Embracing Mojares’s ‘slow it down’ mantra enriches our lives with deeper insights and more profound connections with the written word
“I had to go to the backyard to release [the emotion] I felt about the book.”
This was his reaction, National Artist for Literature Resil Mojares said, upon reading the book Catcher in the Rye, the book he says first moved him when he was a young reader.
Mojares said this in conversation with historian Ambeth Ocampo at the National Book Development Board’s (NBDB) Philippine Book Festival-Davao on the second day of the event, Aug. 19.
The two best-selling authors first talked about their home libraries and how they are organized, trivia that many fans like learning about.
But after that warmup, it was the National Artist’s take on his personal reading favorites and writing habits that interested the rapt audience.
Resil Buagas Mojares turns 80 on Sept. 4. He taught for many years at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, where he founded the Cebuano Studies Center, a pioneering hub for regional studies.
A historian and critic, Mojares writes about Philippine history, literature, and culture.
Among his notable books are Isabelo’s Archive, Waiting for Mariang Makiling: Essays on Philippine Cultural History, and The War Against the Americans: Resistance and Collaboration in Cebu, 1899-1906, to name some.
But it is his House of Memory: Essays that he says is his favorite of everything that he’s written, because “it’s the only one” his daughters have read.
Perhaps he said that tongue-in-cheek, as he does have a lively sense of humor. His bookshelves at home, he says, cannot contain all his books, there are so many of them.
But for him it’s not the collecting but the thrill of the hunt, the chase for a particular book or edition, the serendipitous discovery of an interesting volume in an unexpected place.
He enjoys buying books at that reader standby, Booksale, which sells used and remaindered books and makes reading affordable and accessible to a wider audience.
Sometimes, he says, buying books just makes you feel better. “It’s a case of shopping therapy. If you want to lift your spirits, you may find a book that makes your day.”
As Catcher in the Rye was a cathartic book that inspired him to read more and put him on the path of his life’s work, Mojares says his favorite foreign author is W. G. Sebald (Max Sebald), an Anglo-German author and academic.
“I have all his books,” Mojares said.
Sebald’s father had served in the Wehrmacht under the Nazis; while in school, the young Sebald was shown images of the Holocaust.
These early experiences and challenges to perception and understanding led him to write books with themes of warfare and persecution, loss and decay, memory and loss of memory.
Complex narratives layered with meaning and emotion such as Sebald’s hold great interest for Mojares.
He also favors other authors, he says, with “unpronounceable names” like the Eastern Europeans, foregoing the slicker, canny output of American authors.
He also admits to a slight disconnection from the work of women writers.
“What draws me to a particular writer is that [they wrote] something I could have written. But I can’t write like a woman, so…” he shrugged.
About his own books, Mojares says they are impelled by his “great appetite of learning.”
His interests are many and varied, and his knowledge the same, so that his writing covers a wide range of topics.
“[Writer] Doreen Fernandez said what she likes about me is that my books are different from each other,” Mojares said. “I don’t dwell too long on one topic.”
“The joy of learning, of discovering something new” keeps the National Artist’s mind sharp and his scholarship fresh and novel. “I read to learn,” he said.
But being busy with work throughout the years have left him with less time for reading. “My big regret is not having time to read what I want to read.”
His writing process follows a gentle, stately flow.
Ocampo teased Mojares, is it true that you still write in longhand?
Yes, Mojares said, on long yellow pad paper. He then transfers his draft to a computer and edits on hard copy. “I’m wasteful when I write – I do around 20 revisions on paper.”
“My preferred way of writing,” Mojares explained, “is to go coffee-shop hopping. I stay one to two hours, leave, and go to another one.”
This leisurely meander from place to place affords him time for introspection and reflection.
“Writing by hand,” Mojares said, “is the ideal way of writing. You need to slow the process down. Get away from the tyranny of the computer and do more leisurely writing.”
When Ocampo asked him to elaborate on this, particularly with young people more used to typing on computers than writing with pen on paper, Mojares said, “How can you write, speeding? You have to slow things down. That goes for reading as well.
“Digital media has put a premium on what’s short and quick. That’s what’s reflected in publishing today, with books of 50 pages.”
The years force us all to go gentler on ourselves, the National Artist reminded us. “At my age, I’ve slowed down in ways I don’t like… you can’t do things as fast.
“The lesson here,” he concluded, “is to slow it down.”
I must say I agree with our National Artist.
In a world increasingly obsessed with speed and instant gratification, embracing “slow reading” and “slow writing” becomes the path less taken.
They also have cognitive benefits.
For reading, taking the time to savor each word and sentence enhances comprehension and retention.
It allows for deeper analysis, critical thinking, and better absorption of complex ideas.
This deliberate pace engages the brain more fully, preserving cognitive function and preventing mental decline.
Similarly, “slow writing” encourages thoughtful reflection, resulting in more articulate and purposeful communication.
It can also be therapeutic, reducing stress and promoting mental well-being.
In essence, embracing Mojares’s “slow it down” mantra enriches our lives with deeper insights and more profound connections with the written word.
It also helps us develop more meaningful relationships with each other when we slow down to listen to each other’s unique life story.
And if you don’t have one yet, may you discover your own Catcher in the Rye, the book that introduces you to the love of reading and an appreciation of good literature.
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