With the Internet consortium fully grasping the extent of its powers, the 21st century has flagrantly welcomed people from all walks of life to her “create-click-post” bosom. There is never a better time to express and inform oneself: Simply insert a witticism as your Facebook status, and you’ll set the entire news feed forest ablaze. The latest news nowadays often first breaks out on Twitter, with its 140-character limit defining swift sass. Almost everyone has gone through the pains of laboring a blog, over various platforms; to the point even the minutiae of mundane lives are given the full pixel treatment.
It is in this thriving social media that the sea of literary prospects becomes worthy to be explored. Hopeful writers with little experience promote themselves on the Internet, building a portfolio in the process, until merit is uncovered and sets the writer out to ink print possibilities. But self-publishing has serious inconveniences: The lack of discipline and the descent to narcissistic complacency. There is a tendency to exhaust one format and resist honing potentials further, on or offline, hence remaining just another blip on the Google radar. This generation’s creative outlets are massive and far-reaching, yet the majority that is seen and heard is a surfeit of generic prose and poetry, snatches of indulgent talking-head opinion, and the woeful inebriation of apathy disguised as cool — using youth as an excuse to consent the atrophy of masterful literary skill.
Has anyone embarked on the juggernaut to revitalize Philippine literature in recent times? Miguel Syjuco is one man dauntless in breaking that mold. The 33-year-old Manila-born, Montreal-based novelist, fresh from the whirlwind international book tour circuit, is the current salute of the literati, having garnered major acclaim for his metafictional Filipino headtrip, Ilustrado.
Continue reading “Miguel Syjuco: A Prelude to Philippine Literature in The Making”
