Yasushi Inoue's chronicle of history
Tun-huang by Yasushi Inoue, translated by Jean Oda May, preface by Damion Searls (New York Review Books, 2010) Normal 0 false false false false EN-PH X-NONE X-NONE
in lieu of a field guide


Latest posts
“Vila-Matas” and I
In “Cascais,” the second section of Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas—co-translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott—we learn that the protagonist, unnamed, is one to whom things happen. After I finished the “Paris” section, which the reader has possibly just read, I went three years without writing anything at all, totally adrift. What’s more, no sooner had I
Novel-gazing
Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott (Yale University Press, 2025) I have it all planned out—my reading list for the year. I have carefully slotted the book titles into each of the 12 months of 2026. The Excel worksheet was auto-saved. Then I picked up the book Montevideo by Enrique Vila-Matas at the end of December
A catalogue of misbehaving things
Originally self-published in 2014, Ang Kompedio ng mga Imposibleng Bagay (The Compendium of Impossible Objects) by Carlo Paulo Pacolor, was reprinted in an expanded edition by the indie publisher Everything's Fine in 2022. Soleil David, who is translating the collection, received the 2025 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Translation Fellowship for the book.
3 zines by Aris Remollino
I've been reading three poetry chapbooks (or zines) by Aris Remollino: Manhid (DWB Publishing Philippines, 2024); Gabi, Umaga, Sinigang (Alagwa Books, 2025); and Mga Madaling-araw sa 7-Eleven (Alagwa Books, 2025). Four, if you count his flash fiction zine, the playfully titled Wansapanataymderwaseylabistori (Alagwa Books, 2025).Manhid (Apathy) is probably the best
Days of 1521
Rajah Versus Conquistador by Kahlil Corazo (Pagecraft, 2025) Blood Compact Reimagined (2020) by Herbert S. Pinpino, oil on canvas (Source) The rajah was Rajah Humabon, the conquistador was Ferdinand Magellan. The versus was their fateful encounter in 1521 Cebu when the Spanish and precolonial Philippine cultures went on a collision course. It was a consequential time
Fourteen poetry impressions: On Sonetoismo, volumes 3 to 5
Tatlong Libong Araw (Three Thousand Days), Anyo ng Kalatagan (The Lay of the Land), and Sa Halip na mga Bulaklak (Instead of Flowers) by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2025) 1) The Japanese conceptual artist Kawara On (1932–2014) produced a fascinating series of date paintings that function like totem poles for human existence.
The master of Go: On The MANIAC, 4
Novel-writing, like playing Go, is an art of assembly. The novelist compiles and assembles facts and artifacts. The novel has to be built on strong foundations to produce the proof of concept. Since it's not erecting an actual building, it has the luxury to bide time and cut corners for the stones to connect later on and to conquer more territory. "Lee or The Delusions of
When we cease to tell the truth: On The MANIAC, 3
Seen from the outside, some stories have more truth than others, but the truth value of the story does not depend on its actual truth content. – W. G. Sebald What matters is whether we want to lie or to tell and write the truth, even though it never can be the truth and never is the truth. Throughout my life I have always wanted to tell the truth, even though I now know that it
Factual fiction?: On The MANIAC, 2
"Beyle, or Love is a Madness Most Discreet" was how W. G. Sebald titled the first of four parts of his prose work Vertigo (1990, tr. Michael Hulse, 2000). Its opening sentence: "In mid-May of the year 1800 Napoleon and a force of 36,000 men crossed the Great St Bernard pass, an undertaking that had been regarded until that time as next to impossible."A glance at the contents of Benjamín
Doomscrolling: On The MANIAC, 1
The MANIAC by Benjamín Labatut (Penguin Press, 2023) In her review of Benjamín Labatut's first book to come out in English – When We Cease to Understand the World (2020, translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West) – Ruth Franklin had some words about the fictionality of the enterprise.There is liberation in the vision of fiction’s capabilities that emerges here—the sheer
Interview of A. (Author) by R. (Reader)
Monstruo by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles I recently had an exclusive interview with Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (aka Ayer) about his septology of sonnet collections called Sonetoismo. The first two books in the series came out last year: Laging Patúngo and Monstruo. More books in the series are forthcoming next month. I visited Ayer in the university where he is working. The
Forever in transit
