Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Does
Amador Daguio, Estrella Alfon, Fura santillan castrerrcecontinued to produce essays and personal narratives. And Kerima
polotan, Adrian cristobai, F. sionil jose, and NVM Gonzalez began
publishing essays.
In a fit1tre (arid tittte-knor,vn) voiume caltrectr f,ittle Ileporfs (1986),
which tie hacl
Juan T. Gatbonton collectecl the trnsigned editorials
written for the Manila Cl'wonicle's Sr-rnday suppierrrent, This Wcr:k,
which he eclited l:rom 1954 to tr958. Flis own foreworcl clescribe:;
how he ancl his colleagues regarded ti'leir work:
( ttttltt,t'
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:l
Nlrtttttrtl lrtr
Most clf us who rarr tlrt: rnagirzint' Ilrt'rr wt'r't.tr rllt11.t.l,rssr r rir lr.s
recent graduates or dropouts frtlm journ.tlisnt sclrtxrl. Wt.all atlrrrir.trl
The New Yorker and copied its prose style, with nluch zcitl, if littkr
skill. Our idol was, of course, E. B. White, whose elegant essays for
"Notes and Comments" led off every New Yorker issue. In "Littlc
Reports" ... we tried to echo his halloos, which certainly bear
repeating. (P. ix)
Text"-is
characteristic.
friends would say, Of course they're bad. They're not short stories,
they're essays. \zVhen one is not much good as a fish, one becomes a
f.og.
In desperation, I put together some stuff that had appeared in
newspapers and magazines under my by-line into a kind of nonboolC
called Woman Enough and called it a collection of essays. But
somebody has now written that a few of the pieces in that item are
not essays but short stories. (P.4)
The '60s and early '70s were the era of the philippines Free press,
the Philippine Graphic and the Asia Philippines Leader, a high point
in Philippine journalism. These periodicals attracted as staff
members and regular contributors some of the finest writers of the
time, including NickJoaquin, Gregorio Brillantes, Kerima polotan,
Wilfredo Nolledo, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, Ninotchka Rosca, Luis
Teodoro, Jose Lacaba, Sylvia Mayuga, Petronilo Bn. Daroy, Antonio
Hidalgo, Rosario Garcellano, etc.
lhllll(tlrll(
ll(rN
'l'ltr. rrrpsl plrlilir', .rrrtl t't,t't,titrly tlrt' lriottt'r't', Nit'k f o,rtltritt, ll,ts
lttr.rl llis lt.ttttl itl ('v('ry varit'ty tlf lrtltrl'it'litttl pl'ttst', irttltrrlirrli
lrlolir',rlrlry, ltistory, Profile, tlttttrtoir, cvcll olt irllllatrac' Antl lris
that the whrlle ()f it has yct to be
1,r.,,,ltr.lti,,rr is sO volurninous
corrtpilecl.
'rropt'rlyrnartial
lnw period and the muzzling of the Press led to a
'l'1,.,
krrrg hintus. IJut after 1986, publications returned with a vengeance.
W6at is the scene lite today? The answer can only be:
trt,nrcndously exciting. Not all of the publications and publishing
Irouscs that cropped up after EDSA 1 are still around today, but
there are enough to make the scene a lively one'
Most of the creative nonfiction being published today still
(.onsists of essays (many of them published as newsPaPer columns)
and magazine feature articles. The columns themselves range from
the seriJus political commentary of Conrad de Quiros and Randy
[)avid, to the historical trivia of Ambeth ocampo, to the highly
personal reflections of the wacky JessicaZafraand the sophisticated
^Barbara
Gonzalez, to the cultural-commentary-disguised-as-foodcolumn of Clinton Palanca (unfortunately discontinued in mid2002).Many of these columnists eventually compile thebest of their
columns into books.
A few interesting examples among the recently published books
of nonfiction deserve *et tio.r. Journalist Lorna Kalaw Tirol has
collected essays on midlife by both professional and nonprofessional wr-iters into several volumes-coming to Terms (1994),
'wo*r, Fire (1997) and. Primed
on
for Ltfe (1997); and her interviews
into two others-Aboae the crowd (2000) and Public Faces, Priaate
little
Liaes (2000). Poet Ricardo de Ungria has put together a lovely
impressionistic
lyrical
book containing poems, fiction excerpts,
essays and jouinal entries by writers who spent a season in
Hawthornden Castle in scotland-Luna caledonia (1992).I myself
have collected autobiographical writings by several generations of
women who have wriiten on different phases of a woman's life:
childhood, love and marria ge, war, etc. (Pinay: Autobiographical
Naratiaes by Women Writers, 1928-1'998)'
(1993)- Barbara
Jullie Dazahas writtenAn Etiquettefor Mistresses
Gonzalezhas written a collection of personal essays masquerading
1
lNIlt()l)tl( ll(tN
Fernando objects to the label. "coffee table books"). Her rnost recent
book, Pinoy Pop Culture (2001), has the look of a superior magazine.
