Quote from the Small World

I was reading the Sunday paper-- I am loyal to being the breadwinner of the family when it comes to Philippine Star-- searching for the column I habitually read, Emotional Weather Report, when I chanced upon an entry to Philippine Star and National Bookstore's My Favorite Book contest. The book at center stage is Jonathan Lethem's The Disappointment Artist, an anthology of autobiographical essays centered on the influences that have sculpted his current persona. It wasn't the book that caught my attention though.


On the top-left portion of the the page is a block of text describing the author of the essay, Catherine Tan. (If, by an eerie twist of fate, she might find this blog post, I'd be happy enough to introduce myself as an emerging fan.) She is an incoming sophomore taking up a pre-med course in the University of the Philippines in Manila (I suppose it's BS Public Health) "in the hopes of becoming a 'writing doctor.'" And, get this, she is a Palanca 2010 awardee.

In other words, she has just enlisted herself as one of my idols. Unfortunately, I'm going to study in a different campus of the same university, so the odds of me running up to her for a fan-to-fanned conversation over coffee are quite slim.

The title of her entry is My date with the disappointment artist, derived from the book she wrote about. She doesn't present the traditional review of dissecting the book into aspects one usually ponders on; there are no opinions revolving around things such as technical perfection and flair in sentence construction. Instead, she focuses on expressing her love for the book (and Jonathan Lethem, later on) by simulating a coffee shop encounter where she and Mr. Lethem have a tête-á-tête.

She quoted Lethem, "Perhaps everyone's writing is ultimately bricolage, a welter of borrowings." I couldn't agree more. I can name authors who have influenced the way I write: Jessica Zafra, Pearl S. Buck and, of course, J.K. Rowling. The first novel I read is the second installment in Rowling's Harry Potter series, The Chamber of Secrets. I got hooked, the books became my first love and, ultimately, I was inspired to write. Most of my ideas are shaped by Rowling's immortal stories.

One of these days I'm going to hunt for The Disappointment Artist.

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P.S. God, I really do sound like a stalker here. Oh, well. Some people are just too lucky.

P.P.S. You should Jessica Zafra's and F Sionil Jose's columns today. They talk a lot about the Philippines. I was taken aback, really.