Laging Patúngo by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles Laging Patúngo [Forever in Transit] is the first book in Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles's Sonetoismo, a cycle of seven books of sonnets in Filipino. Its title is taken from the last line of the poem called "Siyudad," which I reproduce below. It is followed by my translation. SiyudadLahat ng bus na dumaraansa
Firebrand
Narkokristo, 1896 by Ronaldo S. Vivo Jr. Mararating na nila ang kahustuhan ng unang bahagi ng kanilang pag-aaral. Nakalatag na ang mga talang pinagtibay ng kanilang mga isinagawang pagsusuri. Pinakamahalaga ay ang mga kasunod na preguntas de investigación o salitang sa Aleman ay forschungsfragen—na kanilang dadalhin sa Universität Heidelberg sa Alemanya—para sa gagawing pagsasala ng mga kapuwa
The ephemera of Bernardo Soares
I read and am liberated. I acquire objectivity. I cease being myself and so scattered. And what I read, instead of being like a nearly invisible suit that sometimes oppresses me, is the external world’s tremendous and remarkable clarity, the sun that sees everyone, the moon that splotches the still earth with shadows, the wide expanses that end in the sea, the blackly solid trees whose tops
21 books I look forward to in 2025+
Before I get depressed about finishing a draft of a post on the state of this blog or the state of my reading, I decided to list books to be published this year (or beyond) that I want to read. And this cheers me up. I'm still reading "books-books". But ever since enrolling in a doctorate program, my reading fare lately consists of peer-reviewed journal articles and chapters from academic
Women's Month: Filipina novelists in translation
Last October, someone from Canada emailed to ask if I have updated figures (gender statistics) to a 2016 blog post Women in Translation Month: Novels from the Philippines.Yes, I have.Here are the updated numbers: Between 1900 and 2024, a total of 50 novels from the Philippines were translated and published into English. In the past century (1900-1994), only seven of these novels (14%) appeared in
Todas las almas
Notes on The Pole: A Novel by J.M. Coetzee (Liveright, 2023)1. "The decision to invite the Pole ... is arrived at only after some soul-searching." The Pole then is the soul being searched for. And reading The Pole by J.M. Coetzee is an attempt to find the soul in a human being. 2. If our searchee is Witold, the Pole, our searcher is Beatriz, a board member of a concert organizer in Barcelona
Prefiguration of a madness unforeseen
Does he know what his sentence is?” “No,” the officer said, wanting to continue with his explanations, but the traveler interrupted him: “He does not know his own sentence?” “No,” the officer repeated, pausing briefly as if to insist that the traveler should give a more specific reason for his question, and then said: “There would be no point in announcing it to him … He will come to
The spirit of déjà vu
Asinkrono: Isang Nobela by Mesándel Virtusio Arguelles (De La Salle University Publishing House, 2021) People say the novel is a way of imparting knowledge. Well, maybe. But for me it is more a way of imparting recognition of things that you didn't know you knew. You say 'yes'. It feels true even though it might be uncomfortable.– Javier Marías What is a novel? A jumble of words written on
The spite on our putrefying flesh
Ang Suklam sa Ating Naaagnas na Balat by Ronaldo Vivo Jr. (19th Avenida Publishing House, 2024)I dreamt of a difficult case, I saw corridors filled with cops, I saw interrogations left unresolved, The ignominious archives, And then I saw the detective Return to the scene of the crime Tranquil and alone As in the worst nightmares, I saw him sit on the floor and smoke In a bedroom caked with
Dugo sa Bukang-Liwayway (Bleeding Sun)
Dugo sa Bukang-Liwayway (Bleeding Sun) by Rogelio Sicat, translated by Ma. Aurora L. Sicat (Penguin Random House SEA, 2024) The agrarian novel was a rich vein in Philippine novel writing. It pitted farmers against landlords, the powerless against the powerful. Class conflict was the canvas of the novelist where he painted stories of social injustice and human rights
1762 redux
(Related post) "But are the men prepared to resist not just one but a possibility of two enemies? None of us expected things would turn out like this."It is 2024 and history is repeating itself. It was 1972 and history was waving its smirking flag. It was 1945 and a battle was claiming lives pointlessly. It was 1899 and betrayals were the rage. It was 1896 and loyalties ran dry. It was
Almost 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 scoffed
Poem
Translation of "Tula" by Patrick Bautista. From Walang Ibig Sabihin (Twaddle). Read the original Filipino poem here (pdf). Zine design by Ipe Soco.