Vicente-Ignacio de Veyra
III's
Philosopher
Kings
(Two Mini-Essays, and then some)
THIS IS THE MUSEUM PAGE FOR DE VEYRA'S EARLIER SOCIAL AND CULTURE CRITICISM WORKS.
IF YOU WISH TO READ DE VEYRA'S NEW BLOGSITE TITLED "SOCIAL ISMS," CLICK HERE.
NOW, TO THE MUSEUM.
1.
IN a stint with the National Midweek as a recurring contributor, De Veyra wrote mini-articles for the magazine's Views/Reviews pages. Though he may feel embarrassed about the craft and innocence of most of these pieces today, there are two compositions from this period that he still finds worth visiting. Here is one of them, with a few adaptations to present tastes!
This tackles the issue of our habitual courage to act without deep thinking on those actions' ramifications, possibilities (or should we be thankful about that at times?). Is it all from an ignorance of the purpose of studying history? This habit is almost obvious in our political affairs, most obvious among our ambitious' pronouncements concerning leadership, which pronouncements almost literally realize the belief of many a frustrated Filipino dreamer that "this country has gone to the dogs." The piece appeared in the March 28, 1990 issue of NM. It presents its thesis by first portraying the Col. Gringo Honasan-led coup d'etat attempt which occurred late in the preceding year as a completely comic error, then ultimately obliquely suggesting a truism that the funny can also be dangerous, and, finally, reiterating a prayer about how our laughter should be nervous.
After all, in this country, the wife and kids of a late dictator are later elected to Congress by those ignorant of what really happened, by those very same poor lot later exploited by a gambler-President who claimed to be pro-poor but was later arrested for duping the poor (though yet this former President continues to believe in his own pro-poor claims, as does many among the poor lot he supposedly duped). Even leftist leaders elected to Congress would soon forget to point at the magnate Henry Sy's continued mal-use of our labor force (never mind if it's mostly deriving from the 'tame' and consequently anti-union Iglesia ni Cristo Christian sect), thus syndicating the comedy into all the channels of our political and social TV. Anyway, here's that piece:2-4.
THE first essay below, a satire on the then-new mission of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, was also written for The National Midweek, in 1990. It tackles the seldom-asked question of whether the state (through the CCP and other institutions) should really have any business managing the arts.
The second essay, meanwhile, further discusses the same theme. The essay was actually shaped by a reply Vicente made in 2000 to collective questions posted on Flips, the University of Iowa-based mailing list by Filipino and Filipino-American writers. It has never been published anywhere as an essay other than on this site.
Finally, the third article is Vicente's own French way of criticizing his own position in the first two essays. This is also a piece exclusive to this site:5-6.
IN the same Flips mailing list in 2000, a question was posted over the whys of our literature's obscurity and the hows of being heard. De Veyra ventured on a debate with fellow members, and his answers shaped the first piece below, which is to be found nowhere else other than on this site. The second piece, also exclusively here, expands on the issue.The Rhythm, The Rhyme, and the Rhetoric
7.
ALSO check out De Veyra's social criticism column in the defunct e-zine Banana-cue Republic (the Tacloban-based ezine was online from the year 2005-06). Click here to see the archived articles.Select archived articles from De Veyra's column are also in this site: Click here to see the listed articles.
---section created May, 1999
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