The problem with replatforming Alfred ‘Krip’ Yuson

Publishing house Exploding Galaxies announces that it will no longer republish and circulate Yuson's novel 'Great Philippine Jungle Energy Café' Filipino author Alfred 'Krip' Yuson has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and a plagiarism case, raising concerns about the ethics of republishing his work, particularly his novel 'Great Philippine Jungle Energy Café.' Despite initial support for the republication from Exploding Galaxies, backlash from the literary community led to a reconsideration of its decision, highlighting the complexities of promoting literature by controversial figures. The situation has sparked broader discussions within the literary community about the moral implications of supporting works by authors with problematic histories and the responsibilities of publishers in such cases. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. MANILA, Philippines – Filipino literature and the classics that have come out of it always deserve to be known, and it’s often made possible by efforts like republishing and circulating physical copies to make them accessible to even more readers. But when the author behind one of these books has caused more harm than good, it becomes an entirely different story. Case in point: Alfred “Krip” Yuson and his 1988 novel Great Philippine Jungle Energy Café. The book was supposed to have been given new life by Exploding Galaxies — with the publishing house even standing by its initial decision to republish the book despite drawing backlash from members of the literary community. Here’s what went down. Yuson’s web of controversies Yuson, a Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature Hall of Fame inductee, has been accused of sexual misconduct on several instances by different individuals. His latest published work was the 2022 book The Mountain That Grew. “Why re-platform a man who’s responsible for the harassment and suicide of women? I do not care how brilliant you think his book is. I DO NOT CARE. And I will NEVER understand,” writer Katrina Stuart Santiago said in a Threads post on August 26. Santiago further attested that she knows of young female writers who have had their own share of “horrid” experiences at the hands of Yuson. “I remember when writers were being ‘cancelled’ left and right for everything from minor indiscretions to horrible mistakes to bad decisions, my question then was: when do we talk about the dirty old men of the literary establishment? Because THAT is a list. And it also has a list of victims. Re-platforming one of them by reprinting his book seems like [a] signal, doesn’t it. Of many things, including that people think we forget who these men are. We do not. We cannot. WE SHOULD NOT,” she said in another post on August 27. Santiago added that literary workshops fuel Yuson’s predatory behavior, given the power dynamics that exist in these spaces between mentors and their mentees. In response, Exploding Galaxies had initially attempted to discredit Santiago’s commentary, stating that while sexual harassment isn’t something they take lightly, the allegations that have been thrown at Yuson “have not been proven or independently corroborated.” “We republished Great Philippine Jungle Energy Café for its well-established literary merit, and we stand by our decision to publish the book,” Exploding Galaxies wrote in its first public statement on September 5. “We also stand firm against dishonest and unfair attempts to discredit this republication, especially as it is coming from a person who has expressed a longstanding personal grudge against the author, and who has, over the years, leveled serious public accusations against others,” it added. Public response Other figures in the literary community were quick to weigh in on the matter, with award-winning writer Jose “Butch” Dalisay Jr. pondering on the topic of art being created by questionable individuals. “Does moral or political purity translate to some kind of elevated prose, or more honest and insightful poetry?” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Can someone please put together a library of vetted literature (or otherwise a new Index Librorum Prohibitorium) to spare us the process, and so we can keep to the straight and narrow, and enjoy reading without guilt or shame?” Dalisay had followed it up with another post apologizing for appearing to trivialize the plight of sexual harassment victims — adding that the phenomenon of enabling a culture of harassment in workshops was something he would take up with the UP Institute of Creative Writing. “There was a specific context to my remark that sexual misconduct and plagiarism were “low-hanging fruit.” It was not to dismiss them but to suggest that they were, among human evils, among the most visible and most common (which makes them no less painful to those concerned). I was talking about the possible crimes writers and artists have been accused of, which include murder and treason, and other offenses that injure not just one but many,” Dalisay said. “I apologize to those victims of sexual harassment who may have seen my remarks as dismissive; they were not meant to be. It is a serious problem we are confronting not only in literature but in society at large.” 2011 plagiarism case But sexual harassment isn’t the only serious issue that Yuson has found himself involved in. Writer Jaemark Tordecilla had accused him of plagiarism in 2011. Tordecilla noticed that Yuson lifted several paragraphs from sportswriter Rey Joble’s piece about former PBA commissioner Rudy Salud. Joble’s story was published under GMA News Online, while Yuson had passed off his own version of it to Rogue Magazine. Yuson was serving as GMA News Online’s editor-at-large then, and was in charge of copyediting Joble’s draft. He explained that since he had rewritten portions of Joble’s work, he thought he was considered to at least be part-author. While he apologized for his actions, Yuson had merely attributed them to his old age, being overworked, and the pressure of having to meet deadlines. He still continued to write more after, and had even published several more works, like Islands of Words & Other Poems (2015), The Music Child & The Mahjong Queen (2016), and In the Footsteps of St. Ignatius of Loyola (2017), among others. Withdrawing the republication of Yuson’s book On September 7, Exploding Galaxies eventually announced that it would no longer push through with promoting or publishing Great Philippine Jungle Energy Café. “We hear you all. We are sorry for the hurt this has caused our community. We are no longer promoting or releasing this book. As a publisher, we will do better. Thank you for speaking up,” the publisher said. Exploding Galaxies also promised to “do better” in its mission to put works of Philippine literature back into circulation. But this still begs the question: How can publishers and literary circles do their part in discerning whether or not it is appropriate to promote a piece of work when the individual behind it has caused hurt to many others in the past? Yuson has yet to comment on the matter himself. – Rappler.com How does this make you feel? Loading