Rozan Chaya B.

Marquez Group 6 (Litbox)

Comm 103 Critical Essay

“Nick Joaquin's importance in Philippine writing cannot be overstated. His writings

characterize postcoloniality, a Hispanicized Philippines tainted by colonial power by Anglo
Americans. The patriarchal tone of Spanish can be detected underneath his usage of English”

Literature is a powerful tool to show different perspectives on history which is sometimes

influenced by the author's memories and current environment. Joaquin’s Candido’s Apocalypse
has proven its relevance in today’s world. This is what I learned from all of the essays that my
group mates have presented on the site. We all recognize implicitly, but not concretely, that there
is a reflection between history and literature. I understand that Joaquin's Tropical Gothic is
considered literary fiction, but I also acknowledge that it represents a part of history that will be
indefinitely embedded in the timeframe of Spanish colonization.

In understanding the novella, a contrapuntal reading style is very helpful to identify its
postcolonial features. Contrapuntal reading, as defined by Edward Said, is "a form of ‘reading
back’ from the perspective of the colonized, to show how the submerged but crucial presence of
the empire emerges in canonical texts" (Ashcroft and Ahluwalia 92). This technique allows the
readers to find the connection between histories in novels and other works of fiction. The style of
reading may help us dig deeper into the story, another factor may influence the story itself and
that is the author’s background.

We are all influenced by our surroundings and have individual experiences that shape our
personalities. In the same way, when an author writes, he is influenced by his experiences.
Sexual identity, ethnic background, and socio - economic status all have a significant influence
on his writing. Which is why when you you know about the author, you will better understand
the main message of his work.

Pleño’s A Resistance to Postcolonial Filipino Modernity: Nick Joaquin's Candido's Apocalypse

focused on how the author’s emotions and beliefs on modern colonial influences were shown in
the worldmaking of Candido’s Apocalypse. He gave his understanding of these relationships
through Arong’s work of Nick Joaquin’s Cándido’s Apocalypse: Re-imagining the Gothic in a
Postcolonial Philippines. He believes that Joaquin’s resistance to postcolonial influences during
his time was expressed in the novella through its characters, narrator and spatiotemporality. Also,
the author’s resistance to colonial power influences is portrayed by Bobby's hatred for
conformity in present society. His ability enables him to disconnect the present from the
Hispanic past.

However, discourse in narrative fiction is even more complex than the traditional concepts of
focalization, localization, and (c) vocalization, which basically distinguish between who
observes and where the focus is on (Rimmon-Kenan,1983), where the observed or narrated
characters are located (O'Toole,1982), and whose voice is used to narrate all of this (Mey,2000).

In recent years, several academics have analyzed Joaquin's works through the lens of
postcolonial Gothic. Arong forwarded that Joaquin’s Tropical Gothic (1972)—which includes
Candido’s Apocalypse,” highlights Joaquin’s conscious engagement with the past in the form of
the Gothic” (116). Joaquin engages with the idea of the comic gothic as a critique of the
Westernized Filipino modernity at the expense of its Hispanic past.

His works present a challenge to historians and academics because he explores the country's past
by fusing the Philippines' history, mood, and environment with unconventional plots while
complicating linear and chronological narratives through the use of his memory and free-flowing
writing techniques

In understanding the narrative, different layers of interactions between the author-narrator-

protagonist happen and there may still be other phenomenon that may occur where author and
the reader just “shift their deictic center from the real-world situation to an image of themselves
at a location within the story world” which gives a whole different meaning that is external to the
story (Segal1,1995).
Rañola’s work entitled “Now you see me, Now you don’t: Shifting Spatiotemporal Coordinates
in Literature” talks about how spatiotemporility affects the context of the story. According to
her, the abrupt and frequent temporal shifts make it difficult for the readers to identify the time
and setting of the text specially because of the absence of spatiotemporal markers. Bobby ability
to see people as naked or a skeleton mirror happening in the past. His "schizophrenic visions" are
formally conveyed by the rapid and unmarked spatiotemporal shifts and focalization transitions
between Bobby and Cándido. Arong (2016) noted that the unnecessary shifts of focaliser and or
setting are “dizzying spatiotemporal transitions” which have also lengthened the story. But even
though I find it difficult to read, this style of writing allows readers to constantly question
specific elements of the novella, such as its implications, reasons, and philosophies.

