Magic and unease in a book of letters
One of the last things that Karina Bolasco did as director of the Ateneo Press was to complete the publication of Linda Ty-Casper’s book, Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark?: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper. The title sits quietly in the 2023 listing of the Ateneo de Manila University Press. While the book has received little fanfare in the Philippines, it does enjoy a US publication by PALH (Philippine American Literary House).
Linda, one of our noted Filipino novelists (Three Cornered Sun is her recent book, reissued by Exploding Galaxies), calls this book “Len’s memoir.” Len or Leonard Ralph Casper was her husband.
Young Filipinos may not know who Len or Leonard Ralph Casper is or was, nor will they understand why Filipinos should bother with this American, born ages ago in 1928 in far-off Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin.
Let me enlighten readers on this: in the 1950s, Leonard Casper taught at the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila, and Philippine Normal College. While he was there, he befriended Filipino literati and academics, and Len became instrumental in connecting Filipino literature to American readership. His published books include Wayward Horizon: Essays on Modern Philippine Literature (1961); The Wounded Diamond: Studies in Philippine Literature (1961); New Writings from the Philippines: A Critique and Anthology (1966); Six Filipino Poets (1955); Modern Philippine Short Stories (1962); New Writing from the Philippines (1966).
Linda and Len met in the Philippines, got married, and settled in Boston, where Linda continues to live. Len passed away on his 95th birthday in 2018.
It was while Linda was going through his things that it occurred to her to put together the letters he wrote and received to tell his own story. The man presented in the book is academic, the first to write a book about Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Penn Warren; a lover of literature who exchanged letters with noted American editors; a devoted family man who fiercely loved Linda and their daughters; a Filipinophile who learned how to make adobo, and who corresponded with Filipino writers (Edith and Edilberto Tiempo, Bienvienido N. Santos, F. Sionil Jose, N.V.M. Gonzalez, Alberto Florentino, Gilda Cordero Fernando, and many more).
There are still some who remember Len Casper as one who heightened their love for Philippine literature. The novelist Dr. Paulino Lim refers to him as the foremost American critic of Philippine world literature. Professor Thelma Arambulo notes that his books were “indispensable references for us undergrad English majors in the ’80s.” Poet and fiction writer Rowena Tiempo Torrevillas says, “Leonard Casper’s Six Filipino Poets was one of the most recognizable books, lifelong, from my earliest memories of our family bookshelves.”
And Joel Pablo Salud, who reviewed Will You Happen in Santelmo (Vol. 7, Sept. 2022), declares, “Casper, it would be safe to say, was one of my earliest influences in writing the essay.” Salud writes of how Linda’s book starts with a sense of mystery and unfolds revealing “a treasure trove of charms and jewels for those like me who find Leonard Casper a bit of a cryptic, enigmatic figure.” He continues, “Linda Ty-Casper has done a great service by shedding light on Len’s memory, allowing us a voyeur’s look into a life dedicated to the magic and unease found in letters.”
Even while the Philippines is enjoying a vibrant literary life right now, it remains important for younger readers to understand what earlier Filipino writers have had to go through.
Linda Ty-Casper’s Will You Happen, Past the Silence, Through the Dark?: Remembering Leonard Ralph Casper informs us of the development of Philippine literature during the 1960s through the 1990s.
In the Philippines the book is available from the Ateneo Press under the Bughaw imprint. In the US, the PALH edition is easily available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.