Oh, He! (Jolice Cuadra also known as Jolicocker, Jolicco, A.Z.

Jolicco, Jose Juan, or ju st JC) In the 60s, Cuadra was one of the few peerless poets, and the only one with a ve ry handsome face. He cultivated a beautiful body, flaunted his curly locks, and always wore tight unbuttoned black shirt. He was one of the literate and artisti c bad boys (of the University of the Philippines, Ateneo, the University of the East, and the University of Santo Tomas) who flogged themselves, short of suicid e, by drinking and fighting. Their formula for immortality was a heady mix of mu scular horsepower, testosterone, prose, and poetry. Cuadra s star shone when poet Jose Lansang Jr. and Federico Licsi Espino epitomize d madmen and poets as Siamese twins; and, at the opposite end, when leftist Jose Maria Sison believed that revolution was a more valid and constructive source o f life force for a truer poet. . All of them wanted to be pulled up by the moon. The literary lights then were Ma nila-based Nick Joaquin, New York-based Jose Garcia Villa, UP professor and poet ess Virginia Moreno, Dumaguete-based Edith Tiempo, Quezon City then southern-bas ed Tita Lacambra Ayala. Those who saw the young Jolico honestly believed he was the Philippines Apollo, sai d ceramic sculptor Julie Lluch. The late baritone Aurelio Estanislao called him a Greek God, recalled chess player Raul Medina. But he was a Dionysian Jolico spec ially when drunk, said expressionist painter Dani Dalena. When drunk, he gnashed his teeth, leered at policemen, and gave them the dirty finger. I met Jolico when I was with the Free Press in the early 60s. Erwin Castillo, the poet-fictionist-painter who made it in the advertising world, fictionist Willi B og Pascua Sanchez, and sports writer-poet Recah Trinidad were part of our group. We were inseparable because we loved drinking, recalled Dalena. The group s nemesis was poet Florentino Dauz who became head the Philippine Broadc asting System during the time of (former President Ferdinand) Marcos. One night in the 70s, Dauz slapped Cesar, a waiter at Indios Bravos, with money. It was a popular watering hole of artists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries at Ermita s M abini St. When Dauz stepped out of Indios Bravos, he was beaten up and dumped o n a garbage heap, by Erwin, said Dalena. Several days later, Dauz has his revenge. His bodyguards beat up Erwin and friend s, including Jolico and me, at the opening night of Ben Cab s exhibit at Luz Galle ry (along EDSA). Napahamak ako, said Dalena. One time, Jolico and I drank the whole night. At four in the morning, we were sti ll in Cubao, sitting in a seedy restaurant. Then I caught Jolico staring, withou t blinking, at a wooden (money) box held by a jeepney driver. I told Jolico to s top staring. I really made him stop. Otherwise, we would be mauled to death by t he jeepney drivers there, said Dalena, adding, Binabasagan ko siya ng bote ng beer para tumigil. In my house, he deliberately dropped an ashtray on the floor until it broke, beca use he said it was badly designed, or done in bad taste. I fled and hid in my r oom. Maybe, bohemian poets are really like that, I told myself, trying to understa nd what happened, said Lluch. One summer, during a rowdy party, Jolico got drunk and kissed Recah Trinidad on the lips. The latter boxed Jolico below the ribs. He didn t fight back.

In those days, Jolico was inviting and taming demons, explained Trinidad.

Ironically, while under the influence of wine and beer, Cuadra has written about God and man as inextricably intertwined because God has gobbled up man, and the former takes care of the latter. In a poem Dogstar, written in his mid-20s in 196 2, Cuadra has metaphorically mirrored his roaring days, saying they shake out the canines of God; they aim for the white-stallioned time like a sun upride in a whirlw nd . Up in the dizzying height, the crude bird dies. But not the manbird locked in Go d s bones Him dogstar till the phoenix hour (as ashes become flesh). In The God-invading man, Cuadra s poem written in his late 30s in 1976, is about a Go d-hyphenating I, who is frustrated as he seeks the divine, the eternally unreacha ble Other. Man is Him/ Egolectric like his verbal fire charging, a derision of man s creation as a form of materialism. If only to move swifter (man should) Rend the eternal mark of a woman, but then, love making is human all too human, it prefig ures death (not abundance), which Cuadra aptly describes as the true, the one and noble jester because it nails down man s aspiration for the divine. Man lacks sere nity, he is the sex of perdition, the magnet of violence portending, and a deity in bliss of hectic triumphs. In frustration, Cuadra says, But now let him curse the great Moral No!. The poem ends with Lest, with a comma. In Dogging years, written in 1978, Cuadra says home is where clatter, pots, and pan s, are, a remembrance of too early loves. Fear & trembling & apprehension were the sentinel to the raw-green flowering dog of his life-swaying years. In the late 60s, Cuadra was also an art critic, with eyes and ears that sought t he voices and mysteries of the artists hands. Up to now, very few can match his i nstinct for the fire, music, and power of an artist s works. When it was his turn to paint in the early 90s, he easily unlocked his genius. His canvasses were pro foundly playful, in the manner of Paul Klee. In the early 70s, Cuadra was already estranged from his first wife, painter and poet Joan Edades, a legend for her beauty, talent, and madness. They were marrie d in Barcelona in 1960 and she bore Cuadra two sons, Christopher and Jason. Cuad ra s father, a chemist in a pharmaceutical firm, and his mother brought up the two sons in suburban San Juan. Joan stayed in Davao City with her parents, national artist Victorio Edades and American English professor and former theater person ality at UP, Jean Garrot. They were such a lovely (and tragic) pair like (American novelist) F. Scott Fitzg erald (1896-1940) and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1948), said Trinidad. If you are married to someone, if you love some, he becomes a part of you. Even i f you have not seen each other for a long time, you still remember the good time s, said Edades. One morning, in the late 70s, Jolico brought Chiqui Gomez to my house. She looked like a model, tall, with a hat, and decent looking. Jolico asked for music and they danced the boogie, Dalena said. She became a poet and was known as Auggusta de Almeidda. Talking about their relationship, de Almeidda said, There is no rivalry between u s. We respect each other. Whatever criticism he has on my work, I hold it (with respect). He has high respect for my criticism of his work. At the same time, we have been together in our spiritual journey. Cuadra, his first wife, and de Almeidda all turned to God. Edades has been livin g at the Mission House and Care Home of the Universal Mission in Davao City, whe re she writes and edits the group s spiritual books. The folk religious group, led by Sylvia Alvarado, believes that Christ or the Holy Spirit will come again as a woman.

How will I describe myself now? I don t talk good and evil. I talk God,

said Edades.

Cuadra and de Almedda have become followers of Celyo Rizal, a quasi religious gr oup led by Yoland Liban Manalo, which is based in Calamba, Laguna. The group bel ieves that Jose Rizal is like Jesus Christ; that the Philippines is the lost Lem uria. In the case of Cuadra, to survive mortal blows and pain is to test God s canines in his younger days, only to acknowledge the divine in his older days. X My children don t like art, said Cuadra as if blaming art for making creative peop le s ego big and hard to handle. In 2009, he started feeling stiffness in the joints. He thought it was a sign of ageing. In 2010, he was hospitalized for food poisoning. He never regained his health since then. In, late 2010, he was diagnosed to have a full blown Parkinso n s disease. A cure X All of us have high hopes for a beloved to get well. Dr. Robin Navarro, rapid cellular alancing RCB treatment. From Oxford Nano technology Nuclear scientist Walter Alvarez Mytogen. Yoyong Libarnes, neurologist, cousin of Jolico Celyo Rizal, Yolanda Liban Manalo, Mother Bromokis, UFO Birthday of Jolico May 22, Chiqui, May 17, Jr. xxx Dulo To survive mortal blows and pain is to test God s canines, and later, to acknwledg e the divine. 9Jol A closet Christian, As in life, the deadline for perfection is always hard to beat. lmortal

ttthe away from the arts and artists. , a pedigree the daughter a Pag He drunk a lot, and was a mean 1967 davao Chronicle free lance art critic davao joan edades Jean victorio davao 67 Umpisa Talomo Beach Sales manager ysmael steel appliance corp from up out of school. Duon hotel jolico best friend Benjamin Wong Poet na sya Joan kasama Christopher 65 Jason 68 Manila magulang father retired chem. Engineer chemist pharmaceutical firm theo d avies Mother muslim They grew up in zamboanga Father Hilario Lim mother brother, isa lalaki Edward m as matanda Dr. libarnes Sa p. guevarra Mandaluyong, parents Manila studying in manila Hiwalay, 68, Umalis Manila 68, sama manila si joan close Tita Lacambra Ayala madalas si joan davao Quezon City Aurora blvd Malapit Kalayaan UE Poet na sya: magaling

GUWAPO X Tenor Auerlio Estanislao called him Guwapo, aurelio estanislao greek god Adonis Laurel: Alam niyang guwapo siya, Tingin ko rinub in, Women habol sa kaniya Mestiza, mayaman, Bale wala kay Joan Maganda si Joan Baez Magaling si joan Sabi ni jolico, I miss joannie Poetry reading, Villa Jose Garcia Chiqui, LATE 70S

A Greek God.