Another noteworthy trend is the proliferation of what are called
the "glossies,"' magazines which cater to specific markets with
special interests, e.g., PuIp, Food, Cook, Mega, Metro, FHM, Men's
Zone, etc. Some are affiliated with international chains and carry a
lot of syndicated material, llke Cosmopolitan, Good IlousekeeTting,
Tattler and Peaple Asia.The quality of the writing is uneven in these
magazines. But some of it is quite good, which should not be a
surprise, as it is produced by talented young fictionists and poets.
The most recent and perhaps the best, in terms of the quality of the
writing in it, is Flip.rt is also unusual in that it bears the stamp of
tlre personality of its editor-publisher, ]essica Zafra, whose own
essays are compiled in a whole series of books.
!c
According to the editor-in-chief of Cosmapolitan phitipphrcs, the
magazine tried publishing short fiction but gave it up because of
lack crf interest.r On the other hand, "first-person accounts,' (>n a
wide numbrer of subiects-in short, creative nonfiction alr,r,ays
generate interest.
In his 1996 Ramon Magsaysay l,ecture, "Journalism Versus
Literature," "NJick ioaquin ciairned that the distinction between the
tr,vo fielcls is no longer valid. Describing his own pioneering work,
'The Aquinos
of Tarlac, he cleclarecl: "Today I clon't th.ink of that berok
as reportage ,rr journalism or histnry or biography. I simply think
of it as literature." (P. 16-1S)
nol,D a
INTRODUCTION
&
FoR DrscussroN
p.178).
tNllil)lrll(
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()rrt. ,1;r;trrrrr,s llr,rl tlrt. sl,rppirrg ol llrr' :,r'trlty t:, rlot tttttr'ttlltl
'l'lrt, "t,yt,s I l.rslrirrg, .rrrtl lists t'lt'rrr'lrt'tl" is irtt,rgirtt'tl Iry tlrt' ,trrllrot itt
tltt,itttt,rt.st ol .ttt irtt.tgitrirtive rt'Ctltlstrttctirltl rtl lltt't'vt'ttl, wlr'tt
Virgirriir woolf ()t1c(, rccontmcnclccl to writcrs of biograPhy as tlrt:
"crcativc fttct."
What nre the types of crentiae nonfiction?
.
o
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('trtl
t2
il lvltttutl lor
I'tlrltrrrrt Wr
t!ut
lH lHr
rlrllr l l(lN
Wlttt!
ntt
lln' :;lrtltgit't;
word
marketplace'
or
market
coming iiom the Chinese and meaning
Durin! the Spanish period farmers used to bring in their produce
pigs, eggs, panocha'.kakanin' and
1'ueget"ables, fruits, chickens,
and
seulor,al local delicacies like pinipigor the Ilocanos' inuruban
Tarlac,
tupig) toan area close to the church ot municipio. In victoria,
plaza '
town
in
the
Saturday
every
held
wiere I grew up , tinngge was
or
night
Friday
on
family
a
Farmers in their cars came to town as
tiangge
differenl
had
very early Saturday morning. Other towns
days,sot'hatitinerantvendorswerebusythewhole-week'moving
from r.rne town to the next. These markets sold, as well, goods which
werenotproducedbyfarmers,likeready-to-wearclothes,aluminum
Tianggeis short fot "aratt) ng tiangge" or market day' the
will
be discussed more
InthelgT0s,thepresenttownmarketbuildingwasconstructed
.i* ,lid!:
t4
lt1rlrttrtl lot
I tltlttttrt lytt!tr,,
.
o
.
.
o
.
.
o
.
.
o
aPProach
point-of-view
tone
voice
rll( ll( rN
l{l'r kr. lw,rs tlortr. wrllr rny l,rsl 0x.rtil.rrrrl lr|y, I lovt'tor k.rrrrl r(lll. I
.,,ttr I yls.
Arrrl I got nty r(x k arr<l roll scrvcd to nte alotrg with cltickerl ass orl
(lront tltt'li.rlray lrrihaw next door) in a dim-lit joint srnall
rtirk
,r
yotr < ottltl strt the band through the purple haze. " lto ba ang
,rt,,r,{,pll,r att.tk?" askecl a comic bubble painted on the mural behind
llrr. "slagc" art:a-l remember Batman and Jim Morrison done in bold
r.rrr rrrglr s(
structure
a strong beginning
c()li(l ( olors.
rhetoricaltechniques
character
concrete and evocative details
scene
a convincing ending
lN lla(|l
English Beat, the Clash, etc. Speaking of covers, we paid P20 at the
foot of the staircase to get in.
School was out; I did not earn my driver's license after hitting the
gate of my driving school but when there's a will, there's a way-l
made it back to Red Rocks to bring friends, as if to say, "Sisters,
Acnvrry
te
Shaking the City:
Twenty-Seven Months of Club Dredd, Lower Timog
Club Dredd
by Karen Kunawicz
It was in 1990. Two guys I knew from the late night carpool ride
asked me if I wanted to go to this little joint along Timog called Red
better to do on a free night than just slowly make the trip to Timog
from my old home in Makati and just hang out and be myself at the
Red Rocks
lti