coffeecrumble for her faux-Victorian Tagalog rendition of the first 770 words of Jane Eyre, Chapter 1. We noted some confusion in the use of “ng” and “nang” but on the whole we think Ms Charlotte Bronte would approve of coffeecrumble’s faithfulness to the text. The winner will receive two volumes of Penguin Readers Collected Classics and a copy of Wuthering Bites, the vampire version of the novel by Ms Bronte’s sister Emily.
roseriver sent in a more musical translation of the first chapter, but altered the tone and presentation of the all-important first sentence. For her fine work she will receive a copy of our favorite Jane Austen work Persuasion, and Colson Whitehead’s coming of age novel, Sag Harbor.
micvindelmer’s Jane Eyre had us at “Witchikik kami makarampa noonching araw na yoonchi.” For the best entry in baklese he/she will get this curiosity:
Congratulations to our winners! Please post your full names in Comments (they won’t be published) and we will alert you when you can pick up the books at National Bookstore, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Makati. You’ll have three months to pick up your prizes.
To the winners of LitWit Challenge 5.1: Brriiiiing!: Please excuse the delay, we will let you know as soon as your books are available. Thank you for your patience.
The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to your by our friends at National Bookstore. The next LitWit Challenge is coming up.
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coffeecrumble, micvindelmer, roseriver: You can claim your prizes at the Customer Service counter of National Bookstore, Power Plant Mall Rockwell, Makati any day starting tomorrow. To check, call Customer Service at the Rockwell branch, (02)8974562. Please pick up your books before June 22, 2011. roseriver, tell your representative that your prize is listed under your real name. Enjoy.
My druid trained me to regard the vernal equinox as the beginning of a new cycle. I spent the last day of the old cycle doing something my druid would approve of: housecleaning.
Begin longish intro. I had the same cleaner for more than a decade. He would come in every Sunday afternoon to dust, scrub, and try to keep the cat fur to oxygen ratio down to a manageable (“breathing still possible”) level. The cleaner was a trustworthy little old guy, he knew where everything was, and the cats liked him. (Other people they ignore pointedly, still others they run away from screaming, “The Uruks have come! Muster the Rohirrim!”) Unfortunately he’s had a run of bad luck and had to move to Cavite with his family. It didn’t make sense for him to commute for hours just to clean my house on Sundays. So he quit and it was sad as hell because he probably regards me as an inept child with no domestic skills.
My sister, who if the word existed would be called ept, said their laundrywoman could be the new cleaner. She is also trustworthy, and the cats seemed to approve of her. She’d done some jail time, but it was because she pulled a knife on an abusive boyfriend. You can’t blame her for that. (Reminds me of a conversation I had with Bernard-Henri yesterday about a common friend—Martin Amis says this is the correct term, not “mutual friend”–who’d tried to rip him off on a project. We agreed that we could not hate common friend because he can’t help ripping people off, it’s his nature.) She came by the other Sunday to clean, but last Sunday she said she couldn’t make it, and then yesterday she didn’t appear. Clearly she doesn’t want the job. So I ended up doing spring cleaning.
It so happened that I was in my semi-annual cleaning frenzy mode. The other day I organized my closet and put away a bunch of clothes I haven’t worn in years and am not likely to wear again. I even found 4 or 5 outfits I’d forgotten I’d bought. Memo: If you have clothes you’ve never worn, you probably have enough clothes. The day before that I was at National Bookstore in Rockwell when I was reminded of all the prizes for the Weekly LitWit Challenges that have not been claimed by the winners. Customer Service’s shelves were about to burst from the stuff so I took back all the prizes that have not been claimed since December. (The very next day someone tried to claim his books. Sorry about that.)
And two days earlier I defrosted my refrigerator. Why I don’t defrost more often I have no idea–you only have to push a button. Instead I wait until the freezer is sealed shut by a thick coat of solid ice to push the blasted button. True, I don’t eat at home so my fridge contains coffee for the machine, cheese, a huge bottle of Chinese “champagne” that no one wants to try, and leftover restaurant meals that have sprouted new life forms. Getting the freezer open took 2 days.
Before yesterday’s housecleaning I surveyed the castle keep and decided that the problem is not dirt but clutter. As in stuff. Did I really need to keep the boxes of cameras, phones, gadgets I’ve had for years? Why do they still make phonebooks? Why did I save these empty gift packages? Sure they’re pretty, but I’m never going to recycle them, am I. They all went into two big trash bags. Memo: Don’t keep anything just because it’s cute. It won’t look so cute when it’s grimy. Throw it away. What project, you’re never going to make that assemblage. Throw! Now!
Then came the tedious part: sifting through boxes and bags of paper. Receipts from trips I took ten years ago–why do I still have these? Outdated city guides, fliers, museum floor plans, press kits for film festival entries, free magazines–Take One, the sign always says; from hereon say No!–stuff that has cluttered my house for years for no reason.
However I did find drafts of stories I’d forgotten I’d written, and clippings of articles I don’t remember writing. I’m like a factory of disposable prose. It’s a good thing I’ve never had a printer or I would’ve vanished under a sea of paper years ago (See the scene from Terry Gilliam’s Brazil).
Decluttering added at least three cubic meters of space to my house. After this Herculean labor cleaning the litter box was almost amusing (disgusting, but amusing). Happy New Year to you all.
We’re accepting entries until noon tomorrow, Sunday the 20th.
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The new film adaptation of Jane Eyre is getting excellent reviews, Mia Wasikowska continues to shine, our boyfriend Michael Fassbender (he just doesn’t know it yet) is well on his way to stardom (This year he gets to be Rochester, Carl Jung and Magneto), and damn you Cary Fukunaga, why are you so hot.
While we await the arrival of the film in local theatres we shall occupy ourselves with the source material, the novel by Charlotte Bronte. If you do not have the book look for it in your mom’s library, and it it’s not there download it from Project Gutenberg.
As the stunning film director points out, Jane Eyre is timeless and its appeal universal. These being the qualities of a classic: It is of its time but it speaks to every age; it is the product of a specific culture and society but it has something to say about all cultures and societies—including ours. Which means that Ms Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece would work in our language, Tagalog.
Your assignment for LitWit Challenge 5.2 is to translate the first 770 words of Jane Eyre (below) into Tagalog. We leave it to you to decide whether to use formal Pilipino, colloquial Tagalog, or gayspeak. The deadline for the submission of entries in Comments is Sunday, 20 March 2011 at 12 noon. The prize is this set of books.
The Weekly LitWit Challenge is brought to you by our friends at National Bookstore. (more…)
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