tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37697142778501428412024-03-16T09:09:29.446+08:00in lieu of a field guideRisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comBlogger466125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-47303800468642413692024-01-30T00:22:00.021+08:002024-01-30T20:35:46.161+08:00Almost an interpretation Pasalubong (Presents) by Maria Rilkë Arguelles (Philippine High School for the Arts and Grana-PH Book Publishing, 2022) "Real art has the capacity to make us nervous," said Susan Sontag in her essay "Against Interpretation," where she expressed her displeasure at interpreting (or taming) works of art to conform to how one apprehends this world. "As if there were any other", she scoffedRisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-16435080515761757262023-12-15T12:51:00.001+08:002023-12-15T12:51:37.226+08:00Poem Translation of "Tula" by Patrick Bautista. From Walang Ibig Sabihin (Twaddle). Read the original Filipino poem here (pdf). Zine design by Ipe Soco. Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-58014166957445303512023-10-16T21:11:00.001+08:002023-10-16T21:11:15.802+08:00The case of the vanished parcel One of my anticipated works in translation is The Vanished (Ang Nawawala), a collection of linked stories by Chuckberry Pascual, translated by Ned Parfan (19th Avenida Publishing, 2023). I was previously on the hunt for the original Filipino edition but I could no longer find it online. It was already out of print.So I ordered the translation online on October 1. It was taking unusually Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-51207988567431994532023-09-17T02:01:00.009+08:002023-09-20T11:57:26.763+08:00But for the lovers of books "The danger of making a list," said Borges, "is that the omissions stand out and that people think of you as being insensitive." For every list of best books, a counter-list could be countered. To which another more supposedly progressive and radical list could be put forward. Ad infinitum. The argument would never be settled. So we should just continue reading and sampling books until we Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-46395419783898411722023-09-07T22:40:00.001+08:002023-09-07T22:40:46.127+08:00On Karel Čapek's R.U.R., translated by Rogelio Sicat1997When Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in chess in 1997, it was a defining moment in the history of machine learning. In intellect and mind games, the supreme facility of artificial intelligence was no longer in doubt. It was only a matter of time for efficient machines to supplant imperfect human beings in matters of work.Kasparov. (Photo) &Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-18700473295796981882023-08-28T02:24:00.042+08:002023-09-05T09:52:41.949+08:00Notes toward a review of 1762, steampunk novelVin dela Serna Lopez's 1762 (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2023) was one of the books that caught my attention in the Philippine Book Festival in Manila last June. I gravitated toward it for various reasons. Its arresting cover was a vision in burgundy. Two ships floating on a "wine-dark sea", clearly at odds with each other with all that heavy smoke in between; the prominent number-title Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-73192007407915065522023-08-18T16:32:00.007+08:002024-01-18T16:47:42.048+08:00Coming in translation from the PhilippinesJorge Luis Borges once said in a lecture, "Sometimes, looking at the many books I have at home, I feel I shall die
before I have come to the end of them, and yet I cannot resist the
temptation of buying new books. When I go, when I walk inside a library,
I find a book on one of my hobbies ... I say to myself, "What a pity I can't buy that book
because I already have a copy at home." In Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-31548281971363799682023-08-15T22:59:00.003+08:002023-08-16T16:04:43.651+08:00Tokyo Fiancée I'm in the middle of reading Tokyo Fiancée (Europa Editions, 2009) by the Belgian novelist Amélie Nothomb, translated from French by Alison Anderson. The original title was Ni d'Eve ni d'Adam. "With my six thousand yen I could buy six golden apples at the supermarket", said page 7. "Adam surely owed that much to Eve." The publishers, who wanted to exoticize the Japanese connection and Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-66417642162104868982023-03-22T11:13:00.001+08:002023-03-25T13:21:20.503+08:00Yuri Herrera's fables of grimreaperies Sometime before 2013, before the publication of La transmigración de los cuerpos, Yuri Herrera rode a time machine, arriving in the year of the COVID-19 epidemic. He carefully observed the hygiene protocols, the atmosphere of fear, the characteristic panic and panorama of paranoia. He took notes; he had to register the bite of the present. He must have the pall of the moment and the Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-61410605450784846112023-03-06T10:42:00.004+08:002023-03-06T11:52:04.873+08:00Eka Kurniawan's revolutions Mga Himutok sa Palikuran at Iba Pang Kuwento (Graffiti in the Toilet and Other Stories) by Eka Kurniawan, translated from Indonesian to Filipino by Amado Anthony G. Mendoza III (Savage Mind Publishing House, 2021) And then the storm of shit begins.- Roberto Bolaño, By Night in Chile According to the book's introduction by Carlos M. Piocos III, the selections in Mga Himutok sa Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-72364426874652499482023-02-18T22:24:00.001+08:002023-02-18T22:24:58.191+08:00On Natsume Sōseki's late novelsIn the Chronology that prefaced Natsume Sōseki's Sanshirō (Penguin Classics, 2009), translator Jay Rubin divided Sōseki's novels into two phases: early novels (1905-08) and late novels (1909-16). The first of the late novels was And Then, where the protagonist, as described in the Chronology, was "more intelligent and internalized than Sanshirō" and the novel contained "much darker view of human Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-23753809096693604692023-02-13T22:59:00.001+08:002023-02-14T04:48:49.824+08:00Rosmon Tuazon's still lifes A month ago I read Sa Pagitan ng mga Emerhensiya (Between Emergencies), a collection of poetry in Filipino by Rosmon Tuazon. I'm still thinking through the lines. I intuit a question behind some poems. The lines tried to supply an answer to the question by circling around images and ideas. No answer was forthcoming as the question gave rise to more questions. There was a profundity