Bulosan in his native tongue

By Gabriel Cardinoza
Inquirer

BINALONAN, Pangasina–Residents of Binalonan, an Ilocano-speaking town in eastern Pangasinan, can now read in their native tongue the highly acclaimed novel of their famous town mate, Carlos Bulosan.

Thanks to Manuel Diaz, a local fiction writer, who translated Bulosan’s “America is in the Heart” into Ilocano.

“Adda iti Puso ti Amerika” is now being serialized in Bannawag, a weekly vernacular magazine that circulates in the Ilocos region.

The novel, which was first published in 1946, describes Bulosan’s boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer on that foreign land.

Bulosan was born in a village in Binalonan, then known as Mangusmana, and died in Seattle, Washington, on Sept. 11, 1956.

“I hope that my translation of Bulosan into Ilocano will trigger another translation of his other important works into the vernacular,” Diaz said.

Bulosan’s literary pieces since 1914 consisted of short stories, poems, plays and essays, which have been kept in seven boxes, one folder and 17 microfilm reels at the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle.

Since the writings are all in English, many Ilocanos may have never fully appreciated them, said Jaime Lucas, Diaz’s colleague in the local chapter of the Gunglo dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano (Association of Ilocano Writers).

“Some of us have not even seen Bulosan’s book in English. So it’s good that it’s now being serialized in Bannawag that even the ordinary Ilocano can now appreciate the writings of Bulosan,” Lucas said.

First time

Diaz, who is translating Bulosan’s work for the first time, said what he had done was not easy.

“The novel was set in the 1930s and the ambiance was very different from what we have today. There were even words in the novel which are no longer applicable,” Diaz said.

But Diaz said he hoped his work would not only help increase awareness among the Ilocanos about Bulosan but would make them become proud of him as well.

Bulosan is not known now, especially among students because his works are no longer included in the required readings in high school and college literature classes. “There has to be a rediscovery of Bulosan,” Diaz said.

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