THE FORMER director of the UST Publishing House (USTPH) said creative writers are perpetual self-victims of conflict and distress.
“Mahirap ang magsulat. Ibinubuyangyang at isinusuka mo ang laman ng iyong isip, puso at kaloob-looban. Pinag-iisipang […] mabuti ang mga sasabihin bago pakawalan sa salita,” said John Jack Wigley during the Unitas lectures last Feb. 20 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center.
Wigley, a resident scholar of the UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies, explained the process of how a writer gives life to his or her thoughts.
“Nagsisilbing lulan ng pagitan ng mga nag-uumpugang mundo ang daan na tinatahak ng isang manunulat. Sa lulang iyon, gumagawa siya ng sarili niyang daan para sa personal niyang kapakinabangan at buhay,” he said.
Wigley said writing from one genre to another is a kind of “self-torture.”
“Nanghihina, nahahapo, dumidilim ang paningin ng isang manunulat kapag nangyayari ito. Wala itong pinagkaiba na sugatan ang sarili para maisakatuparan ang lahat,” he said.
Wigley discussed his study titled “Pagsulat ng Katha, Pagtakas sa Nakagisnang Anino,” a “creative poetics and critical metacommentary” on his transition to fiction writing.
He is the author of the four nonfiction books: “Lait Chronicles” and “Lait (Pa More) Chronicles, published in 2016 and 2017, respectively, by Visprint; and “Falling into the Manhole” and “Home of the Ashfall” in 2012 and 2014, respectively, by USTPH.
Other papers, categorized into literary studies, cultural studies and translation, were showcased as part of the Research Fortnight 2018, a series of research presentations and lecture seminars on humanities held at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building.
The Unitas Lectures, a two-day event, included paper presentations in the fields of philosophy, architecture, fine arts and design, history, music and communication, and media studies.
Unitas is a scholarly publication of the University’s faculty members and students, focused on arts and the humanities.
