An Unfinished Revolution: Transnational Filipinx Activism in the 1970s

A hard-hitting play about the Philippines in the Marcos era, adapted by Jessica Hagedorn from her own novel of the same name. Dogeaters was first performed at La Jolla Playhouse, California, in 1998. 'Fierce, funny and politically uncompromising, Dogeaters is a rarity: a dangerous play which actually achieves its great ambitions' José Rivera

Soon after she leaves home for university in Manila, Soledad Soliman (Sol) transforms herself from bookish rich girl to communist rebel. But is her allegiance to the principles of Mao or to Jed, the comrade she's in love with? Can she really be a part of the movement or is she just a "useful fool," a spoiled brat playing at revolution?Far from the Philippines, in a mansion overlooking the Hudson River, Sol confesses her youthful indiscretions, unable to get past the fatal act of communist fervor that locked her memory in an endless loop. Rich with wordplay and unforgettable imagery, Gun Dealers' Daughter combines the momentum of an amnesiac thriller with the intellectual delights of a Borgesian puzzle. In her American debut, award-winning author Gina Apostol delivers a riveting novel that illuminates the conflicted and little-known history of the Philippines, a country deeply entwined with our own.

Author of the recent nonfiction Endgame: The Fall of Marcos, Filipino Rosca turns once again to her native country. The main thread of this story is squarely political, yet, tucked inside is a novel within a novel, a dreamy, allegorical history of the Philippines in which the ancestors of the three central charactersEliza Hansen, Adrian Banyaga and Anna Villaverdefigure prominently. The trio of young people travel to the island of K to take part in an orgiastic festival. Each shows a different face of Manila: Adrian is the son of a leading family; Anna, a dissident scarred by recent torture; Eliza sells her favors to whichever political figure is in power. They are pursued by fanatical Colonel Amor (Anna's interrogator and Eliza's lover) who is intent on discovering the secret of Adrian's power connections. Meanwhile, Anna has met up with a terrorist group planning to bomb the festival; and Eliza is hoping to act as matchmaker between Anna and Adrian. The interlockng episodes culminate in a terrifying finale. One wishes Rosca had used less allegory and more realistic detail; often the unique situation in the Philippines is lost in her somewhat mannered style. Still, there is an erratic, Kafkaesque brilliance, an intensity that makes this first novel a powerful piece of literature.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Recent events in the Philippines--the 1986 People Power Revolution, the ouster of President Marcos, the election of Corazon Aquino, and the coup of 1989--are the backdrop of this new novel by a celebrated Filipina writer. She focuses on the experienes of the people in and beyond Gulod a barrio that "has spread like a field sown by a blind hand" on the outskirts of Manila, on the fringes of power, in the tangled roots of dreams. The story is told through the conflicting lives and ambitions of disillusioned lawyer Benhur, the politician Osang for whom he works, Osong's wife Sally, the retired Col. Moscoso, and many others whose potent but fragile hopes are shaped and destroyed in a context of ceaseless revolutionary change. A gifted novelist at the height of her powers, Linda Ty-Casper combines historical objectivity with convincing moral authority and provides readers with a remarkable sense of people and place, a leap of insight into what it is to life in the Philippines today at a critical juncture in the nation's history. Research in newspaper archives and interviews with participants in the revolution inform her narrative. The events are actual; her fictional characters are believable; her prose is sardonic, compassionate, and virtuosic. This is an enduring book, essentially tragic in its vision but richly leavened with humor and poetry, courage and hope. Because Ty-Casper is a profound observer of ordinary people thrust into a precarious relationship with the state, DreamEden succeeds not only as an accurate and compellng historical novel but also as a universal and timeless human story.

"Certain things are better kept than said. . . . But certain things you have to find out now. . . ." On the tumultuous streets of Manila, where the earth is as brown as a tamarind leaf and the pungent smells of vinegar and mashed peppers fill the air, where seasons shift between scorching sun and torrential rain, eleven-year-old Gringo strives to make sense of his family and a world that is growing increasingly harsher before his young eyes. There is Gringo's older brother, Pipo, wise beyond his years, a flamboyant, defiant youth and the three-time winner of the sequined Miss Unibers contest; Daddy Groovie, whiling away his days with other hang-about men, out of work and wilting like a guava, clinging to the hope of someday joining his sister in Nuyork; Gringo's mother, Estrella, moving through their ramshackle home, holding her emotions tight as a fist, which she often clenches in anger after curfew covers the neighborhood in a burst of dark; and Ninang Rola, wise godmother of words, who confides in Gringo a shocking secret from the past--and sets the stage for the profound events to come, in which no one will remain untouched by the jagged pieces of a shattered dream. As Gringo learns; shame is passed down through generations, but so is the life-changing power of blood ties and enduring love. In this lush, richly poetic novel of grinding hardship and resilient triumph, of selfless sacrifice and searing revelation, Bino A. Realuyo brings the teeming world of 1970s Manila brilliantly to life. While mapping a young boy's awakening to adulthood in dazzling often unexpected ways, The Umbrella Country subtly works sweet magic.

Poetry. THE THORN ROSARY offers a selection of prose poems written by Eileen R. Tabios, including poems from hard-to-find early books and as released in the past twelve years by publishers in the U.S., Philippines, Australia and Finland. Advance words include, from John Olson: "Tabios is a seamstress of the surreal, combining erudition and art historical references with flourishes of verbal color and surge. Ramifications at the fringe of consciousness thread brocades of textural ardor in a luster of compound interest. Her work ... is 'a blissful difficulty,' ... a perception with a nerve."

Poetry. Memoir. Asian American Studies. Filipino American Studies. Winner of the Philippines' National Book Award for Poetry, Eileen R. Tabios has a reputation for uniquely melding ekphrasis and transcolonialism. This collection of poems, prose and visual poetry is her most overtly political work yet, referencing her roots as a "Marcos Baby," a member of the generation that grew up under Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship. On April 11, 2006, Filamore B. Tabios, Sr. died of brain cancer and its complications. In writing about her father, Eileen R. Tabios explores reconciliation with Ferdinand Marcos' legacy through deliberate empathy with the former Philippine dictator's daughter Imee; pays homage to Judas Iscariot whose Gospel, discovered during her vigil by her father's deathbed, reveals him to be the most loyal disciple, instead of greatest betrayer of Jesus Christ; meditates on the murder statistics of the 20th century's leading killers, from Idi Amin to Adolf Hitler; considers the global Filipina pen pal phenomena; and engages with Dante Aleghieri's Purgatorio.

Kitty Eugenio’s life is far from ideal. She has to live with her relatives. Her mother has gone abroad. Her best friends sometimes act weird, and sometimes keep secrets from her. Her classmates persist in pairing her with a boy she doesn’t like, but who just might be able to help in the search for her father. The love of her life doesn’t know she exists. And it’s not just any ordinary year, it’s the year of the Tiger, the year of People Power, the year of Halley’s Comet, the year of upheaval and change.

Ferdinand Marcos implemented Martial Law in 1972, but protests continued until they ignited People Power Revolution in EDSA in February 1986. With his older brother's involvement and the loss of a slipper, Jhun-Jhun finds himself sadly caught in the middle. Text in Tagalog and English.