Nervous breakdown, chiqui I used to frequent ayala garahian joan I wasn t surprise d umuwi sa davao 80s X The children don t like the arts. Hiwalay Manila Aurora blvd. Cotabato, I was running NEDA 79, 81 Ok naman siya jolico showed me around some other groups masayang usapan naming Last time 1970. OK na sya. Ruben de Vera painter, got married close ist wife, sister of one of our barkadas , 2nd wife, nurse from Negros, Bacolod When de Vera boasted that he was the first among painters in Davao to use locomo tive paint, Jolico said, Maski tae pa and gamitin mo basta maganda. Ibang boy friend si Joan With parents, hindi paint 1970, painting, Makati Poetry, ala-Villa JULIE LLUCH I met Jolice in the 70s, when he wrote for Chronicle I was in love with Philippine literature then. I made ceramic sculpture on Nick Joaquin and Jose Garcia Villa. When Jolico saw my work on Jose Garcia Villa, we talked about it. It was not on exhibit, but he wrote about it. It was a glowing art review. I was beside myself. I was so flattered. The woman s hands - electric and creative with imagination.

BAD JOLICO JULIE: Jolico was also bad. . JULIE: I had a big and heavy book on Bethoven. When he borrowed it, I never saw i t again. JULIE: He would correct my grammar, although I didn t mind it.

JULIE: I always forgave his bad manners, like cursing. The first time I met him, he was always drunk. He turned sober only much later. ANALYSIS, BAD-GOOD JOLICO Julie: When he was bad, I felt he wasn t really bad. He like to be bad. That was a ll bark, no bite, and no malice either. Explanation: It was an artist s posture, of coping with the world that he thought did not understand him. For him, the world owes the artist. When it wasn t that at all, he didn t know how to cope with that. He was a romantic. I sympathized with him even then. ART SHOW, GALLERY OF GEORGE SISON LOOKS. He was handsome. Kuloot and buhok, parang si Apollo. JOLICO S WRITING: Julie: I know he had the highest admiration for Villa. His poems remind you of Villa. He liked quoting Villa. KISSING RECAH In one party, he kissed (poet-sports writer) Recah Trinidad on the lips. Recah boxed him. He didn t fight back. ART CRITIC: He is knowledgeable of the arts. He was a good story teller. He has such fine taste. He writes well. FAVE FOOD: He likes sashimi before it was popular. He would always ask the maid to buy fresh fish for kinilaw. He would prepare it, too. WHEN DANI AND I WERE FIGHTING. Jolico would always side with me, the weaker sex! HIS FRIENDS His friends: Erwin Castillo, then in the advertising Willie Bog Pascua Sanchez Frank Osorio Alfred Salanga, Krip Yuson, Pete lacaba/ FOLK RELIGION Mother Bromokis, UFO seekers in Bulaca, Drink beer: Hindi siya makaporma pag nandiyan si Nick Joaquin. ANECDOTE, JOAN. One time, I served our friends dinuguan. Joan was appalled and s

aid, I don t eat blood. . He continued eating. Ang galling magkuwento JOLICO AS A PAINTER: GOOD QUALITIES FROM DANI DALENA

She stood up and went to the door. Jolico didn t run after her

X I met Jolico when I was with the Free Press in the early 60s. Erwin Castillo, t he poet-fictionist-painter who made it in the advertising world, fictionist Will i Bog Pascua Sanchez, and Recah Trinidad, sports writer-poet, were part of the gro up. Since then, we were inseparable, especially when drinking, recalled Dalena. . , in crinking Indios Bravos. Walang plano, walang bayad, Yung may pera hindi nagpapahalata. Si Jolico pag tumimpla yung alak sa kanyang katawan, nagiging makata sia. If the Erwin Castillo, the artist and painter who made it in the advertising world. Si Jolico mahilig tumitig, itim na t shirt, kulot na buhok, hindi nakabutones an d short, maganda ang kataan, Police tinititigan, ayaw paawat, sabui ko tigi;an mo, binanagsagan ko ng bote n t beer, para Makita nyang galit ajo A year ago, niyakap ko siya, He wrote about me and when he asked for forgiveness, I told him. Punta ka sa lab as ng bahay, sa gitna ng daaan para masagasaan k. Mahal naming si jolico, Nalungkot ako sa nangyari sa kaniya. Hanga ngayon ayaw padalaw sa calamba Laguna, Hindi ako naghahana Pinili ko siya WHY SEPARATED FRPM JOAN Pareho silang may topak, kaya kailangang maghiwalay, Nagmamahalan di nila alam, di sila nagkakalikilala ng katotohanan Bubuntot si joa, di alam ni jolico na nanduon si koan, minsan she was wearing s everal pants at the same time. JOLICO S WRITING: Magaling si Jolico, pag pangit, pangit May mata si jolico. Walan siyang edlihensiya, hindi siya pakikinabannagn, Jolico lang yan eh, Pag eexperimnetuhan ng utak niya

Pagpalit ng name, hindi ako nagtataka, ayaw kong mangyari sa kaibingan ko yung n angyari kay jolico Anecdote, . I was not o a was there, he beat p and dumped him in a garbage bin. and (the dsdictatro a sinampal ng pera sa mukha si Cesar ng Indios Bravos, in abangan siya ni Erwin, binugbog and dumped sa basura, Opening of Bencab at the Luz Gallery, Bodyguard ni Dauz, binugbog yung group ni Erwin. TAXI, lasing tinitigan yung police sa isang kotse, dirty finger, Taxi, bilisan mo mama. Lagi aong pinapahamak, Lagutok ang ngipin, naggigil CUBAO 4 am, corner EDSA s where jeepney drivers the niea fter A Tinitigian yung jeepney driver , JOLICOS family, Once he introduced Chiqui Gomez, also known as Augusta Almeida

Pinatugtog, rock en roll, ERWIN CASTILLO, Island Brothers gk became inseparaeble. ERWIN CASTILLO Castillo delivers "Living Voice" fellowship lecture QUEZON CITY - Erwin Castillo, the UP Likhaan Creative Writing Center National Fe llow for Fiction for 2000-1, delivered a lecture last June 28 at the Francisco A rcella Library at the Bulwagang Rizal in the University of the Philippines Dilim an campus here. After 40 years working for professional publications, Castillo continues to be a force in Philippine literature. Born in 1944, Castillo began to publish storie s, and later stories, in the old Philippines Free Press when he was literary edi tor of the Collegian. Since then, his works have been published and anthologized here, in Europe and in the United States. The holder of a degree from the University of Iowa, Castillo has won prizes s uch as the Free Press, Palanca, Tagayan, Leader, and the ASEAN, which was the fo rerunner of the SEA Write Prize. The Firewalkers, his first novel, was published in 1992. He is currently working on two novels: Stranger Sweets, which includes a total re-invention of Rizal's unfinished book; and Cape Engao. ERWIN CASTILLO S VOICE BOXER-POET-PAINTER iving voice: Erwin E. Castillo (The Philippine Star) Updated July 02, 2001 12:00 AM Comments (0) View comments

