Books launched

To be candid, I hardly have time to read books kindly sent me by their authors, or by friends. I generally skim over them after reading their prologues or introductions.

It was sometime ago the highly esteemed literary writer-critic Isagani R. Cruz sent me his slim volume The Lovely Bienvenido N. Santos. Its prologue strongly suggests that Isagani went through a most laborious, complex process in writing the book. Indeed, it must have involved enormous patience and determination on his part.

The prologue opens thus: "At the outset, I want to say that about ninety percent of the words in the two creative nonfictional literary biographical plays that form the core of this book are the words of Bienvenido N. Santos himself, writing either to himself in his journals, marginal notes, or lecture notes, or to others in his letters, postcards, or inscriptions, or to the world at large in his published poems, essays, short stories, novels, plays, interviews, and other works. He wrote a lot, to put it mildly. His writings fill several boxes. Except for my sometimes changing personal pronouns and adjusting punctuation marks when necessary, his words appear as he wrote them."

The intriguing prologue explains further: "I make no claim to factuality or accuracy in this two-part literary biography. The historical Bienvenido N. Santos may or may not have been identical to the literary character named Bienvenido N. Santos that I have sketched in these pages, nor to the pseudonymous characters obviously meant also to represent the writer.

"The plays are addressed primarily to Santos himself, wherever he might be."

It is safe to presume that the highly illuminating plays immeasurably add to one’s knowledge of Santos both as man and as literary icon. Significantly, the book (UP Press) won one of the five first prizes in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature that earned Isagani R. Cruz a place in the Palanca Hall of Fame.

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Echoes from Malolos: In Search of Meaning for Others by Dr. Elpidio I. Valencia, former Secretary of Health, is an autobiography that makes for easy reading.
It contains highlights of his medico-military career here and in the US, his touching courtship of Rosie Osmeña whose father, President Sergio Osmeña, he earlier served as aide-de-camp, and whose nationalism and integrity, he praises glowingly.

One reads about Dr. Valencia’s meeting with VIPs, e.g., Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., and Gregory Peck who helped the Valencias raise funds for charity.

The reader draws deep values from the autobiography, the author being a religious philanthropic man – he is a Papal Knight – has also insights into Malolos, his hometown, where he grew up under the care of spinster aunts in the Valencia ancestral house which was razed by fire.

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Personalizing Russia (Kayumanggi Press) was written after a two-month official visit to Moscow by the well-known, well-loved Carmelite nun (Sr. Teresa Joseph Constantino) from Nov. 1993 to Jan. 1994. The introduction contains layer upon layer of meaning that illustrates the author’s profound humility of spirit and religious faith.

When Sr. Teresa queried Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewiez about faith in Russia, he replied: "The ordinary and mostly grassroots populace of Russia are deeply spiritual. They are a long-suffering, compassionate people, shaped by a long tradition of Christianity and its values (both Orthodox and Catholic). And they greatly thirst for God."

Personalizing Russia is a "smorgasbord" of a book. One can choose to read any chapter that strikes one’s fancy because each is complete in itself.

Sr. Teresa adds: "But this is also one story of a seemingly impregnable faith from beginning to end; moreover, in that one story are many stories. Some might be preferred for easier reading "kwento" style, such as the pilgrimage to Vilnius, the meeting with now Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s Sisters in St. Petersburg. Or one may get a review of the Russian "greats": Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Pasternak, and even Solzhenitsyn, or know a most famous contemporary poetess – Anna Akhmatova."

The author points out that after one has read the book, perhaps one will have acquired searing insights into the unfolding of the varying depths of the Russian soul. One may also have probably interiorly experienced a dilation of one’s capacities for such depths of understanding and compassion for a people who have undergone much suffering and are still in the dark about their future.

"With ‘terrorism’ as the fourth horseman of today’s apocalypse (following fascism, nazism and communism), but nevertheless with the much hoped for emerging global spirituality in action, it is prayerfully hoped that this ‘exercise’ of emphatic understanding and compassion (using Russia as a test case) can generate a vast dynamo of creative energies for true and enduring peace and a genuine brotherhood among all mankind."

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The coffee table book Puntong Batangan, written and published by Marian Pastor Roces, Tony Pastor’s niece, is the history of Batangas City and its people. Four years of painstaking, detailed research went into the book which features, among others, illustrious Batangueños – the Lunas, Villanuevas, Borbons, Caedos, etc.

The book was launched at the Pastors’ ancestral home after a dinner-concert which featured soprano Joanna Go, baritone Lionel Suico, tenor Rafael Pastor, pianist Augusto Espino and Tony Pastor, pianist-singer.

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Vol. II was accompanied by the following information.

A long lost library of old tales about our earliest ancestors is the wealth of material Marlene Aguilar has gathered for the future of the Philippines.

"We have thousands of folk tales covering every region, stories that originate from over 80 dialects. In such a diversity of historical folk lore are stories of the moon and the stars, of creation, of nature, of magnificent deeds. This rich history defines who we are," she said.

Among Marlene’s favorites are the stories that describe the first Filipinos – their beliefs, lives before colonization. There’s the "Legend of Creation," with God creating man and woman from the same bamboo, of equal status, without gender bias. "The Land of the Immortals" tells of the Egyptian origins of a tribe in Mindanao. Cainta is named after a wealthy and generous woman named "Ka Inta."

When Marlene first came upon these stories she felt for her two sons who had never read them. She felt sad for herself because she was only reading them as an adult. "Where were they when I was at school? There is not enough of Philippine art, culture, and Philippine history in our education."

So there is a special place for the five proposed volumes of Myths & Legends of the Philippines. She said, "The volumes – to be completed by 2008 – will contain around 150 stories and this is but a thumbnail of what exists."

Marlene knew the stories had to be illustrated to bring them to life. The obvious choice of artist was Jun Martinez. "His work is distinct. You can always tell a Jun Martinez. His strokes are confident, dynamic, proud, telling."

Marlene was encouraged to continue the series by her own very personal experiences with children and adults who had read the first volume which sold out fast. One Filipino from America wrote how the book reconnected him with home and how, having recommended and lent it to a family member, he had lost his only copy. So he bought another only to lend and lose it again. So he bought still another.

One time, Marlene was counseling a troubled teenager. The boy stared at her, realizing she was someone he knew. He asked if it was Marlene who had brought to life all those stories in the Myths & Legends of the Philippines. When she said yes, the boy hugged her and told her he was a fan of hers. And, as Marlene has been invited by schools to read from her book to today’s children, she has realized how it is restoring identity to her fellow Filipinos.

It was launched at the Metropolitan Museum last July 20. Guests of honor included National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Julie Yap-Daza, jewelry designer Laura de Guzman, ADB Board of Director Richard Stanley, and Vibal Publishing House owner Esther Vibal.