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More than 500 years after Europeans sailed across previously unexplored oceans and set foot on what is now the Philippines, Filipinos now have the chance to explore and acquaint themselves with Europe without ever setting foot there through Layag: European Classics in Filipino, the first anthology of its kind that gathers the Filipino translations of 14 short-story classics from 11 European countries.
First launched at the Pacific Plaza Towers in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, on April 20, Layag (“sail” in Filipino) features stories by Guy de Maupassant of France, Luigi Pirandello of Italy, Henryk Sienkiewicz of Poland, Stefan Zweig of Austria, Erich Kästner of Germany, and Karel Capek of the Czech Republic, as well as those of writers from Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland that majority of Filipinos are still unfamiliar with.
Layag was published by Anvil Publishing Inc. in cooperation with the Manila cluster of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (Eunic), a network of European cultural institutes and embassies. This project was led by anthology editor and Czech Ambassador to the Philippines Jaroslav Olša Jr., a former translator, editor and publisher who believes that literature is an effective tool in promoting culture.
“There are many tools for public diplomacy, such as films, music, and the arts. But I believe literature is something that has a really long-lasting impact,” Olša, who came to Manila in 2014, said in a statement. “Therefore, I embarked (on a mission) to promote both Czech and European literature in the Philippines, and establish and maintain a (two-way) literary traffic….”
Olša’s strong belief in literature’s power to bridge gaps and connect people has resulted in the publication of renowned Czech author Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis in Filipino and Bikolano, as well as Capek’s 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum´s Universal Robots), after it was translated into Filipino by Palanca award-winning dramatist Guelan Varela-Luarca and staged by Tanghalang Ateneo of the Ateneo de Manila University in 2015.
The Cebuano editions of these two books are being planned, and a selection of Capek’s short stories shall be published in Bikolano in two volumes.
Forthcoming books are an anthology of Czech writing from the late 19th to early 21st centuries, to be published in Filipino by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, and a reciprocal collection of 39 short stories by contemporary Filipino writers that’s due for publication in the Czech Republic by mid-2017.
Olša wants European presence in Philippine literature to widen and deepen, and the partnership with Anvil is expected to result in the publication of more anthologies of works by contemporary European writers. In fact, three countries that did not participate in Layag—the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom—have expressed great interest in this regard.
Such books could be “like a message of hope in a bottle that´s dropped in the ocean to find its way to these shores,“ Anvil General Manager Andrea Pasion-Flores said during Laya‘s launch.
As someone who has been quite involved in every one of these books published—from recommending some of the stories and persuading publishers to find outstanding authors to take on literary projects— Olša is optimistic that he would be able to persuade more countries to get involved.
“It’s rewarding for everybody. Thanks to such projects, many Filipinos can learn about the diversity of European countries (that) way, which is much different from promotional brochures and leaflets,“ Olša said.
“It is a genuine mean of generating interest, in a way that trade and investment can’t possibly do,“ he added. TMM