Although Pleño did not explicitly explain Joaquin’s history to influencing the elements of the
story, it is crucial to relate this to Rañola’ take on the of role of spatiotemporailty which
primarily consists (1) the narrator's current surroundings and (2) the time and space of the
episodes described, which may be related to (3) past reminiscences or (4) future plans embedded
in the main story. According to Pitkänen (2003), the author's and reader's spatiotemporal
locations are irrelevant to the story, but when the narrator is linked to the author or the narratee
to the reader, another layer of discourse occurs (Pitkänen, 2003). The narrative voice, main
character, and other characters are much more spatially and temporally valuable for the story
than the author and readers, who are less important in the formulation of textual meaning.
In Candido's Apocalypse, the author's role as the speaker is projected onto the narrator and
protagonist, who are situated within the fictional setting. All relevant participating roles are
defined spatiotemporally in relation to the textually transmitted world's current present.

The author's ability to show the reader what all of the characters are doing, thinking, and feeling
is one of the most useful aspects of omniscient point of view. This is what Pardo explained in his
work entitled Who's Telling the Story? Understanding the Narrator and Narration in Candido's
Apocalypse. Joaquin, the author, can tell the story that is larger than any one character and does
not need to choose a central character to serve as a lens for the story. But at the same time,
thestory becomes hard to pull-off because the all-knowing can see into every character’s head
which makes the story have more frequent ‘head hopping’ or change in focaliser. If the reader is
unsure who is thinking what and which character they should care about, they become
overwhelmed with the information and may choose not to care about any of the characters
(Berve, 2018). However, when an author compels the audience to decipher what the narrator
says, it can be pleasurable for some audience, though perhaps more so because of the thrill of
solving a problem than because of the story's impact.

An external Narrator is a bodiless "voice" created by the author to tell the story from outside the
narrative which uses third person pronouns. The external narrator (Rimmon-Kenan 1983: 74) is
the ‘most natural style of narrating’, because the narrator and the reader both have the
perspective of an outside observer. When a character is depicted in external focalization, her
appearance, statements, mannerisms, facial expression, and so on can be detailed, but the
relevant text passage does not convey the reader what is going on in the character's thoughts.
This is one feature of external focalization.

This paper has revealed the relationship of spatiotemporality and author-narrator-protagonist in

the making of external and internal meaning of the story.  As Genette (1990: 244) points out, the
linguistic expression and grammatical forms of the story are just "automatic consequence." The
author just chooses whether the story will be told by one of the characters or by a third person.
The discourse pattern chosen affects the processing of spatiotemporality. The viewpoint is vital
for evaluating whether the text's spatiotemporal information is part of the main story line or if it
is part of a distinct embedding that exists beyond the main story.

Syncretism refers to the combination of opposing elements that can be traced back to our post-
colonial Spanish past, our roots in Mysticism, and our pagan roots. In modern times, we have 
some Hollywood influence from when the Americans were here. Our everyday lives are often
difficult to comprehend and realize because of how absurd our politics can be, absurd to the
point that the news I hear on the television sound unbelievable, and there is a tinge of black
humor about all of this.
Sources:

 Arong, Marie. “Nick Joaquin’s Cándido’s Apocalypse: Re-imagining the Gothic in a

Postcolonial Philippines.” Text Matters: A Journal of Literature
 Berve, Caitlin.“Omniscient Point of View: Benefits and Pitfalls”. Ignited Ink Writing.
February 26, 2018. https://www.ignitedinkwriting.com/ignite-your-ink-blog-for-writers/
omniscient-point-of-view-definition-pros-and-cons/2018#:~:text=Omniscient%20point
%20of%20view%20really,abilities%20of%20their%20central%20character.
 Pitkänen, Kari K. “The Spatio-Temporal Setting in Written Narrative Fiction: A Study of
Interaction between Words, Text and Encyclopedic Knowledge in the Creation of Textual
Meaning”. November 29, 2003
 Segal, Erwin M. 2010. "Narrative comprehension and the role of deictic shift theory".
Cognitive Linguistics Bibliography (CogBib). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.
https://www.degruyter.com/database/COGBIB/entry/cogbib.10823/html.
 Mey, Jacob L. 2000. “When Voices Clash. A Study in Literary Pragmatics”. Mouton de
Gruyter. Berling & New York.
 O’Toole, Michael L. 1982. “Structure, Style and Interpretation in the Russian Short
Story”. Yale University Press. New Haven and London.
 Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith 1983. “Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics”. Methuen.
London and New York. https://usosapps.uw.edu.pl/apps/f/2kbqFXgu/Rimmon-Kenan.pdf