I’ve been thinking about Diwata and authenticity. The manuscript reads as mythological, though honestly, adhering strictly to any particular sets of mythologies was not such an important consideration for the project. I’ve made up so much story of origin, place, and practice, using people, objects, symbols, concepts as my points of departure, speculation, or extrapolation. Many of my personae are almost completely dreamed up animal and human beings, spirits, and deities, some more fantastical than others. I’ve sampled, I’ve remixed, and I’ve added new beats.
What I’ve just written here sounds straight forward enough as a writing process (and hopefully interesting), but I am starting to fear that readers will or may expect a fair amount of accuracy and “truth,” especially as I am frequently called upon to be a representative, publicly visible and vocal Filipino.
I am glad the kind of apprehension I’m experiencing did not majorly get in the way of my writing, but now I am wondering if I need to include any kind of disclaimer or author’s note explicitly stating the text’s mythological inaccuracy.
I am thinking again of Marlon Fuentes’s Bontoc Eulogy, community expectations of “authenticity,” some of the community’s disappointment, and perhaps even a more personal feeling of being let down. All this, despite Fuentes’s legal disclaimer at the end of the film.
I am thinking also of Sesshu Foster’s Atomik Aztex. At the beginning of the book, his author’s note reminds us that we are reading a work of fiction, and that anyone looking for accurate information about the Aztecs should go research elsewhere.
I am thinking that writing an author’s note preceding the text might be useful.
I’d probably argue that all lies are true – and the problem you’re discussing here is one that every poet who writes with an “I” faces. That is, how do I inform my readers that this “I” isn’t me. I’d like to think it doesn’t matters. If the poems are hitting, halfway through the first poem the author’s note will be forgotten – and it will end up being more to satisfy the writer than the author. I remember reading this short story by John Edgar Wideman about a man going to see his son in prison – all of my books are packed because I’m in the middle of moving, literally, pausing my moving boxes to write this – and it just feels so much like the story is true – but it’s not, or it is. It dances, and for me, the dancing is enough.
And now, having read what you wrote about Marlon Fuentes, I think I should delete what I’ve said – because you’ve clearly thought of it. But it’s cool. Congrats on finishing the manuscript. I’m looking forward to reading it.
Thanks for your comment Dwayne. Yeah, it’s not the “I” inaccuracies that concern me as much as the cultural inaccuracies. I like writing that “I” who is not me. But like I said, strict adherence to any one set of cultural practices and beliefs was not a part of the writing project.