“There was no measure for love of country except in sacrifice.” The beginning is all. The first scene in a play or a movie sets tone and mood, introduces characters and themes. For man, they say the infant is the father to the grownup. And for this widely-acknowledged literary masterpiece, Po-on is the first yet… Read More Po-on : The First/Last in F. Sionil Jose’s Saga
Author/podcaster/editor Lio Mangubat doesn’t make a habit of throwing things away, not old VHS tapes from his childhood, and certainly not the contents of his personal library. There is rhyme and reason behind his hoarding. Some of the author of Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves‘ prized possessions include a 1988 issue of National Geographic with a… Read More Connecting the Philippines with the World: Lio Mangubat’s Love for History Shines Through in ‘Silk, Silver, Spices, Slaves’
Summit Books Editor and The Colonial Dept. podcaster Lio Mangubat has written a collection of thirteen essays which were originally broadcast in podcast form during the pandemic. Dalgona coffees and avocado toast lockdown projects are great, but perhaps don’t come close to what Mangubat has done: leave behind a tangible record of esoteric learning that… Read More Local yet Global : A Fun Book on Forgotten Tales from Philippine Colonial History
It’s always a thrill when an author signs a copy of her book, leaving an imprint of ink that will outlive her. It’s never just a signature; it’s a magical piece of an immortal soul. When Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta signed my copy, she wrote: “Hope you enjoy this glimpse into our history.” When seen against the… Read More When A Poet Writes Prose: A review of ASSEMBLING ALICE
One never forgets one’s first. Especially when one is eighteen and one meets the fair maiden, already engaged to another. Thus began the story of the first love of our national hero, Jose Rizal, and his doomed yet serious affair of the heart with Segunda Katigbak. She later married Manuel Luz, and died in 1943.… Read More Where First Love Lived : Casa de Segunda and Rizal
“Why is it that we all share a single vision, but no one knows how to get there?”“How can we know? We do not even have an idea who we are.” Vin dela Serna Lopez’s historical novel 1762 seems bowed down by the weight of its author’s baroque prose. Throughout the entire novel, this reader… Read More 1762 by Vin dela Serna Lopez : When the Philippines Almost Became British
Now that THE PREYING BIRDS (Mga Ibong Mandaragit) by Amado V. Hernandez has been translated into English by Danton Remoto for Penguin Random House SEA in 2022, this reader finally got the chance to read a book I’ve been hearing about for so long, by an author recognized as a National Artist for Literature. What… Read More The Preying Birds (Mga Ibong Mandaragit) is a Prayer Across Generations
“The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.” Debatable to some, for sure. But I am inclined to agree with Samuel Johnson, and with Susan Sontag. Especially after having read The Three-Cornered Sun. The Philippine War of Independence is usually summed up as a racial conflict that the Filipino Katipuneros waged against Spanish… Read More Exploding Galaxies’ “The Three-Cornered Sun” by Linda Ty-Casper : A Contrapuntal Composition
Ex Libris Philippines 