At the Francisco Arcellana Library at the U.P. Faculty Center last Thursday, abo ut 70 writers and literature students gathered to enjoy a talk by poet and novel ist Erwin E. Castillo. Billed as a Fellowship Colloquium, it was part of the Living Voice in Conversati on Series offered regularly by Likhaan: The UP Creative Writing Center and the D epartment of English and Comparative Literature. The program handbill says of the featured writer, who is the UP-CWC National Fel low for Fiction for 2000-01: "Born on 29 September 1944, Erwin E. Castillo first studied in public schools, t hen attended U.P., and, on a U.S. State department scholarship, the University o f Iowa in Iowa City. He is now in semi-retirement after spending almost 40 years in professional communications, although he continues to sit on the board of th e companies he founded. He also actively consults with personal clients in busin ess, sports and politics. "Erwin E. Castillo first began publishing stories, and later, poems in the old P hilippines Free Press when he was literary editor of the Collegian. Since then, his works have been published and anthologized here, in Europe and in the United States. he has won a few prizes such as the Free Press, Palanca, Leader, Tagaya n, and the ASEAN, which was the forerunner of the SEAWrite Prize. "The Firewalkers, his first novel, was published in 1992. He is currently workin g on two novels: Stranger Sweets, which includes a total re-invention of Rizal s unf inished book; and Cape Engao." Castillo s talk focused mainly on the writing of the latter work-in-progress, a garg antuan novel that he has labored on for seven years. Here we share excerpts of t he talk as well as the dialogue with the audience. To know Erwin is to be mesmerized at his prowess as a raconteur, to laugh and si ng with him over spirits, as happened later in the evening. "This may be how a story begins. Ten years ago I attended the Dumaguete writers kshop. And my friend, the poet Cesar Ruiz Aquino, and I had a long drinking sess ion way into the night. And we were in the company of a young woman whose name a nd face escape me now. But we got into a rather rowdy story-telling session. "So I was telling this young woman the story of how every year, the seven people who actually rule the world met in some shabby place. They gathered once a year , the seven people who ruled the world. They came to some shabby place, where th ey set up some sort of gaming device. They sat around, they played, they won, th ey lost, they quarrelled. And they decided what was going to happen to people an d to nations. "I told Cesar and this girl that that year the meeting place was going to be Man ila, that the seven men would come from wherever they lived, that they would lan d incognito in Manila. They were going to take an FX taxi to go to their place, to set up their thing. But what was going to happen was that some policemen were going to take them, the policemen were going to take the FX taxi and take, mayb e not all of these men but a few of them, as a kidnap-for-ransom. "And that what was going to happen was that there was going to be negotiations. And then Joseph Estrada, who was head of the Presidential Anti-Crime Commission, was going to lead a botched atempt to rescue the kidnapped people. And that Jos eph s policemen were going to kill them. That was the complete story. "The objective correlative of that story, obviously, well, there may be two, may wor

be three... There is an anti-Semitic drivel that there are old Jewish men who co ntrol our fate Hitler s favorite story. And of course there is another Jewish story story of Job.

"In the story of Job, it seems that God and the devil, every morning, take a pas eo. This is how I remember it. Ang Diyos at ang demonyo, pag umaga, maglalakad. Magkaibigan sila, they re old friends, comfortable like Jolicco (Cuadra) and myself. They meet, they drink coffee, they take a walk. So the story of Job was, God an d the devil walked and saw the servant Job, with his family, his flock, his chil dren, his beloved wife... And God said, My servant Job, how he serves me. And the d evil, his friend with whom he was taking a paseo Manichaean maybe said, He serve nly because you ve given him so much money, a flock, etc. God said I don t think so, e Devil said, I think so. And God said, would you like to put some money on that ? And of course the devil said, how much? And they make the wager. As a result o f the wager, you remember the story Job s beloved wife and children are killed, not t mention his flock, and the camels, etc. And when Job is tormented by his loss, God appears to him in the form of a whirlwind. Job was saying, my wife is dead, my children are dead, why did this happen? "The narrator has already told us, it happened because of a bet. Somebody made a bet, and now here s this terrible whirlwind preaching, saying to the victim, You are human being, you don t know anything. Human beings are too small to question this, etc, etc. All rather unfair, of course. "Now when I was a young man, I was in love with a very pretty girl, since we wer e both in high school, like childhood sweethearts. And suddenly (here at UP) she was Lantern Queen at the Christmas parade. There I was with Jolicco Cuadra and Willie Sanchez, we had our bottle and were out watching the parade, and the Lant ern Queen passed by.

"There is a poem by Robert Graves. The poem is Love Without Hope. And it goes like th s: Love without hope as when the young bird catcher... said to the squire s own daught r as she passed by.... Love without hope. That was exactly how I felt.

"Well, I m talking objective correlatives, and this is how the novel grew in my mind . Another story... St. Joseph and the Virgin were walking in a cherry orchard. T hey were not married, they had not had sex. And the Virgin told Joseph, Gather me s ome cherres, for I am with child. Joseph flew in anger... In anger flew him, and said let the father of the baby gather cherries for thee. "And so we can do nothing but rail in anger and thank God for our capacity for v iolence, that sometimes we are able to lash out. And that was how Cape Engao began .

"Anyway, Cape Engao has maybe 100 different characters. When I wrote a very thin n ovel called The Firewalkers and I gave it to Nick Joaquin, I said, the next time I m going to give you a Russian novel, with all these characters and all these name s. And that s what I m trying to do with Cape Engao. A hundred characters, with all t ialogue. It is really a one-person story, about being confronted by powerful for ces that have made a bet.

"Seven powerful people controlling the world... what are they like? To become an angel you have to be very very rich... In my invention, the angels that I imagi ne don t look too impressive. They re cheap, they re stingy, they don t brush their ten. And when I told Cesar Aquino that Joseph Estrada was going to kill them, Ce sar was very happy... "My description of the book makes it appear that it is about money, or about a c oncern for material things... But that is only in a certain sense... We are poet s, and there is a reverse snobbery about material things. This is natural. There

is no money in poetry and there is no poetry in money. "Those are the concerns of the book, but the book is not like that at all. The a bstract framework is about power, about people who become angels, about people c oncerned not with material things anymore, but about power and bets..." Castillo begins to read an excerpt. "I will read In the hold of the McCullough ." Follows the reading from the novel-in-progress. Castillo has a powerful, mellifl uous voice, and everyone is mesmerized. After the reading, Castillo announces th at he will field questions, but that first "I will quote a passage from John Gardner, and maybe, it was also what I was tal king about in my own stupid way... The question that is asked is: Why is there evil in this world? It is a question I think the novel has answered. Why is there evil in this world? To thicken the plot." Now we share part of the open forum, with UP-CWC Director Cristina Pantoja Hidal go asking the first question: "Do you see your novel as a lashing out?" "No, hing t we that no, Jing. One of the ideas that has always fascinated me is the idea of las out. But the work doesn t really concern itself with that. I have a feeling tha write because there are certain difficult questions that children ask, and there are no other answers than to respond with a story."

Jing Hidalgo: "What might have been the question that led to The Firewalkers as an answer" "Why do we die? Why did father die? Maybe, maybe. Why did mother die? Maybe that . One of the questions that Cape Engao tries to answer is: why are we so poor? It is Jolicco s question and my own. Why are we so poor? And there are no answers. I en joy writing violence, as when we were younger we enjoyed inflicting violence. No , no, that was for Jolicco, that s just a joke. Butch Dalisay: "One of the things I admire about The Firewalkers and this new no vel you just read from is the fact that your work is suffused with a kind of mus cularity lots of action, it keeps moving and moving, in contrast to the pervasive stillness and quietude in too many works today where you have characters sitting in cafes, chatting with each other, about life in the universe and all that. Bu t you have a lot of physical action. Have you always written like this? Or did y ou go through a phase of another kind of writing?" "Hemingway was the teacher, although when we were younger we did not acknowledge this. It was fashionable to be influenced by Europeans and others. And Mr. Hemi ngway who was boorish, rough, and had a popularly perceived anti-mind stance which was not true, of course was a hero. And so that was how we waned to write. We wer e interested in physical action in our daily lives. We were athletes, and it was fun. And of course (there was) a fascination for violence, even ritual violence , confrontations and such. "Maybe, Butch, I was writing for certain friends, like the painter Sonny Yiguez, w ho wanted knives drawn. And I also wanted to see knives drawn, at least in my mi nd. Which is not to say, I think, that ideas, in the abstract, are not as volupt uous as physical things. Yes, they are voluptuous,. With a brightly conceived id ea, spoken in a way the impact is sexual. "Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle. Wow! Di ba? I mea n, Butch, if I had ideas like that, then maybe the physical stuff would not be a

