Cultural exchange in action

The recent controversy over the so-called “Book Blockade of 2009” — happily resolved, at least for the time being, in the Filipino reader’s favor — brought up some other issues that proved interesting for more than academic reasons. In discussions I had about the matter with, among others, the good people at the National Book Development Board (which as been at the forefront of the effort to enforce the Florence Agreement exempting book imports from taxation), it emerged that some very basic questions still needed to be answered to enlighten not just our tax collectors, but also the public at large, on books and literature, and on their value to a society.

For example, can the blockbuster vampire-romance novel Twilight by Stephenie Meyer — reportedly the book whose importation triggered the whole “blockade” brouhaha — be in any way construed to be “educational”? I have to confess that I haven’t yet read the book (as you can imagine, vampire novels are not exactly my top choice of reading fare), but some reviewers apparently think so. The venerable Times of London has been quoted as saying that Twilight captured “perfectly the teenage feeling of sexual tension and alienation” — material that any adept teacher can draw on for class discussion as much as Romeo and Juliet.

Over at the UP Institute of Creative Writing, we’re sitting down to mull these questions over, hoping to provide the NBDB and other government agencies with some friendly and useful advice. Here are some of my preliminary thoughts on the matter, which we’ll finalize soon for transmission to whomsoever may find these ideas helpful:

Literature pertains to any and all material — written or spoken — that employs words and language to convey meaning. In a narrower sense it is an art form comprising printed or recorded words that may be further classified into the genres of poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction. Literature is an imaginative exploration, through language, of human experience.

Thus, the creation and consumption of literature is an important cultural activity. Literature helps to describe, define, and even direct the thoughts, feelings, and practices of a community of readers.

All books, regardless of what may be perceived to be their artistic merit, belong to literature. They possess intrinsic educational value, as they can be used to illuminate and instruct the reader about some particular aspect of human life or about the craft of literature itself. Thus, even “bad” literature (bad whether in form or substance) may have something of instructional value to be derived and developed by a capable teacher.

It is not only the Bible nor Shakespeare nor a physics textbook from which or from whom we can learn. Even works of popular fiction — such as the Harry Potter series or The Da Vinci Code — conceived primarily for their entertainment value, can be used to teach readers about life and about literature itself, and may even have greater cultural and social significance precisely because they tend to reach much larger audiences.

It should never be left to government — and not even to literary critics — to decide which books are “educational” or of “social or cultural value” and which are not. Literary tastes and fashions change, as do societies themselves, and there is certainly more to literature than its moral content or the lack thereof, as important as this aspect may be to some readers and policymakers. Books facilitate cultural exchange, fostering in the reader a better understanding of the outside world and improving his or her ability to engage with that world.

As with democracy itself, literature must allow for a wide variety of subjects, themes, treatments, and styles, even the shallowest or most repugnant of which helps define a range of standards that can guide intelligent readers in forming their own informed assessments and conclusions. Thus, all books deserve equal protection and consideration under the applicable laws, as far as their tax-exempt status is concerned.

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Speaking of books, I’m happy to announce the launch of the first book of a former student of mine, Carljoe Javier, along with that of a former UP Workshop fellow, Vlad Gonzales. The launch takes place tonight at 7 pm at Mag:Net on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City. Both Carljoe and Vlad were fellows at this year’s Baguio workshop, and both acquitted themselves handsomely with some very sharp prose — Carljoe in English and Vlad in Filipino — that also highlighted many of their generation’s preoccupations: chiefly among them, what Carljoe might call “geek civilization,” that predominantly youthful mindset of those raised on computers, the Internet, Neil Gaiman, the X-Men, and the Eraserheads. Carljoe’s And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth and Vlad’s A-Side/B-Side: Ang Mga Piso sa Jukebox ng Buhay Mo are both published by Milflores Publishing.

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I was surprised to realize last week that a full year had passed since I went to Sydney last May for that beautiful city’s writers festival; it took a message from poet Marjorie Evasco — whom I’d recommended to the festival, and who’d just returned — to remind me of time passing.

Here’s part of Marj’s report, which I’m quoting to emphasize the point that it isn’t only our boxers and singers who represent us out there and who give us cause to rejoice:

“I had two events: the first, called ‘The Poet’s Voice,’ was held at the Banggara Theatre on Pier Two of Walsh Bay in the early afternoon of May 20; and the second, ‘Writing the Mother Tongue’, was at the Sydney Philharmonic Choir Studio in the late afternoon of May 21.

“The first event was moderated by Susan Hayes and there were five of us reading our poems for 10 to 15 minutes each: Australian poets Robert Grey, Emily Ballou and Emma Jones; American poet Devin Johnston; and myself. Susan had asked me to read one poem in Cebuano so the audience would be able to hear the music of the language. I read my short ‘Origami’ poem in Cebuano. It was good that there were three Cebuanos in the audience: Filipino-Australian Dr. Agnes Reynes Williams (from Davao), Ross Camara and Monet Aranas (both from Cebu).

“After the reading, we all went to the authors’ book signing table at Gleebooks near the cafés on the pier. Good thing I followed your advice and sent copies of the final edition of my first book, Dreamweavers and the just-released Skin of Water (both by Aria Edition Inc.) I enjoyed signing copies and meeting those who attended the events of the festival that day.

“The second event was an ‘Author Talk’ session moderated by Katrina Schlunke, a writer and Cultural Studies professor. We decided to make the presentation a combination of a poetry reading and a conversation on the language of poetry, and postcolonial acts of language, including ‘transcreation’ (my term for my process of navigating between English and Cebuano). This session gave me the chance to read more poems in Cebuano. Once gain, it was good to have Filipinos in the audience.

“When I was done with all the events, I could relax as a member of the audience. I especially enjoyed the session of novelist Tash Aw (of Malaysia) and Abbas El-Zein (of Lebanon), which was on ‘Childhood and Conflict’ in their novels and memoirs.”

Good for you, Marj! Cebuano poetry in Sydney — that’s cultural exchange in action and at its best.

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E-mail me at penmanila@yahoo.com, and visit my blog at www.penmanila.net.