‘Yes, read, read, read. The month of April of every year was declared ‘National Literature Month’ via Proclamation No. 968…’
OTHERS to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” [Francis Bacon, Of Studies, 1597]
This month’s hunger games involve both reading materials and actual victuals as the Earthlings mark World Book and Copyright Day (a symbolic date in world literature in which several prominent authors — William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega — all died) and the Filipinos celebrate their National Food Month (“Pagkaing Sariling Atin, Mahalin at Pagyamanin”).
The national hero Jose Rizal had chosen to go sans lunch or dinner in order to save his allowance for theater/opera tickets. But he was not the only personality to sacrifice. At least one super-villain did the same: “Every book that I bought meant renewed hunger, and every visit I paid to the opera meant the intrusion of that inalienable companion during the following days… And yet during that time I learned more than I had ever learned before. Outside my architectural studies and rare visits to the opera, for which I had to deny myself food, I had no other pleasure in life except my books.” [Chapter II: Years Of Study And Suffering In Vienna]
Adolf Hitler in “Volume I: A Retrospect” of his autobiography shared his passion: “Browsing through my father’s books, I chanced to come across some publications that dealt with military subjects. One of these publications was a popular history of the Franco-German War of 1870-71. It consisted of two volumes of an illustrated periodical dating from those years. These became my favorite reading… And from that time onwards I became more and more enthusiastic about everything that was in any way connected with war or military affairs.”
Hitler’s own “Mein Kampf” was a bestseller in his time and in our contemporary period: “a copyright expiration brought Hitler’s manifesto back to German bookshelves–it contains 3,000 annotations made by historians in an attempt to put the book into context. That hasn’t dissuaded tens of thousands from buying it, though…it has now sold over 85,000 copies and spent 35 weeks on a German bestseller list.” [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/germanys-controversial-new-version-mein-kampf-now-bestseller-180961637/]
What made the Nazi tome hazardous was its spell as the blueprint of an annihilationist visionary: “The plan laid down in Mein Kampf was to smash Russia first, with the implied intention of smashing England afterwards. Now, ‘as’ it has turned out, England has got to be dealt with first, because Russia was the more easily bribed of the two. But Russia’s turn will come when England is out of the picture — that, no doubt, is how Hitler sees it. Whether it will turn out that way is of course a different question.” [George Orwell, Review of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, March 1940]
One can agree with the historian Sven Felix Kellerhoff who characterized “My Struggle” as “horribly written — a collection of bad grammar and poor sentences” or with Wolfgang Benz, the historian and former head of the Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA) at Berlin’s Technical University, who views Hitler’s book as containing nothing more than “personal, hate-filled tirades without any additional insight.” [https://www.dw.com/en/how-germany-deals-with-hitlers-mein-kampf/a-18670734; https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-historian-discusses-new-scholarly-edition-of-hitler-s-mein-kampf-a-834560.html]
In our milieu of trolls and info-wars, the academic leaders like university chancellors (especially the narcissistic philistines afflicted with edifice complex), the political honchos (even that blasphemer who is obsessed with the ding-a-ling) and the C-suite ought to effectuate their informational role by initiating reading programs, book clubs and library tours. In regard to good citizenship, real democrats cannot win unless they out-read (and out-write, out-speak) the fascists.
In the case of UP Manila and its recent DSS Renato Constantino Lecture, the reactor Alex Lacson privileged such works as “Miseducation of the Filipino” and “Veneration Without Understanding.” On that occasion, several passages were re-surfaced: “Self-Censorship. We live in a climate of intellectual frivolity. We have developed many forms of escape which entertain us and at the same time prevent us from thinking of really serious matters. Many of us are too lazy to think. Many of us are afraid to think. The rest of us never learned how. We live in an intellectual desert whose oases are few and far between.” [Dissent and Counter-Consciousness, 16 July 1970]
“Fascist leadership is characterized not only by callous disregard for human life and liberties; it is also distinguished in its earlier stages by an expertise in the practice of hypocrisy to disguise its true nature. Once opposition is completely silenced, the inconvenient mask can be discarded and fascist oppression will be practised as a matter of right.” [Renato Constantino and the Marcos watch: light selections. Arranged and annotated by Luis R. Mauricio]
Yes, read, read, read. The month of April of every year was declared “National Literature Month” via Proclamation No. 968, s. 2015: “the month of April marks the commemoration of the Francisco ‘Balagtas’ Baltazar Day and the birth and death anniversaries of literary pillars like Emilio Jacinto, Paciano Rizal, Nick Joaquin, Edith Tiempo, and Bienvenido Lumbera” as well as literary celebrations like the International Children’s Book Day, International Day of the Book, and World Intellectual Property Rights Day.
And dine, dine, dine. Of the other celebration (Buwan ng Kalutong Pilipino), the government has highlighted: “Filipino food is often referred to as one of the world’s earliest fusion cuisines, having its ancestral cooking influenced mostly by the surrounding environment of people’s settlements and early foreign visitors such as the Mexicans from the galleon trade period and the Muslims from neighboring countries.” [https://pia.gov.ph/news/2023/03/27/da-leads-filipino-food-month-2023-celebration
Notable Filipino dishes include Camarines Norte’s crispy pili nuts, Bicol’s sili (hot chili-flavored) ice cream, Catanduanes’ stir-fried bagisara (river clams), Masbate’s pinakro (saba banana stewed in sweetened coconut milk), and the world-famous adobo, which was also featured in a Google Doodle last March 15, 2023. [https://www.da.gov.ph/preservefilipinofood-da-leads-filipino-food-month-2023-celebration/]