s rich. But in the absence of such intellectual power, then shotguns work." Amelia Lapea Bnifacio: "With seven chapters, of one hundred pages each, how much m ore of the novel do you have to go?" "I work with a computer. Every six months or so, I print out the whole caboodle. I make a hardcopy, and I go around my house, saying, Doce kilos de Mama! (laughter) "I don t know if this also happens to other writers... The world overtakes the situa tion, and suddenly I have to examine another phenomenon. Franz Arcellana used to say, that when he was writing short stories, he would get so tired of the godda mmed thing that he d send it off, just to get rid of it. "I want to do that. The story is formed, the story is complete, the story has an ending. And if I may say so, it s nice, a rather nice ending. It has everything. Bu t there are things inside that are not quite... "John Ciardi talked about Dante, ano, the planning, the preparation, wow, magnif icent! Which means a piece of work is like this, pinlano, pinlano, maganda, Dant e, wow, magnificent!

"But of course there is also sheer joy of as with Cape Engao in Hemingway s phr y the light of Havana... There is a destination, there is a halo of a place called. .. whatever. The night is dark. You row your boat. There is rain, there is water , all the elements of the weather, there is the condition of the boat, there is yourself, how much food and things. And then you sail. When you re going to reach th ere, I do not know, I do not know. I have no idea. "The end is there. We used to have a drinking game, Cesar Aquino, Willie Sanchez and myself. This was how we played it. We would say the ending of a story, and the drinking session is making up the story. "It is not the story itself that is difficult now. It is something else. It is m issing out on nuance, on kuwan, on things... or not getting the physical things right, or, anyway... a dissatisfaction. It is terrible. And we all know this. "There is a joy also, and of course a great frustration, in trying to devise a n ew way of working that seems to fit the material. Yun yata, yun yata ang kuwan." (Laughs like a maniac.) xxx Si Jolico Cuadra ay isinilang noong 1937 sa Zamboanga ngunit lumaki sa Maynila a t Davao. Nag- aral siya sa Paris, L Ecole des Beaux Arts at Le Grand Schaumire maka raaang magtapos sa paaralan dito sa bansa. Mahilig siyang magpinta at kadalasan ay nagsusulat ng mga tula. Mahilig din siya sa mga bagay na na may kaugnayan sa hiwaga at paniniwala. Nagtrabaho siya bilang katuwang teknikal sa SSS at kolumni sta para sa pahayagang Bulletin Today. Ginawaran siya ng honorable mention ng CCP Awards noong 1973 para sa kaniyang "P ossibilitarian Poems." Binigyan rin siya ng pangalawang gawad ng prestihiyosong Palanca Awards noong 1978 kahati si Cesar Ruiz Aquino, para sa kaniyang koleksiy on ng mga tulang "The Dogging Years." Nagkamit rin siya ng parangal mula sa SEAW RITE Awards ng Thailand noong 1979.

Xxx

Ccc Sirius, The God*Dog Star The effect of Sirian energy and influences generated approximately 17 years ago, in 1993 / 1994 (the last cycle when Sirius A and B were closest), have created renewed interest in this most influential heavenly body. The history books and r eligions of the world have had much to say about the God / Dog star. This articl e reflects on our ancestors' beliefs and inspired insights into a great mystery ~ the mystery of the Dog Star and its influences on our little corner of the uni verse. Sirius was an object of wonder and veneration to all ancient peoples throughout human history. In the ancient Vedas this star was known as the Chieftain's star; in other Hindu writings, it is referred to as Sukra, the Rain God, or Rain Star . The Dog Star is also described as "he who awakens the gods of the air, and sum mons them to their office of bringing the rain." By the ancient Egyptians, Sirius was revered as the Nile Star, or Star of Isis. Its annual appearance just before dawn at the June 21 solstice, heralded the com ing rise of the Nile, upon which Egyptian agriculture depended. This particular helical rising is referred to in many temple inscriptions, wherein the star is k nown as the Divine Sepat, identified as the soul of Isis. For example, in the temple of Isis-Hathor at Dedendrah, Egypt, appears the inscr iption, "Her majesty Isis shines into the temple on New Year's Day, and she ming les her light with that of her father on the horizon." The Arabic word Al Shi'ra resembles the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian names suggesting a common origin in Sa nskrit, in which the name Surya, the Sun God, simply means the "shining one." For up to 35 days before and 35 days after our sun conjuncts the star Sirius ~ c lose to July 4 ~ it is hidden by the sun s glare. The ancient Egyptians refused to bury their dead during the 70 days Sirius was hidden from view because it was b elieved Sirius was the doorway to the afterlife, and the doorway was thought to be closed during this yearly period. In mythology the dog Sirius is one of the watchmen of the Heavens, fixed in one place at the bridge of the Milky Way, keeping guard over the abyss into incarnat ion. Its namesake the Dog Star is a symbol of power, will and steadfastness of p urpose, exemplifying the initiate who has succeeded in bridging the lower and hi gher consciousness. Located just below the Dog Star is the constellation called Argo, the Ship. Astr ologically this region in the sky has been known as the River of Stars, gateway to the ocean of higher consciousness. The Chinese recognized this area as the bridge between heaven and hell ~ the bri dge of the gatherer, the judge. In the higher mind are gathered the results of t he experiences of the personality. Between each life the Soul judges its past progress, and also the conditions nee ded to aid its future growth. As long as it is attached to desire, sensation, an d needs experiences, the Soul continues to come into incarnation. Until it is pe rfected, the Soul cannot pass over, or through, the Bridge. The association of Sirius as a celestial dog has been consistent throughout the classical world; even in remote China, the star was identified as a heavenly wol f. In ancient Chaldea (present day Iraq) the star was known as the "Dog Star tha t Leads," or it was called the "Star of the Dog." In Assyria, it was said to be the "Dog of the Sun." In still older Akkadia, it was named the "Dog Star of the Sun." In Greek times Aratus referred to Canis Major as the guard dog of Orion, followi ng on the heels of its master and standing on its hind legs with alpha star Siri us carried in its jaws. The concept of the mind slaying the real can be seen in the tales which relate the dog as the hunter and killer ~ the hound from hell. Manilius called Canis Major the "dog with the blazing face." Also called the Lar ge Dog, Sirius appears to cross the sky in pursuit of the Hare, represented by t he constellation Lepus under Orion's feet.

Mythologists such as Eratosthenes said that the constellation represents Laelaps , a dog so swift that no prey could escape it. Laelaps had a long list of owners . One story says it is the dog given by Zeus to Europa, whose son Minos, King of Crete, passed it on to Procris, daughter of Cephalus. The dog was presented to Procris along with a javelin that could never miss. Ironically, Cephalus acciden tally killed her while out hunting with Laelaps. Cephalus inherited the dog and took it with him to Thebes, north of Athens, wher e a vicious fox was ravaging the countryside. The fox was so swift that it was d estined never to be caught ~ yet Laelaps the hound was destined to catch whateve r it pursued. Off they went, almost faster than the eye could follow, the inescapable dog in p ursuit of the uncatchable fox. At one moment the dog would seem to have its prey within grasp, but could only close its jaws on thin air as the fox raced ahead of it again. There could be no resolution of such a paradox, so Zeus turned them both to stone and placed the dog in the sky without the fox. In the Chinese tradition, there is a remarkable analogy in the double meaning of the word Spirit and the word Sing (star). Shin and Sing, the Chinese words for soul and essence, are often interchangeable, as they are in the English language . It is said that the fixed stars, and their domain, contain the essences or souls of matter ... a living soul is a higher essence of matter, and when evolved may also be called a star. These stars and essences become gods. Like souls, stars are regarded as having divine attributes. Stars look down from regions of chaotic, violent, purity onto the world of humanity and influence th e energies of humankind invisibly, yet most powerfully. In June of 1993, as our sun covered Sirius from the Earth's view, the largest fl ood of the past century occurred. The waters of the Mississippi, our Nile River, overflowed its banks. The flood that year continued until the middle of August. When Sirius re-appeared from behind the sun, the flood waters receded and the i mmediate life-threatening crisis subsided. Could this have been a reflection of the great rivers of energies streaming out from Sirius? Xxx FROM RECAH TRINIDAD Recah Met 1970s, Late 69 70, saan up, 67, durin asia phil, free press punta free press nakainom m nivk patawag securit y guardm to take Handsome good looking, iba utak art criticism, One finest poets, Rebelde yan, sa indioas bravoa, lord byron, nakaitim, central table nick jose Ga rcia betsy romualdez, he wd create a scene,. He was a very good writer Hinalikan ka daw sa lips binuntal, he was being rowdy Binasagan ko siya ng beer Basag baso, party ko darating, isang seaside party, mandaluyong, favorite home w here I grew up, bato sa sahig, hindi ko na piunapasain willy krip, sinuntok, That was another time, kiss, pabiro, He was Palabiro, okey sakin, It belonged to my father, nanghihiram Vbeer China town Ginebra san Miguel Favorite panciteria chiba Fish head tbig tray 70.00 kasya fish head soup, lapulapu, specially mmushroom, t etuan Guy has kinukuha Magana book, memnirs golden bow, palitan kami ng libro. Hes helpful sinasabi saan ka mali,

