for their pieces. Those in the provinces encapsulate countryside culture in their work and so exhibit more cultural assertion in their pieces. Social platforms are abundant to writers in the big cities; with the daily diarrhea of issues and events spewed out by the back side of poverty, economics, and a terrible political system, social issues are as common as the traffic in the streets of these big cities. This is the reason why most writers from these big cities all write about the same things -- their edge come from the fact that with the technical skills they possess, they are able to present these social issues in more ways than one and have the equipment needed to mold these issues into an evolving and constantly growing body of literature.
Now, back to the provinces; with the cultural atmosphere that we, regional writers, dive into everyday, it is a shame that some young writers still choose to write about issues that they only see on television or read in the newspaper instead of things that we come face to face with everyday. The identity of literature comes from the cultural assertion in it. When we talk of cultural assertion, it basically means going back to our roots and grounding our work on the cultural elements that make up our regional identity. For instance, a poem about the plight of overseas contract workers, when written by someone from the big cities, would most likely sound like a poetic newscast, in that the focus would be more on the ACTUAL events surrounding the issue, but when written by someone from the regions, a cultural platform may be utilized by the writer, and so the issue would be tackled from a metaphorical point of view. The finished poem of someone from the region would use cultural events such as a burial family tradition or an ancient farming technique to indirectly refer to the actual event which would be the actual situation of an overseas contract worker. The question now is, is a cultural platform necessary when writing literature?
Of course there is no hard fast rule that dictates that every piece of literature should have a cultural platform, but the presence of this cultural platform gives a literary piece cultural assertion, hence, it is able to BRIDGE or LINK historical culture to the present day, while in the absence of a cultural platform, a literary piece would serve to record present day events in a literary manner. This is entirely different from plain factual history because, again, it's in the manner by which it is presented, and in literature, even when literature is non-fictional, form has to be considered. Cultural assertion is what gives regional literature its heart and identity.
While not all Filipinos can identify with the culture that appears in regional literature it serves its purpose by helping those in the regions identify with and associate to the local culture.
Literature has many functions, and one of this is to encapsulate culture. Currently there is an astounding body of work that could be considered Filipino literature, but only a small percentage of this body of work could be considered 'regional literature'. Forcing writers from the regions to assert culture in their pieces would be like enforcing a dictatorial rule on the mentalities of the writers which is definitely a no-no, but encouraging regional writers to consider a cultural platform in their work would truly give regional literature more heart and soul than it already has.
Try writing about the "manug-uga" in your own market and use your imagination to conjure up a story about the candle peddler at your local cemetery. There is an infinite spectrum of issues that we could actually affine to these cultural images and, as a plus, we also end up having a more concrete piece of literature instead of a flimsy, abstract, piece of rubbish.
Be rational; be insane, every once in a while! TTFN!
Hello to my dearest readers, to Vanessa, to Lea, Jenny, Am-am, Dot, Verona, James, Sheen, Hellpen, Anne, Mary Dale, Chan,Michelle, Zarthus, Jonald, Mr. Bobot, Vic, Vincent, and Rex, Alex, Arvin, Corz, Jim, Kiara, Malikh, Audrae, Franz, Hendrick, Janice, Jay, Jim, Jonathan, Mark, Marz, Mel, Pres, Nhonoy, Niel, Piper, Rheavil, Joey, Alma, Rodolfo, Ecker, Ryan, Roni, Ian, Narle, Sunny and to Anuj of CMC, I love you all! Byers! Salamat gid sa mga walang-hintong text and reactions nyo! Catch Rational Insanity in TNT's online edition, check us out at www.thenewstoday.info, text me at (0920)9254269, or email me at prague@eudoramail.com. Byers! Mmmmmmmwah!