Bad blood in the claws of literary execs

By Pola Esguerra del Monte

IN THE INK-STAINED manuscripts of the late Edgardo M. Reyes, the man who wrote the magazine serial-turned-novel-turned-award-winning-film [Maynila] Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag, Manila is a dystopia of dark corners and neon lights — contrasting backdrops before which ordinary men and women are oppressed.

The multi-layered aspect of the work introduced a problem: Is the English translation of the title “In the Claws of Neon” or “In the Claws of Darkness?” The New York Times had provided these two in its review of the Lino Brocka directed film. Even Wikipedia, a free dictionary that can be edited by anyone with a computer, says that “In the Claws of Brightness” as a translation “makes little sense,” and suggests that a “more practical” English translation of the title would be “At the Verge of Dawn.”

Yet the esoteric debate seems to have ended as an English translation has appeared which christened the 50-year-old work of the deceased writer with the title In the Clutches of Daylight.

But the brand new book, set to be released by an influential publishing company called Ethos Books Singapore, came as a surprise to Andromeda Reyes, daughter and legal heir to the older Reyes’ estate. She was the last to know that her late father’s work had been translated and was already being promoted.

PROJECT
“I received an e-mail from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) on Sept. 20, 2016, that they have a plan to translate the novel and they wanted to talk to me about the project,” Ms. Reyes told BusinessWorld. “A few days later, my father’s publisher contacts me that a publisher in Singapore is interested in translating the novel into English for 500 copies for market testing and that it will be included in the forthcoming Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany.

“I met with our publisher the next day and laid out my terms, as the legal copyright owner, should this project push through,” she added.

In general, the country’s intellectual property code protects the copyright for original and derivative works though “the life of the author plus 50 years after his death.” Mr. Reyes died only five years ago. As legal heir, Ms. Reyes now holds the rights to publication, derivatives and subsidiaries of his writing for 50 years starting May 15, 2011, the day her father passed away.

Those who are not in the business of publishing may read the code online, as it is widely accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

Her publisher informed her that the translation was a joint project by the KWF, the Singapore National Arts Council, and Ethos Publishing Singapore. “They seemed to be unaware, however, that the actual translation already took place because they did not have an idea who the translator would be, when we asked,” she noted.

She decided to research on the project the following day, “only to find out that the project seems to be ready for printing and just waiting for my go signal.”

HALTED
Her search led her to a Philippine Daily Inquirer article released on Sept. 12 entitled “Edgardo M. Reyes’s Sa Kuko ng Liwanag now in English.” Aside from that, several online promotional events had already been held, announcing that the English translation of her father’s work was “coming soon.”

When news that she found out about their not-so clandestine project reached them, the translator and publisher started pointing their fingers at the KWF.

Noelle Q. de Jesus, the translator, issued a public apology wherein she volunteered the information that the project was offered to her in May by Ethos Books Singapore, the publisher, in accordance with an agreement with the KWF and the Singapore National Arts Council. The commissioning was part of a project to produce four books: two Filipino novels and two Singaporean novels.

“I learned in the last week of August that [no translation rights were secured],” Ms. De Jesus added. “Since this knowledge came to light, Ethos Books Singapore has halted production in relation to this proposed English translation. As such, no book exists at present, nor will there be, unless or until the appropriate parties come to an agreement.”

She added that she “would never have accepted nor undertaken the project” had she known that the translation rights were not in place, as she “understand[s] the issues of copyright.”

After all, she was embroiled in a similar controversy just last year, when she, Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta, and Anvil Publishing, joint copyright owners of the micro fiction anthology Fast Food Fiction Delivery Volume 2, accused Adam David of four grounds of copyright infringement, threatening him with a fine of P150,000 and imprisonment of one to three years for each count, because Mr. David took portions of the text for his “hypertext” literary criticism project.

Despite learning about the translation rights issue “in the last week of August,” Ms. De Jesus continued to participate in literary events revolving around her work on the translation, like a discussion at the Ateneo de Manila University on Sept. 14 and a reading at the National Gallery Singapore whose video was posted on the Ethos Books Facebook page on Sept. 24.

‘OUT OF RESPECT’
Ethos Books has taken down all its posts on the promotional events of the book. In a response to a query regarding the issue, Kah Gay, a representative from the publishing company said, “Out of respect to the family of EMR (the initials of Edgardo M. Reyes), we are unable to comment on this until KWF has properly discussed the translation rights with his legal heir.”

In a recent phone call to the KWF, RR Cagalingan, who is working on the project, refused to release a statement until they have spoken to Ms. Reyes, also out of respect “to the estate of EMR.”

Ms. Reyes, who holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English studies from the University of the Philippines, clarifies that she is not against translating the work and, consequently, promoting her father’s work to a modern global audience.

The opportunity to translate such a critically acclaimed work also comes during an equally critical juncture in history, as political situations in the fictional work continue to draw parallels in the real world.

“Had it been properly discussed with consideration of my terms prior to translation, this could have gone well,” she said. “But by the way they are acting, it seems to me that for them, a permit is a mere go signal and not a sale of translation rights.”

According to Ms. Reyes, National Artist Virgilio Almario, who is at the helm of KWF and was her father’s close friend, has also sent an apology to the Reyes family.

But Ms. Reyes is keen on standing by her father’s rights and is speaking with lawyers. After all, if her father insisted that his children not accept any literary awards for him posthumously (“He doesn’t believe in awards.”), a full-length English translation of one of his life’s greatest works would demand a little more thought and consideration, rather than just a go signal.

In what she described as her final statement about the issue, Ms. Reyes said, “My dad’s novel Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag starts with a description of a skeletal building, with metal bars and wooden frames protruding left and right — a building yet to be fed with cement and accessorized with fixtures. My dad’s house started like that and never saw its end. It is still unfinished. It is still hungry. It is still to be fed. So please. We do not need awards nor recognition. We just need to protect what he only left us with — products of his mind, his heart, his life.”