Hes very proficient prose and poetry magaling critic,, still respectewd title Maganda prose precise Very intriguing, 69, Asaw joan, naklatura mandaluying, anak ni edades Lumipat kami sa san juan, madalas joan, wife maria fe lacsamana grand daughter s egundina katigbak, Jolico and joan separate, joan ksi masyadong na in love arawe araw gin, meron pr oblema ulo, They were such a lovely pair like F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, said Trinidad. Sf scott fitzgerald, Joan, msaganda Recah, ust, back of ust licsi espino,. Tatad ibang school, hindi gusto professor , Discussion, jolico was one time, university aleng mameng, wilfredo nolledo, host student drinking days, Tidahan mhopia coke backroom pwedeng mbeer, jolico Listening centre virgina Moreno, I was a working journalist phil herald, sportsa writer Dzhp, news reporter Manila t Sunday times, manila times, feature writer specialized in sports. Many pacquiao 2006 pacific storm natl book award, published national book store Guwapo, nakasira para siyang rebellious sya lagging tinastame na private demonsX I CAME LATE INTO HIS CIRCLE OF FRIENDFS I LOVE THE GUY very sincere friend. Erwin Castillo, He was handsome X He was rebellious as if he was always taming his private demons Sonny Enriquez Chiqui Gomez, also known as Augusta de Almeida

CRITIC BY PANTOJA HIDALGO Fabulists and Chroniclers Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo Introduction Novels have been a source of great pleasure to me for most of my life. This deep , abiding devotion eventually led to my attempting to write novels myself. And h aving written them, served to reinforce my fascination with the novel; in effect , gave it another dimension. I am repeatedly delighted and astonished at the many ways there are of telling s tories. Which is just another way of saying that I am constantly delighted and a stonished by the many stories writers have to tell. For, of course, what story i s told and how it is told are one and the same. I imagine that painters have the same sort of curiosity about other artists' pai ntings, or actors about other actors' performances-a kind of "specialist's" inte rest, one might say. I don't use the term "specialist" here to mean "expert" (fo r how could one claim to be an expert after writing just two novels?), but, rath er, someone who, by both inclination and training, is more focused on this parti cular field than on another. What interests me, then, is the form of the Philippine novel in English, and how it has developed in the last three decades. And in this essay, I shall take a c

loser look at The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf by Alfred A.Yuson (1988, 199 6), The Firewalkers by Erwin Castillo (1992, 2003), The Sky Over Dimas by Vicent e Garcia Groyon 2003), and Banyaga: A Song of War by Charlson Ong (2006). Three of these novels I have read and taught many times, each time feeling just as cur ious as when I first encountered them; the last one I am teaching for the first time this semester. And though one was first published in 1988, and one in 2006, I think of the four as "new" novels. These novels are not "like" each other. In fact, they differ widely. But they ha ve a number of things in common. First there is what, for lack of a better term I shall call "energy," the result as much of the tremendous vigor and strength o f language, and the freshness of the total effect produced by their individual t extual strategies. In the eighties, National Artist Nick Joaquin worried that writing in English wo uld go the way of writing in Spanish. . After the early 1900s, Philippine writing in Spanish took on a discouraged ton e, became a querulous repetition, and sank into mediocrity. Writing in English m ay go the same way, because it, too, is following the pattern of dropped or evad ed challenges. In this new medium an old characteristic of ours is again evident : our timorous preference for work in miniature, work on a small scale. The only literary form in which we have excelled in English is the short story, and we a re working it to death. The short story is a good medium for apprentice work; bu t having mastered it, we must move on to bigger challenges." (1988, 45) It would have heartened him to see that Filipino fictionists in English have ind eed moved on; that the last decades have seen the publication of many novels; an d that the most striking thing about these four particular novels is their abund ant energy. Two of the novels are in the non-realist mode, and two might be described as mor e or less "realist," but not in the manner of the earlier realist novels of Stev an Javellana, NVM Gonzalez, Bienvenido Santos, F. Sionil Jose, Linda Ty-Casper, Antonio Enriquez, Edith Tiempo, and Kerima Polotan; or in the manner of younger writer, Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. and the even younger Katrina Tuvera. Fantasy in one form or the other plays an important role in three of them. In the one novel wh ere it does not, the material is so extravagant as to seem surreal. And yet, the authors seem at pains to ground their narratives in a definite historical time and place, not merely through detailed, concrete description, but through refere nces to actual persons connected with historical events. Comedy and tragedy freely commingle in all four, as do parody and pathos. Three are much more sexually explicit than is usual in most fiction in English; and se x, though not depicted graphically in the fourth, occupies a large space in the minds of the characters and is often referred to with much hilarity and ribaldry . As do references to other bodily functions, whose absence from earlier novels suggests that these must have been regarded as inappropriate or "vulgar." All the novels-even those that are primarily in the realist mode-contain scenes more commonly found in melodrama than in the realist novel: the flamboyance, the gothic detail, the extravagant gesture. On the other hand, given their historic al grounding, they obviously have a serious point to make. They resist being rea d merely as entertainment. And with their large and diverse cast of characters, they resist being read as mere personal history, or even family chronicle. They obviously have something to say about the nation. But they are not saying it gri mly or gravely; they're saying it irreverently, with laughter, and with poetry, and with tears. Moreover, they are all saying it in remarkably cinematic ways. It is easy to ima gine all four translated into Filipino and turned into movies. The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf is in the same wacky spirit as La Visa Loc a, but in costume. The Firewalkers would have been a much more exciting and inte resting movie than Sakdal. In fact, the first edition of the Castillo's novel ha d a cover that looked like a movie poster ad; and there were rumors when the nov el was first released that it was to be filmed, with FPJ, a friend of the author 's, in the title role. The Sky Over Dimas would be a great improvement on Tangin g Yaman. And Banyaga: A Song of War would be a great improvement on the Mano Po

