Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 3
Dublin Core
Title
Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 3
Description
In this audio clip, the interviewer and interviewee discuss how making Noli Me Tángere required reading in high school affects how students perceive the novel. The interviewee replies that learning Noli in the school environment the first time around was tedious because it just felt like homework; on the other hand, rediscovering the novel on her own years later made the story much more enjoyable and impactful, as she was reading it on her own terms.
Creator
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Source
Personal conversation between Catherine Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Publisher
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Date
November 20, 2020
Rights
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Format
Audio file (mp3)
Language
English
Coverage
Manila, Philippines
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Audio file (mp3)
Duration
2 minutes 5 seconds
Transcription
Kaylee:
Segueing from that, do you think making Noli required reading in high schools affects how — and even the part about learning this history early on — do you think it affects how students perceive this novel when we finally get around to studying it?
Catherine:
[0:20] Well, as any student, if you're faced with a textbook, it's required reading. You're not going to have any fun doing it, right? But I remember afterwards, I did — I was curious enough to reread it in a different language, in English now. Because at that time, the first time I read it, it was in Filipino. And then I decided to read it in a translated version of English. Of course, the Filipino itself is a translation already, it was originally in Spanish. But — I don’t know. As a student, if you're faced with a textbook, you just think, ‘Okay, this is required reading. You just slog through it, it's homework.’ But I do recall when I read it in English, that it was for me a revelation. Even though I did know the story, it was — it had a different impact on me, reading it for entertainment and for my own curiosity. Reading it as a textbook — you learned it, you understood the story, but there's another reason that you're reading it. It's not just for fun. It's not just for, ‘Okay, I just want to know what this book is about.’ It's one of those things that after you finish reading it in school, you just leave it behind for the teacher and move on to the next textbook that you have to read.
Segueing from that, do you think making Noli required reading in high schools affects how — and even the part about learning this history early on — do you think it affects how students perceive this novel when we finally get around to studying it?
Catherine:
[0:20] Well, as any student, if you're faced with a textbook, it's required reading. You're not going to have any fun doing it, right? But I remember afterwards, I did — I was curious enough to reread it in a different language, in English now. Because at that time, the first time I read it, it was in Filipino. And then I decided to read it in a translated version of English. Of course, the Filipino itself is a translation already, it was originally in Spanish. But — I don’t know. As a student, if you're faced with a textbook, you just think, ‘Okay, this is required reading. You just slog through it, it's homework.’ But I do recall when I read it in English, that it was for me a revelation. Even though I did know the story, it was — it had a different impact on me, reading it for entertainment and for my own curiosity. Reading it as a textbook — you learned it, you understood the story, but there's another reason that you're reading it. It's not just for fun. It's not just for, ‘Okay, I just want to know what this book is about.’ It's one of those things that after you finish reading it in school, you just leave it behind for the teacher and move on to the next textbook that you have to read.
Interviewer
Kaylee Hartigan-Go
Interviewee
Catherine Hartigan-Go
Location
Manila, Philippines
Files
Citation
Catherine Hartigan-Go and Kaylee Hartigan-Go, “Personal Interview with Catherine Hartigan-Go, Audio Clip 3,” Spatial Humanities, accessed March 14, 2025, https://spatial-humanities.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/34358.