Four Cups of Coffee and into the Realms of Literature

I am – as of this moment – in my third cup of coffee. So, imagine the caffeine circulating within my body. That would help, I promise, in the understanding of this essay.

Some people say they write so that what they’ve written would be read, while others write just for themselves. What stirs this thinking of mine is why there are people who only write for themselves. Start asking (first to the person next to you), why?

Plainly, we write because there is something to write. How to write and for whom to write is a different matter to be discussed.

A literary text – as we may say so – is a transfiguration of a certain scenario (which may be based from truth or just plain imagination) into a certain form through the means of language. A literary text is also the key to the realms of Literature. A question is aroused: “what makes the text a key?”

We may say that this line of thinking is in favor of the text sovereignty, which is a way of reading and interpreting a piece, because I intend to cast away subjective influences such as the authors’ and the readers’. The text must stand alone. The author dies (figuratively speaking) the moment he/she places the last punctuation needed for the text to have a physical manifestation through written language. What the text will say to the reader, the author has no care.

This occurrence we may call the ‘coming to life of the text’ and the text, come high or low tide, will give no damn what the author wants to say or what the reader wants to say about it. Though some would say that text is the self of the author (reflection from a mirror), I would not agree. To me, the text is a clone of the author that has no body.

The present state of the author would reflect a reality on-going and that reality would, in one way or another, would alter or strengthen a certain belief or philosophy of the author. This would inspire the author to inscribe it onto whatever medium he/she wishes (as example, a literary text, a painting, or a short film). However, once his/her concept has sprung to reality, it would be ‘out of control’. No one would be able to control the text, not the author nor the reader.
The ability of the text to be totally out of anyone's control creates the following situations: 1) there would different and at times opposing point of views when it comes to categorization and interpretation, 2) and there would be different ways wherein the text would affect the people who have just read the text.

Yours was the scent that saved the world.

A line I handpicked from the five-times-stronger-than-caffeine poem of Lourd Ernest H. De Veyra Vanilla for it struck me as disturbing and I know that to some it will too, while to others, it would either be considered as ‘over acting’ or ‘hullabaloo'. However, sure enough that when the author thought of this line, he did not intend it to be as such nor for the poem as a whole be categorized into a kind. The author just wrote the poem and had it published. And though he may dedicate it to someone, would the reader know who that person is? And even if they knew, do they know what is exactly what’s happening between them? – No. What they knew is what is happening to the persona within the realms of the poem. Now, is their say about the poem as the reader would count as valid? – To some extent, yes, but the danger of subjectivity arises. The reader could be prejudiced or unwilling to face what is said by the text, thus altering the extraction of its real meaning.

Now, since the author cannot dictate the reader how to read this piece and the reader cannot acquire the real say of the piece due to their tendency to be subjective with their judgment, therefore, only within the text can the meaning be found. This proves that the text is beyond the control of anyone aside from itself.

From here, you could question the logic of the criticisms made by critics. Let me ask, do you wish that your text to exist out of your control – as this essay suggests – with it not conforming to some degree of aesthetics?

There is a misconception I wish to deal with. The text exists out of our (authors’ and readers’ alike) control. To go against critics because the reason you’ve given is ‘it is my work, nobody tells me what to do with my work’, for it is my Literature, that my friend is called boasting. Never display to anyone your work when after all you don’t want anyone to say their point of view over the output (necessary corrections included). If you did so, you are already showing off your capabilities when it comes to writing. Here’s a questions: is it that enough? A secret to development is never to imagine that you’re great, that you know all, that you do not need any form of correction, that you can have a say on everything. Just listen.

The realms of literature is accessible by anyone with the key to its portal, the text. And what makes the piece (the literary text) the key to this realm is when it is out and read already. Surely, anyone would like their work to be read in its best said way. To achieve such a state is only through development. When boast goes before development, the writer is not who he/she claims to be but is just a no one who tried to enter the realms and thought he/she has been granted access.

Literature, as I've said before, is not for the 'pogi points' to lure girls in or for the reputation on who gets first published, nor is it for the rank of best writer in the world. Literature was never for the glory. Literature is about telling, telling people what the world is like in this way or that way. Literature is making known what is sometimes neglected and, to some extent, denied.
To those who write for themselves, my suggestion is to make a diary and never let anyone read it. There is no logic in making someone read your work and when the reader said something about it, you will throw at them the lines, “I don't care what you say. This is my literature.” and acted as if you know everything. That is what we call showing off. You write to show that you know something and you display that you know something.

The more you know,
The more you don't know.

When you know a lot, you will realize that there is a lot more that you do not know. And those who knows less will say and show that they know everything. Yes, they know everything that they know of (not a compliment by the way). They know what they can only see, which is... quite a few.

You may ask why is this essay writing in words that are aflame. It is because of many a writer would think that they are making the key to the realm I aspire also to be in, Literature. Truth must be faced, they – you (yes, you who write for the sake of showing off) don't even know a fraction of what you should in order to be acknowledged as great. Neither anyone of us do, but at least we don't claim such prestige. This essay also serves as my vendetta.

My advice to you is just the same to what I've told myself at the end of my fourth cup of coffee – enough.