Literary patricide and secondary worlds

Thursday, 23 April 2009 21:13 Kristel Autencio

No one has disputed him so far, as Philippine Genre Stories publisher Kenneth Yu points out. Which leads one to ask, where are the responses, the reams of self-defensive invectives masquerading as treatises in literary criticism? Those will probably arrive months later, during some National Artist's book launch. Such is the way of mainstream publishing.

Speaking of literary tempests, the Internet buzzed at the news that Gabriel Garcia Marquez is retiring. The Nobel Prize winner has since denied it. Maya Jaggi of the Guardian Blogs, however, is looking forward to the post-Garcia Latin American literature.

Speculative fiction writers are working out the feasibility of secondary worlds that are distinctly Filipino. Banzai Cat posits the question first, in preparation for the short story anthology he is co-editing with Dean Alfar. Writer and blogger Charles Tan gives his two cents.

Paolo Chikiamco says that it all boils down to theme and characterization:"I think that as long as the story deals with the internal life of a person whose inner life was developed here in the Philippines, or the story tackles issues and themes relevant and important Filipinos, then there is nothing to keep that story from being characterized as a Filipino story."

Celebrated novelist JG Ballard dies after a lengthy battle with cancer. John Clute writes him a eulogy at the Independent.

What happens when you cross a dystopian future and Miguel de Cervantes? xkcd has the answer.

Lit Filter is watching the literary web (yes, you). Watch out for it twice a week in POC.

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