Tongues on Fire by Conrado De Quiros

I chose the speeches for a first compilation because they do not date as easily or as fast as regular columns. However columns are well-written, or are witty and wise, they are more time-bound. Or they have more gravity in the sense of dealing with grave issues, but they also have more gravity in the Newtonian sense of being pulled down with the force of a magnet to the core of their space and time. Dealing as they do with the burning issues of the day, they not infrequently wilt from the equally burning gaze of hindsight.
Speeches are in part also time-bound in so far as they inspired, or sparked, by one's times, or one's engagement of them. Many speeches are so...

But speeches also have a way of escaping time like Houdini because they partake of the transcendence of literature. Speeches are not just about unburdening oneself of pearls of wisdom, or, horrors, about regaling audiences with tales of one's travels abroad--which for some reason, probably pathological, owing to the colonial experience--seems to be a favorite among many local speakers. They are about doing so entertainingly, divertingly, artfully. Speeches are not just sense, they are also sound. They are not just meant to inform, or impart insight, they are meant to inspire, terrify, spark in audiences’ hearts more turbulence than have been wrought by the super storms.

Format: 230 pages, Bookpaper
Published: January 1, 2007 by Anvil Publishing, Inc.
Language: English
ISBN: 978-971-27-1939-4