Four New Viewpoints

There are four new (and long) essays on the ongoing discussion. Some brief excerpts:

From Tomatomaria:

Connie Veneracion's and that other girl's statements are indications of some people's attitudes toward learning and discovery. When has this all started? When has it been considered bad or undesirable to read books that would enlighten you, that would make you grow as a person, that would enable you to think more critically?

I am the product of two readers and I think this is the one thing in the world that I am most thankful for and am insanely proud of. If my parents were lax and let me learn how to read at my own pace, if they were the sort of parents who never pushed me to understand the things that I do not, then I seriously don't know if I could've gotten a good job or if I would even be posting stuff in this blog now. Because of my parents, I was able to grasp the reality that life isn't something that you go through by making small, easy steps. The lessons you learn and the experiences you encounter should be able to push you to be someone better, someone who embraces what it can offer.

If you don't have the time to read Tolstoy, then say so. Don't make disinterest an excuse because it just makes you seem stupid. Reading classic literature is no walk in the park. It has to be done with a certain grace and persistence. These works have been published for us to learn important lessons from them and they have been crafted, yes, to be taught by capable people.

From The Read Or Die Weblog (Part 1):
"...people insulting Ms. Veneracion’s intelligence and/or ranting about stupidity (called for though it may be) would serve as more evidence, yet again, of the elitism of the Filipino literati. And no matter how beautifully written other posts on literature might be, they still wouldn’t reach me. How could they? I would read them without fully understanding their arguments, because I wouldn’t actually have experienced the beauty of literature — despite all assumptions to the contrary.

The original article is indeed as guilty of elitism as the literati it accuses: in its case a reverse elitism, a prejudice against difficult reading and books considered “high literature” (a concept still valid to most of the people who agreed with Ms. Veneracion). However that does not diminish the fact that there really is elitism in the way many Filipinos view, read, and write literature. That there are people disgruntled with the current status quo — or at least their perception of it — should come as no surprise, and though some of them take it to extremes it doesn’t excuse the apparent lack of material written to change their perspectives, especially in light of the amount of effort that has gone into discrediting Connie Veneracion.

What would have been a possible alternative?"

From The Read Or Die Weblog (Part 2):
"Perhaps we needed something to demonize, to pour all our frustrations about literacy and literary appreciation onto, and this article just happened to come up at exactly the right time.

A different (we cannot exactly say “deeper,” as some of the reactions have in fact gone so far as to overanalyze particularly inflammatory sections) analysis of Miss Veneracion’s column would yield a genuine concern for the country’s educational standards. The classics are losing an audience among readers - especially young readers - with more contemporary tastes, and our educators are failing to address that loss.

Thanks to the opinions exchanged, it became clear that there IS resentment between readers and literary writers in the Philippines, and it has been brewing under the surface for ages. It’s certainly not a one-way street - some readers resent writers for feeling like they’re being deliberately alienated from the text and then made to feel inferior about it. But some writers also feel alienated from their intended readers because the latter don’t make an effort to understand their work - and even passionately discourage each other from doing so!

The thing is, this whole war appears to be going badly, as it’s now lending itself more to typecasting than to any sort of righteous indignation. If there was a rift between writers and readers before Ms. Veneracion’s article was written, it could well have grown after our respected literary bodies have turned it into something to be blindly despised."

From Go Away:
"Hindi elitista ang literatura. At least hindi lahat. At base sa nilalaman at paksa ng Ibong Mandaragit, I think it’s safe to say na hindi subscriber si AH sa school of thought ng art for art’s sake. As with other forms of art, we have to put literature in it’s proper perspective before we are able to give a proper review and commentary on its form and content. Put it in its proper context and you’ll realize why it was written that way. I have two words for you: 60s, Tagalog. Tagalog as opposed to the other languages in the Philippines. And the simple fact that there exists subversive literature, contradicts the point that literature is elitist. It’s not about wanting to appear profound and learned, but about literature being a form of art that have different forms and styles, and experimentation with their use to achieve something new. Ang dali niya i-dismiss ang Ibong Mandaragit bilang obsolete at elitista, pero siya ang elitista. Sasabihin din ba niya yun sa mga sinulat ni Shakespeare?"

The summarized links have been updated on this post.