series. Where does this wild, baroque mixture come from? The obvious answer would seem t o be marvelous realism, in particular, that brand of it associated with the Lati n Americans. And it would probably be safe to assume that, given their particula r backgrounds, these novelists are familiar with the novels of the great Latin A merican "Boom," and may indeed have been influenced to a certain extent by them. On the other hand, the late National Artist Nick Joaquin, claimed (as an aside i n his famous Ramon Magsaysay Lecture, "Journalism Versus Literature), that his " own magic 'realism' antedated the magic realism of the American Latinos." (Joaqu in 1996. In Hidalgo 2005, 228) And one has only to remember that many of his tal es-like "May Day Eve," "The Legend of the Dying Wanton," and "Doa Geronima"-had b een published before 1952, to recognize the truth in his claim. [1] So, might there not be another, equally powerful, if not more powerful, source? And might that source not be our own literary traditions? The same traditions, p erhaps, that shaped Nick Joaquin, who published his folk tale adaptations, Pop S tories for Groovy Kids, in 1981 and his revised folk tales, Joaquinisquerie: Myt h a la Mode, in 1983; and Gilda Cordero Fernando, whose retelling of Philippine myths and folktales are to be found in The Soul Book (1992) and A Treasury of St ories (1995) and who translated some Lola Basyang tales in collaboration with Bi envenido Lumbera (The Best of Lola Basyang, 1997). What, then, are these traditions? In a provocative essay, "The Philippine Komiks: Text as Containment," Soledad Re yes has applied Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of "carnival" and the "carnivalesque" to an analysis of the transgressive qualities of Philippine popular culture, inc luding such rites, rituals, and practices as the penitencia and the Moriones fes tival; the karnabal, perya, and Santacruzan; and even TV shows like TV Patrol. S he has noted the "crazy mixture" of serious devotion and farce, sublimity and ea rthiness, traditional and modern, earnestness and frenzy, vulgarity and loftines s, high and low, all of it punctuated by "boisterous laughter." (2001, 179) But the clearest demonstration of the carnivalesque at work, according to her, i s the Philippine komiks. In the komiks world, anything is possible-from high drama to sentimental narrati ves, from myth to science-fiction, from devil-possession to vampirism, from seri ous political stories to the most light-minded tales, from love stories to highflying tales of adventures, from tragedy to farce. (180) She mentions the many marvelous elements to be found in these early forms of wha t is now referred to as grafiction: the numerous marvelous elements, ranging fro m talking roosters to flying typewriters to alien beings to creatures from Phili ppine lower mythology to actual historical heroes; the "forthright, and in some cases, exceedingly vulgar and farcical" language; the irreverent tone; the exube rance and excess, which "is so forceful that it tends to burst at the seams." All these strategies Reyes reads as "a graphic transgression of official culture 's many stifling rules because it allows behavior, ordinarily contained and puni shed in polite society." One finds the same strategy with "the same transgressiv e function" which one finds in "radio programs that are actually political comme ntaries." (180) In another essay, "Folk Tradition in Philippine Culture," she mentions another t radition which is a fountainhead which has nourished the literature produced by our own writers in the different Philippine languages-our myths and legends, or the folk tales which we now regard as "fantasy." They form a kaleidoscope, the elements of which spill into each other, creating a dominant impression of richness in color and variety, of exceedingly complicat ed patterns that defy categorization. (2001, 186) What is the common denominator that binds these and other discourses which form our popular culture? Reyes asks. Despite the unmistakable inroads of modernization, a major element has remained: the valorization of the imagination to evoke, to create, to breathe life into a wasteland, and to constitute and reconstitute various realities without followi ng the laws of the mind-that which determines the text written in the literate t radition. In this view, life's mystery is not dispelled but further affirmed and

reaffirmed, and the sacramental, metaphorical view of the universe emphasized, its terror and anguish undiminished, its joy and pleasure mixing freely with its sadness and pain. (2001, 189) Might not this be the fountainhead which has also nourished some of our fiction in English? Unfortunately, I lack the expertise that would enable me to trace the influences of elements from our mythology and our popular culture, like the komiks, in the se four novels. What I shall be focusing on is such formal elements as mode, str ucture and style; and such textual strategies as narrative frames, language regi sters, scenic effects, atmosphere, imagery, etc. which I think we might better a ppreciate if we understood their functional values; and if we saw them as govern ed by a different sort of aesthetic than that which governs conventional realist fiction, and which aesthetic seems to me drawn, not principally from foreign so urces, but from our native literary traditions as described by our own literary historians and literary critics like Resil Mojares and Soledad Reyes. Rereading these scholars, I take note of the number of times that reference is m ade to the curiously old fashioned term, "soul." In his introduction to Part I of Our People's Story: Philippine Literature in En glish (2005), Gmino H. Abad refers to the "work of imagination" that is our liter ature as a "yearning for form." This, he says is "what drives our people's story ." And it is an "aspiration" which "is a force or energy of imagination. The for m, one might say, is our country's soul as "supreme fiction." (2005, 11) Soledad Reyes does not use the term "soul" itself, but to my mind there is littl e doubt about what she is referring to in impassioned passages like the one abov e. But I am most struck by Resil Mojares' use of the term in the essay "The Hauntin g of the Filipino Writer." (2002, 299) Tracing the meaning of the term to its ro ots in the different Philippine languages, he explains the shamanistic concepts "full of soul," "soul drift," and "soul fright." When the soul is unformed, infirm or lost, the body weakens, sickens, or dies. S uch descriptions can be made not only of the individual but the social body as w ell. When disease or misfortune blights a village, when there is a lack in the b ody politic. something, the shaman will say, is not quite right with the soul. W hat is required is healing and healing begins with an act of divination. It invo lves the act of finding. locating a soul distracted or lost." (299-300) Mojares says that according to the shamans, there are three reasons for "soul dr ift" or "soul loss"-shock, seduction and sin. And then he draws an analogy with "this body we call the 'national literature.'" The shock-the trauma-was obviousl y the experience of colonialism. However colonialism turned out to be, not just an invasion but a prolonged seduction. (303) In surrendering to it, we turned ou r backs, not only on our old selves, on what we were before the invasion, but on many of our own kind. In imagination's failure to encompass the fullness and variety of the nation lie s the third condition of soul loss-what I have chosen to call (if grandiosely) s in, but sin not in a medieval, Judaeo-Christian sense of what is transgressive b ut what is self-limiting, exclusionary and exclusive. (309) What Mojares proposes is a "local poetics of soul formation" as a fine "conceptu al model. for how the Filipino-and the Filipino writer-relates to his society an d the world." (307) J. Neil Garcia has objected to this "mystical and soulful poeticizing." The national soul, if it does exist, is precisely what is present, what is unden iable, what is real in the lives of the people who have helped constitute it as a retroactive and regulatory fiction." (2004, 123) I do not think Mojares means to deny the "hybridity of our identities and lives" which Garcia urges us to accept, in lieu of any "'recovery' of a glorious past. " (125) If I understand Mojares correctly, his concept of "soul" includes past ( both glorious and inglorious) and present, not to mention the realm of possibili ty. And, as the passage below suggests, it most certainly acknowledges and embra ces this hybridity. How "full of soul" a person becomes a function of how well a person, or the sham

an in the person, tame and weaves these inner winds, nurturing and healing not b y the expelling or the leveling of differences but the synergistic balancing of opposites. In the same way, the fullness of our literature can be judged by how well we weave and fuse within us the winds that blow from the many sites of what we must claim, in the nation's making, as our shared life. (309) In his introduction to Alfred Yuson's The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf, Nic k Joaquin claimed that the novel's protagonist was the mind, the memory "that sh uttles back and forth across the narrative." It is this intelligence that is our identity. Not this or that bit but all the b its together. We are the sum of all our contradictions, divorces, and anachronis ms. (Joaquin 1987. In Yuson 1998, xii) And in my own early essay on fiction and history, I also proposed the idea that our fiction, in serving as counter-memory, might help the nation to heal. These contemporary novels are steps toward retrieving the nation's fragmented pa st and making it whole, rewriting the story written by the conquerors so that we , the conquered, and our descendants might know it and be healed. (Hidalgo 1998, 132) Our literature in English is very seldom discussed alongside our literatures in the other languages. Mojares' groundbreaking Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel (1983; 1998) does include the early novels in English along with Tagalog and Cebuano novels. But since his study stops at 1940, the major works in English are not part of it. The Lumbera and Lumbera textbook, Philippine Literature: a History and Anthology (2000) is one of the few that take up texts in English along with texts in the other languages. But, given the nature of a textbook, the selection is necessari ly limited, and the discussions of each text, brief. This isolation of the literature written in English from other Philippine litera tures in our literary criticism tends to reinforce the notion that it has develo ped in an altogether different way, and was subject to different influences, its writers being an elitist, privileged group, hothouse blooms looking their noses down on the unruly grasses, weeds and wildflowers growing all around them; or, worse, blissfully unconscious that they even existed. In fact, the biographical evidence will reveal that they are nothing of the sort . Most of them-from Manuel Arguilla and Estrella Alfon to Nick Joaquin, from Gre gorio Brilliantes and Jose Y. Dalisay Jr. to Luis Katigbak and Tara FT Sering-we re or are working in media. Others (like Erwin Castillo, Felix Fojas, Marne Kila tes and Sarge Lacuesta) were or are working in advertising or public relations, fields which require them to be bi-lingual and in touch with popular culture and popular tastes. There are lawyers among them and market researchers/analysts. A good number of writers in English are academics, teaching alongside colleagues who are writers in Filipino, and collaborating with them in running writing work shops for younger writers, while moonlighting as editors or speechwriters. [2] It is true that Philippine literature in English was born in the classrooms of t he University of the Philippines, where literatures in Tagalog and the other Phi lippine languages were not taught. Under the patronage of American professors an d American editors, this literature flourished, and eventually, as Mojares says, "the English writers came to inhabit a markedly different intellectual milieu." (1998, 332) He attributed the split between "popular" and "artistic" writing, and the associ ation of writing in Tagalog with the former and writing in English with the latt er, as caused in part by the commercialization and commodification of the novel in Tagalog, through its serialization in magazines like Liwayway. (273-274, 331) What we seem to have forgotten is that some of our early novels in English were also serialized in popular magazines. Hernando R. Ocampo's "Scenes and Spaces: A Novel in Progress" was published in the Philippines Herald Mid-Week Magazine i n 1939-1940. Consorcio Borje's "The Automobile Comes to Town was serialized in t he Graphic Magazine in 1941-1942. But the practice was to continue long after the Pacific War. NVM Gonzalez's A Se ason of Grace was serialized in Weekly Women's Magazine in 1954; and The Bamboo Dancers was serialized in the Sunday Times Magazine in 1959. Edith Tiempo's A Bl

