A friend and I met up earlier for coffee and we ended up talking about writing and literature in general. There’s this thing about writing and books that I end up talking with her about them.
Anyhow, there’s this issue with “Ibong Mandaragit” recently and I just learned about it from her and other blog entries I’ve read the other day. Some people seem to think that it’s high-brow literature, others don’t appreciate it, etc. I personally haven’t read the book but I could sense that there are several points of view that are not able to meet. I won’t try to make them meet though simply because I don’t think I have the authority to say how these points of view will meet.
From what I gather, Ibong Mandaragit is difficult to read. I am thinking that it’s because of the language. If you think about the language barrier, it becomes a big issue. And it’s not just because of the proliferation of txtspk (textspeak) and kolehiyala english. There really are changes in the Filipino language that would make other works aside from Ibong Mandaragit seem too hard and even archaic. A list of words and notes at the back of the book could help students understand the text better, IMHO. Moreso, a teacher who will guide his/her class through the text would be able to facilitate discussion and an exchange of perspectives with respect to context and history could clarify things.
Maybe it’s the method of teaching which should be modified in order to bridge the gap between the two generations: the present-day students’ and the writer’s. I recall the summer I had to read Beowulf for an English class. Our professor gave us history lessons in order to make us understand the background of the text. She also read aloud certain parts of the text and gave her commentaries and asked us questions too. It might not have been the most interesting class (and being so early did not help one bit) but I didn’t hate Beowulf despite the difficulty I had reading it. Oh and I also had other readings in Middle English which were painful to read so I could relate with what could be called nosebleed moments. The Noli and El Fili were also difficult to understand and I even had the experience to try and tutor someone in Filipino class because of that. I had to review El Filibusterismo and history because of that. It was difficult because the tutee was not well-versed in Filipino because he grew up speaking in English in school and at home. That didn’t mean that we gave up. It meant more effort. The problem is, as I see it, if we don’t help each other understand the text, what will happen? Nothing.
But I swear, language does matter. If we don’t understand the language of the text, or find a way to somehow read the text, we won’t be able to figure out the beauty within the text. Sadly, Filipino is not a strong point in our educational system. Our textbooks are in English and in my experience, my parents have been speaking to us in English even when we were kids and they were buying us a lot of books in English. As you can read, most of my reading experience is in English. Maybe that’s part of the reason I could relate with Connie’s frustration with reading the text.
Right now, I am thinking that the text is its own self. And sometimes our understanding or appreciation of it may reflect our own personal experiences and biases. Right now, I can’t say I’ve been reading a lot so maybe this argument is weak. But I miss reading and it hurts me a little to read blog entries and comments about what should be deemed is literary and how they should be appreciated. I also felt a little annoyed by calling Connie’s blog entry as anti-Filipino. I think that’s being too simplistic when she was writing in the context of her helping her daughter read the text. (Though I suppose she sounded too simplistic by voicing out her opinions about certain literary works.)
I don’t really read a lot of best-sellers or what could be called classics (in whatever language). Then again I haven’t been keeping track. But I’ve observed that my preference varies from time to time. I currently prefer chick lit and manga. And it doesn’t mean that I read the known titles. I might be reading what’s deemed as trash or maybe people have no opinion on the matter. I read for the sake of finding out what could suit my mood and give me something back. (Though one might argue that if you never really wanted to learn something from a book, you won’t find any.) Even what’s seen as trashy Filipino romances could have relevance if you give it a chance — probably 30 minutes to an hour of reading time. There’s no one stopping you from reading or from liking or hating certain texts. But what have you learned from reading? What did you have to learn in order to understand it?
It probably boils down to our perspective when reading. Maybe we should all sit down and think about that for a while.
a business analyst/frustrated artist who resorts to playing around with toy cams, plastic dolls & plushies, as well as spinning poi when she's not too busy with work.