Bringing classic Filipino literature forward

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It's interesting to note that, for all our qualms about our country being left behind in today's Digital Age (yes, despite our leadership in the Social Network world stage), somehow we're still managing to keep up. For example, take our literature, especially the classics.

Now, I've already talked about how some of the local publishers have come out with e-book versions of their published work and how there's even an e-book company, Flipside Digital Content , that's producing mainly e-books for both the local and international market.

However, a recent announcement by Flipside on a slew of new titles--or rather, new editions of old works--made me wonder how the classics of Filipino literature were doing. Flipside had declared that it would be coming out with its own e-book editions of Filipino works in the public domain.

The first batch had six titles (Jose Rizal's The Reign of Greed: El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere, Francisco Baltazar's Florante at Laura, Ibong Adarna, Mabel Cook Cole's Philippine Folk Tales, and the 1987 Philippine Constitution) and more are set for conversion. What's more, these books have been repackaged and done up in new covers by graphic artists Adam David and Lester Banzuelo (with Philippine Folk Tales and Ibong Adarna even having original artwork by comic artists Manix Abrera and Mike David).

A check with Google on Rizal's iconic work, Noli Me Tangere, as an e-book netted me few results. There's Project Guternberg, of course, which had some sites offering the copies free. Some international sites were selling it, either as the Penguin Book via Kobo (for US$12.29) or as a Blackberry App (US$4.99). There's also local company Vibal Publishing offering its own edition via iTunes complete with an introduction by noted historian Ambeth Ocampo.

Vibal's Fidelis Tan told GMA News that its version "will read like an animated graphic novel, featuring beautiful illustrations, an immersive score, and the option to read the tale in Spanish or English".

The children's classic tale, Ibong Adarna, has also been turned into an interactive e-book by Vibal. However, Baltazar's epic Florante at Laura hasn't gotten the same attention, being only available as free downloads from different Web sites courtesy again of Project Guternberg (and now, of course, on Flipside).

So what makes different editions of these e-books... um, different? Honeylein de Peralta, managing editor at Flipside Digital Content Inc., put it succinctly: "Though a lot of Filipino works are already in the public domain and available online, we want to make them handier, more accessible, and more attractive to contemporary Filipinos."

True enough. If we're to talk about book covers alone, I have books whose covers date from the '70s that positively need re-imagining for the future. So why not these books? Props to David and Banzuelo for the excellent artwork on these books.