ade of Fern first appeared in This Week Magazine in 1956; and Edilberto K. Tiemp o's More Than Conquerors first appeared in the Weekly Women's Magazine in 1959. Bienvenido Santos' Villa Magdalena was serialized in the Weekly Women's Magazine as late as 1965. (Galdon 1979, 16-21) Was the audience of the Weekly Women's and the Graphic so different from that of Liwayway? I recall that when I worked for the Graphic in 1964-65, the covers we re always movie stars, and our biggest event was a popularity contest which had Susan Roces edging out Amalia Fuentes. And when my husband became a political wr iter for the same magazine in 1971 (by which time it had been bought by Don Anto nio Araneta, and had become a political-literary magazine identified with the ra dical left), a running joke among the staff was that the movie section editor, E thelwolda Ramos, had a bigger following than all the political and literary writ ers combined. In any case, though the conditions for the production and dissemination of liter ature may not have changed completely, they have changed considerably. There are now as many writers in Filipino as writers in English in academe. Publishing ho uses are hospitable to both English and Filipino titles. If newspapers and magaz ines in English outnumber those in Filipino, most local radio and TV programming is in Filipino. Filipino dominates the theatre and the cinema. In fact, many of the younger generation of writers no longer see language as an issue simply bec ause they are bi-lingual. Finally, globalization (including the Net) has ensured that today's writers are exposed to literary traditions other than the Anglo-Am erican, and, through the unprecedented phenomenon of the literary blog, exposed to each other's writings, as well as the writings of non-professional writers. In his chapter on the early novels in English, Mojares argued that the roots of these novels lie in the rich tradition of local oral narratives-including tales, epics, the pasyon and the corrido the lives of the saints, manuals of conducts, etc. Not to mention the romantic Tagalog novels serialized in popular periodica ls, and the realistic, political novels of Rizal. Which is why these novels "did not constitute a radical break from tradition." (1998, 332) This tradition he d escribed as both didactic and romantic. [3] I suggest that the four novels I have selected to discuss in this essay are proo f that this tradition-and other traditions and modes, like the "carnivalesque" d escribed by Soledad Reyes (2001,154-168)-remain strong in the contemporary novel in English (with, of course, the variaions which reflect the changed times). An d that these traditions are part of that soul that Mojaresand our other scholars repeatedly allude to; but the fact that the novels are written in English has b linded us to this fact. One might note that these four novels are actually historical novels. In a previous essay, I made the claim that many of the novels in English written since 1983 were historical novels, using Petronilo Bn Daroy's definition of his torical novels as novels which "assimilate history into the texture of the narra tive rather than allow(ing) it to remain a passive backdrop." (1969, 257-258) To this I would add that history here is not setting. It enters into the motivatio n of the characters; it propels the plot. (Hidalgo 1998, 118) This was a marked contrast to the situation in the period preceding this-the period before martial law-when critics like Daroy himself and Bienvenido Lumbera decried "the hesitan cy on the part of Filipino writers in English to write historical novels." (Lumb era 1972, 202) [4] These novels mentioned are historical novels in this sense. The personal conflic ts of the protagonists and the development of the plot are inextricable from the historical forces obtaining in the fictional world of the novel. And this ficti onal world is understood to be based on an actual historical period, for all tha t the rendering of it might be in the fantasy mode. They are not traditional, historical novels in the manner of the novels of Linda Ty Casper, Edilberto Tiempo, or F. Sionil Jose. Rather, they are examples of wh at Linda Hutcheon has called "historiographic metafiction," i.e., fiction which does not merely draw its material from history, but is about the writing of hist ory, fiction where novelist and historian write in tandem with others and with e ach other." (1991, 117) As Ruth Jordana L. Pison says, they "provide alternative

/oppositional stories. as well as interrogate canonical historiography." (1991, 16) The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf Yuson's The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf purports to be a kind of biographi cal novel about Pantaleon S. Villegas, a.k.a. General Leon Kilat, who lived in N egros Oriental around the 1800s. But this narrative turns out to be embedded in another novel, which is the story of Robert Aguinaldo's attempts to write a film script and later a "para-novel" on the said Leon Kilat. At some point, within t he "frame," Aguinaldo (a thinly veiled version of author Yuson, who acknowledges Resil Mojares and other scholars as his sources) and Kilat actually meet Malate during a protest march after Ninoy Aquino's assassination. And other time fissu res abound, as when one of the members of the Katipunan in October 1896 quotes H oracio de la Costa. (1996, 158) The story unfolds in a most disjointed, disconnected fashion, blithely shifting in tense and narrative technique as it goes along, sometimes proceeding linearly , and at others, jumping in and out of different time frames. The novel contains numerous lines and passages drawn from other texts, a calendar, a map of Negros island, a diagram showing the dynamics of a game of patintero played by Buhawi' s men/women. And, as if that weren't enough, there are also endnotes and two pho tographs of statues of Leon Kilat. Written in 1983, and first published in 1988, the novel was unlike any other nov el in English thus far, and was rightly praised for its originality by, among ot hers, National Artist Franz Arcellana, who also praised its "superb structure" a nd its "terrifying texture." (Arcellana 1983. In Yuson 1998, x). The word "terrifying" is interesting. Why terrifying? I think the word was used by Arcellana to mean "daunting." It is a tribute to the work's ambition, from a writer who, as a fictionist himself, understood the complexity of the project. T oday, young readers who have cut their teeth on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman R ushdie and Ben Okri, read it and think, "Uh-oh, more of the same." But, in fact, Yuson was, and is, an original. There are miniature versions in Yuson's own short stories-the madcap adventures of the balikbayan casino dealer in "The Balikbayan Christmas" (1989); the hilari ous sexual initiation of the schoolboys in "Mercy" (1993);" the haunting song of the strange boy in "The Music Child" (1991) soaring above the sounds of the des truction of the forest, as the reporter flees the scene of impending doom. Hardl y either "querulous" or "timorous." Elsewhere, I have called this novel a "mock-epic," and pointed to the many passa ges that mime the rhetoric of epic narratives, with epithets, repetitions, incan tations, litanies; all parodic, since they are interlaced with doggerel, phrases in pig Latin, in genuine Latin, in Spanish, recipes, the jargon of literary cri ticism, and God knows what else. (Hidalgo 2005, 311) There are also self-conscio us references to epic heroes. And there is the crazy fiesta in that caf in the sk y, an appropriately festive comic ending. But trying to fit the text within a bo x and attaching a label to it is an exercise in futility. The text will simply t urn around and leap out again. As mentioned earlier, it is a revelry, a carnival . It is also, of course, "history," alternative history. [5] That the work makes use of both modernist and postmodernist strategies is abunda ntly obvious. Aside from the numerous time shifts, there are sections of interio r monologue and sections of stream of consciousness. There is fantasy and parody . There is pastiche (the borrowing of elements from different writers or other w orks of the same writer) and bricolage (an assemblage improvised from materials at hand, the interweaving of different registers in the text producing the effec t of heteroglossia or plurality of discourse). In this passage, for example, the re is an unexpected shift to the banal in the middle of a "literary" passage. No matter. I was laughing and my eyes were closed. The drop could have come from banana heaven, for all I know. It tasted like reveries of old age, or like "his tory," the secret of a successful recipe for leche flan, or like the beginning o f a dream of grace. (emphasis mine) (Yuson 26) There are allusions to other texts and authors. Some lines are actually lifted f rom other texts, whose authors are sometimes identified, and sometimes not. Fina