beyond Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-65762751326377773212023-01-28T21:50:00.005+08:002023-01-29T08:18:19.278+08:00"Pessoa, Pessoa" (Rosmon Tuazon) Pessoa, Pessoaby Rosmon Tuazon Sou somente o lugar &Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-52779571368538126622023-01-21T12:31:00.005+08:002023-01-21T13:29:10.429+08:00Hoshino Tomoyuki's meme ME by Hoshino Tomoyuki, translated by Charles De Wolf (Akashic Books, 2017) "The power of thought" was how Ōe Kenzaburō described the "genius" of Hoshino Tomoyuki in Ōe's afterword to the novel ME, justifying Ōe's selection of ME for the prize named after him. In Hoshino's novel, Ōe was reminded of Kōbō Abe, even making the bold claim that sections of Hoshino's writing even surpassed Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-29389957502696909482023-01-03T22:47:00.008+08:002023-01-05T17:02:40.568+08:00Tanizaki's slow reveal Devils in Daylight by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, translated by J. Keith Vincent (New Directions, 2017)I don't know who's going to kill whom. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you the details over the telephone. What I can tell you is that this very night, at a certain location, a certain person is going to put an end to a certain someone else's life. This is all I have been able to get wind of Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-92037830158494228212022-11-30T22:57:00.001+08:002022-11-30T22:57:33.503+08:00So pleasant So pleasant. Crystal waters, springs, shade and sun. Black-Ox Farm,
belonged to an Eleutério Lopes — ways afore the Blue Field, on the way
to the Scorched Desert. That was in February or January, in the time of
the corn bloom. Moreso: what with the silver-tipped country-captain,
which thrives in the cerrado; anise adorning its thickets; and the
deianiras with tiny flowers. That Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-80208097949008704492022-09-18T00:41:00.014+08:002022-09-18T16:26:47.844+08:00A poet's abdicationCanopy by Mikael de Lara Co (Vagabond Press, 2017) This poetry collection was full of invocations, full of imagery so frail and fragile they could shatter at a mere whisper: a river singing its rapids, a string tethered to a wrist, the evergreen canopy, the image of upturned hands. The image of hands upturned as if praying or asking for restitution for specific crimes, or reprieve from Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-53148579841058216732022-03-20T00:00:00.002+08:002023-09-13T09:58:36.789+08:00Stories for imeldific times Our Lady of Imelda by Kristian Sendon Cordero (Savage Mind Publishing House and Cecilio Press, undated) Recent buys from Savage Mind Bookshop I knew the book (booklet, really) was small, but to see and hold it with my hand alongside other normal-sized trade Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-49166890048283077012022-02-27T23:42:00.002+08:002022-03-03T12:21:42.923+08:00Amélie Nothomb's misrepresentations“Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler.” The quote was attributed to Einstein. At least that's how The Calculus with Analytic Geometry
by Louis Leithold attributed it. It stuck to me because how often do
you have a maths textbook with a provoking epigraph. As if the proofs of theorems were not enough for one to get mystified by. After the literary earnestness and Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-26547388788167496152022-02-19T00:41:00.007+08:002022-07-01T15:54:19.742+08:00Upcoming translations from the Philippines English translation of novels originally written in Philippine languages is a recent phenomenon. In the 20th century, only 6 novels from the Philippines were translated into English. In the last 15 years (2006-2021), some 29 novels were translated. Most of these were bankrolled by local university presses. Only a handful were distributed in print outside the country. These include Jose Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-18053542631772056812022-02-15T02:40:00.012+08:002022-02-15T12:07:08.162+08:00Schrödinger's cat was a zombie When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West (Pushkin Press, 2020) Amateur Reader teased the Sebaldian tendencies of Benjamín Labatut's Anthropocene novel of verdure. There was simply an overabundance of associations in the novel. The first part, for example, on the blue pigment Prussian blue, had the breathless Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-61206454969317762462022-02-10T21:19:00.006+08:002022-02-10T21:33:57.595+08:00The giant lie in The Buried Giant I was thinking how The Buried Giant was an elegant variation on Kazuo Ishiguro's (KI's) themes: memory, forgetting, historical wrongs. However, he had pulled the rug from under the feet of his characters. Instead of unreliable narrators recalling their past, he enshrouded his ancient English world with a literal mist where anyone under it was under the spell of forgetting. Unreliable Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-2662844084387519532022-02-03T01:29:00.005+08:002022-02-22T23:04:42.343+08:00Notes on The Buried Giant Why is it when I read Kazuo Ishiguro I could laser-focus on what he's saying in the text before me? Was it a product of leisurely pacing of his prose? The slightly off yet so careful turns of phrase which intensified the act of reading. There were no overt modernist hijinks and purple pyrotechnics where readers multitask their mind to absorb the stream of images and weirdness. Ishiguro's Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-34170710477712449522022-01-30T13:26:00.014+08:002022-02-03T11:23:52.428+08:00Qiu Miaojin's manuals for young people To this day, I've never understood my fear. Where does it come from? I'd been keeping my deviant sexual desires in check for most of my adolescent and college years. I reassured myself that I'd done nothing wrong. It felt like the fear was coming from inside of me. I never did anything to attract it, nor did I choose to be this way. I had no hand whatsoever in shaping the self that was Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-20230294416960933252022-01-22T21:55:00.010+08:002022-01-23T22:12:32.783+08:00Two French filmsIn Notes of a Crocodile, translated by Bonnie Huie, Qiu Miaojin had her protagonist describe two films from France. The first, Mauvais Sang (1986), directed by then-26 years old Leos Carax, starred Denis Lavant and Juliette Binoche and had a intriguing premise. A sexually transmitted disease called STBO is sweeping the country; it’s spread by having sex without emotional involvement, and most of Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com3