lly, of course, there is the self-conscious foregrounding of the writer and the act of writing. However, while the novel makes full use of both modernist and postmodernist stra tegies the mix is unmistakably Pinoy. . The eyes, goddammit I wasn't born yesterday but the eyes, yes, oh fiery, felin e, fucking, feminist eyes, Viva Espaa! Remember the Maine! Remember the Alamo! Ab ajo los Moros! Animo San Beda! Arriba Letran! Viva Mapua! La Salle Ateneo Jose R izal! The pico de loro Pilita Corrales nose, haughty and clawing aright under it s very own songs of arching contempt, the mouth pursed, la chula The pinks of Ju an Luna! The bowstring drawn till the pluck of very sweet kiss, the tsup! (196) And the numerous allusions sprinkled throughout the text, the references and cro ss-references, the dizzying time shifts, the repeated circling back and forth, t he "camp dialectics" which turns out to be a game of patintero, the circus troup e which turns out to be a branch of the Katipunan-and all the other strategies-a re not mere avant garde techniques displayed for the reader's admiration. They a re imaginative expressions of the novel's thematic concerns. The dangers faced b y the circus knife thrower and fire eater, by whip master and trapeze artist, an d clown on ten-foot stilts, are metaphoric representations of the high wire acts of ordinary citizens turned into rebels by events they can no longer endure, li ke the assassination in cold blood of a man whose only crime was wanting to retu rn to his country in order to serve it. Rizal and Eman Lacaba, Leon Kilat and Ro bert Aguinaldo marching arm in arm down Manila's streets led by Behn Cervantes, dramatize the continuity of the revolution-only the enemy is different. It is worth mentioning, too, that irreverent Pinoy laughter is at the core of ev ery member of this novel's dramatis personae, and at the core of their relations hips with each other. Buhawi and his coterie are a merry band, a joyful band. An d the Circulo Colonial de Calidad, who turn out to be a pack of revolutionaries, are the farthest thing from grim and determined. Leon's cheerfulness and joie d e vivre are as much a protective talisman as the precious drop from the banana l eaf. This laughter permeates the novel-it is the life force triumphing over sorr ow and adversity, triumphing even over death. To this day, this quality-the Pino y's irrepressible humor-both exasperates and heartens. It might prevent the Fili pino from taking life seriously enough to get his act together and catch up with his Asian neighbors. On the other hand, it prevents him from losing heart, from giving up, from disbelieving that somehow, he will manage, awa ng Diyos. And if the ghosts of the Tuwang and Hudhud don't haunt these pages, there are ot her Pinoy ghosts a plenty-including Manuel Arguilla, Nick Joaquin, Erwin Castill o, Wilfredo Nolledo, Horacio de la Costa, E. Arsenio Manuel, Maximo Ramos, and a host of others, both well known and little known. The larger-than-life major characters are throwbacks to the heroes of folklore, who are paradoxically also like kanto boys, farting, screwing, guzzling, and cau sing general pandemonium; are, in fact, very like the komiks heroes (as, indeed, Buhawi himself was [6]). And then there is the dwarf, Paquito, who at some poin t actually encounters a dimunitive elemental, who mocks him for being a fake and pinches and pokes him mercilessly. And there is Silvestra, who has magical powe rs of her own. And Pintada, a liberated woman before her time. And a large cast of other remarkable characters. The point of this narrative is not realistic dev elopment of well-rounded protagonists. We are watching a performance here, a reenactment of the story-telling or story-chanting of old, a rendering of what is collectively imagined. The narrative is de-centered. What we have is performance, an enactment or rende ring of what is collectively imagined by a people. To return to the komiks and Soledad Reyes: Taken collectively, the komiks stories seem to have taken on the dimension of th e people's contemporary myths, for these texts contain in a simplified yet highl y concentrated form the people's modes of perceiving their realities. The compul sion to repeat the same patterns-good vs. evil, ascent vs. descent, chaos vs. pe ace, harmony vs. discord-clothed in richly-textured details, suggest the need to exorcise what was unpleasant and negative, lurking in the collective psyche. Wi thin certain limitations, the world out there-the country in the 1970s-becomes c

omprehensible through the narrative structured by a number of codes and conventi ons. (1991, 267) Might this not also be part of this novel's agenda? We might recall that both Bu hawi and Leon Kilat are freedom fighters, simple folk driven to violence by the foreign devil; even as Robert Aguinaldo is a simple "writer researcher" pushed i nto taking sides, pushed into joining marches and rallies and finally propelled to join the attack on the dictator's palace. And that the discord and chaos of t he "present" are repeatedly juxtaposed against memories of harmony and peace (Le on's sleepy fishing village and Sisa; Aguinaldo's student days in San Beda). Thi s rollicking, ribald, boisterous, fantastical narrative is how Yuson imagines th e Philippines-a surrealistic land, where the most unlikely people are catapulted into positions which demand no less than absolutely heroic behavior, where the unpredictable is the rule, and survival depends on the wildness of one's imagina tion and one's sense of humor. The novel's structure enhances the novel's meaning, for it reinforces the idea t hat all we have are finally just the narratives we weave. Robert Aguinaldo (as i magined by Yuson), in deciding to write a novel about Leon Kilat, rescues him fr om oblivion. His version of this story-while based roughly on actual accounts-is inevitably mediated by his own (and author Yuson's) perceptions, prejudices, et c. The author Yuson acknowledges this when he makes his fictional novelist (Agui naldo) meet his own nonfictional character (Kilat) and makes them discuss how th ey are each other's double. At some point in any narrative, the writer is imagin ing, or re-imagining, not just the characters he is writing about, but himself. And thus do we re-imagine the nation." (Hidalgo 2005, 321-322) The Firewalkers Perhaps more than any other contemporary Filipino novel in English, Erwin Castil lo's The Firewalkers enacts Mojares' "poetics of soul formation." An earlier sto ry-"Tomorrow Is a Downhill Place" (1962)-might be considered its prequel. This i s the story of a young boy's initiation into manhood during the Philippine-Ameri can War, not so much by the dawning of love, as by his first kill. This novel is the story of a young man descended from shaman warrior-kings, brut alized by war while still a boy, humiliated and turned into a traitor, then retu rned to his own village as a much older man, to serve as lackey of the occupying forces. But it is also the story of how he finds his way back to the right path , beside his warrior kinsmen, The Firewalkers of legend and song. If The Great Philippine Jungle Energy Caf makes imaginative use of the strategy o f the mock epic, this novel as effectively appropriates the strategy of the fair y tale. Thus does the tale begin: "Once upon a time, in the year of 19 hundred and 13, t here lived in the mountain town of Lakambaga, the province of Cavite, a man name d Gabriel Diego who was sergeant of police." (Castillo 2003, 1) The "once upon a time" of the story's beginning is echoed in other places in the narrative. It i s further reinforced by the manner of the telling-the long, cadenced sentences, reminiscent of Nick Joaquin, a style which suggests an oral story teller or narr ator. For example: It was claimed that in their young manhood they knew the locations and usage of all the ancient vulneraries, plant and animal, and that from leaf and bark, from gristle and bone, they fashioned unguents, salves, brews and powders that cause d death or healing, and made them masters over ordinary men, over horses and wom en. In