NCR
1.Edilberto K. Tiempo
Amador Daguio (1906-1983) since I started this blog several months ago
but never got around to write about him until now. See, there’s a time
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life
(whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and
I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers
venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in thi
s
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today,
we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to
write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I
of
his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If
will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a coupleI’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio
.
Daguio
(1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He
was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is
Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio wa
near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean,s not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a
his short stories.
separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of
most o
f
Remarkably,
while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the
people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and
Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filip
intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding
ino
ife, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “
writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino
lwe
might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves
that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own
”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
feeling and thought
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
“in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood...
and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was
think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him
“to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I
his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically,
Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine
literature when the period said to have been the more productive,
in
English. During this period, writers were already consciously and
producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writingpurposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life,
nd
the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gai
including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate an full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an
would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I
However,
most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in
1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the
Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the
ut of
course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote
occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. Bpoems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of
friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who
is fro
Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a
closem La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him
.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance
when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past
seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are
more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a
e
second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation betwe
necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to then him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear
o experience the climax and taste the bitter end.
him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the
story
- See more at: http://www.nancycudis.com/2012/02/filipino-short-stories-3-wedding-dance.html#sthash.PxfqfNsx.dpuf
2.Bienvenido Santos
3.Alejandro Roces
4.Nick Joaquin
5. Jessica Hagedorn
6. Gilda Cordero-Fernando
7. Linda Ty Casper
8. Lualhati Bautista
9. Manuel Buising
sample works
10. Edgardo M. Reyes
sample works
REGION 1
1.Juan S.P. Hidalgo, Jr.
biography
2.Jose Maria Sison
3.Gregorio C. Brillantes
4. Pedro Bucaneg
6. Manuel Arguilla
7.Carlos Bulosan
8. Amador Daguio
9.Isabelo de los Reyes
10. F. Sionil Jose
REGION 11
1. Fernando M. Maramag
2. Leona Florentino
3. Gregorio Aglipay
4. Emmanuel F. Lacaba
5. Ines Taccad Cammayo
7. Norman Wilwayco
9. Ana Marie Villanueva-Lykes
10. Amado Vinuya
3. Angela Manalang Glo
4. Rony V. Diaz
5. Virgilio S. Almarino
6. Carlo J. Caparas
7. Nicanor Abelardo
8. Marcelo H. del Pilar
9. Rene Villanueva
10. Jessica Zafra
REGION IV
1. Alejandro G. Abadilla
4. Paz M. Latorena
5. Paz Marquez Binetez
6. Maximo M. Kalaw
7. Horacio dela Costa, S.J
8. N.V.M Gonzales
9. Mars Ravelo
REGION V
1. Ricardo Lee
2. Diana Agbayani
4. Donato Mejia Alvarez
5.Luis G. Dato
REGION VI
1. Dominador I. Ilio
2. Antonio S. Gabila
3. Merlie M. Alunan
4. Stevan Javellana
5. Peter Solis Nery
6. John Iremil Teodoro
7. Bryan Mari Agros
REGION VII
1. Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
2. Estrella Alfon
3. Simeon Dumdum Jr.
6. Cecilia Manguerra Brainard
7. Peter Bacho
9. Emeniano Acain Somoza Jr,
10. Ernesto Superal Yee
REGION VIII
1.Carlos A. Angeles
REGION IX
1. Martha Cecilia
2. Cesar Ruiz Aquino
REGION X
1. Joey Ayala
REGION XI
Amador Daguio (1906-1983) since I started this blog several months ago
but never got around to write about him until now. See, there’s a time
for everything.
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
- See more at: http://www.nancycudis.com/2012/02/filipino-short-stories-3-wedding-dance.html#sthash.PxfqfNsx.dpuf
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
Amador Daguio (1906-1983) since I started this blog several months ago
but never got around to write about him until now. See, there’s a time
for everything.
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
- See more at: http://www.nancycudis.com/2012/02/filipino-short-stories-3-wedding-dance.html#sthash.PxfqfNsx.dpuf
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
Amador Daguio (1906-1983) since I started this blog several months ago
but never got around to write about him until now. See, there’s a time
for everything.
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
- See more at: http://www.nancycudis.com/2012/02/filipino-short-stories-3-wedding-dance.html#sthash.PxfqfNsx.dpuf
Starting January 2012, every third Sunday of the month, Mel U of The Reading Life (whose blog has been an inspiration in my book blogging experience) and I engage in a joint venture that involves featuring Filipino writers and their works. We welcome anyone who is interested to join us in this venture. We hope you could participate in this endeavor.
So far, we have featured the following writers and their works:
1. Dead Stars and A Night in the Hills by Paz Marquez Benitez
2. Servant Girl and Magnificence by Estrella Alfon
Today, we talk about Amador Daguio and his short stories. I was supposed to write only about his “The Woman who Look out of the Window”, which I will, but I will also talk about his “The Wedding Dance” and a couple of his memorable poems, simply because I utterly admire the author. If I’m asked for my top five favorite Filipino short story writers, Daguio will most likely rank my first.
Daguio (1912-1966) is a poet, fictionist, essayist, critic, and playwright. He was born in Laoag, Ilocos Norte. (Mel U has been to Vigan, which is near Laoag, a fact that naturally got my mind green with envy. I mean, Vigan! It’s my dream holiday, for crying out loud!) Anyway, Daguio was not raised in Laoag but grew up in Kalinga, formerly a subprovince (now a separate province) of Mountain Province, which became the setting of most of his short stories.
Remarkably, while living there, Daguio was in close contact with the place, the people, and the language. It is no wonder he wrote perceptively and intimately about people in the mountains in his stories The Wedding Dance and The Woman who Looked out of the Window. For him, the Filipino writer should draw inspirations from native elements, like the Filipino life, customs, traditions, and folklore, for “we might be able to achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves that what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign to our own feeling and thought”. Here’s one of his poems, Man of Earth, as an example (which has been taken up well in my high school):
Pliant is the bamboo;
I am man of earth.
They say that from the bamboo
We had our first birth.
Am I of the body,
Or of the green leaf?
Do you have to whisper?
Do I have to whisper
My every sin and grief?
If the wind passes by,
Must I stoop, and try
To measure fully
My flexibility?
Admirably, Daguio began to see the possibilities for stories and poems “in the suffering and miseries of his lonely and repressed boyhood... and the struggles of poor people [around him]”. His ultimate dream was “to translate the beauty, immensity, and depth of the Filipino soul”. I think I really like the works of this writer because I share with him his love for our country.
Here’s one of his poems I like, To Those of Other Lands, which is written in the context of events that happened during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines:
Though I may speak the English language,
Let me tell you: I am a Filipino,
I stand for that which make my nation,
The virtues of the country where I was born.
I may have traces of the American,
Be deceived not: Spain has, too, her traces in me,
But my songs are those of my race
…
Would you prove the courage of our blood?
The frank disdain of the man who is free?
We might have had chains, but of the spirit never;
Beyond us we see time, leveler of all.
Mistake not our seeming softness to you.
If we bow, it is not that we are slaves,
If we feed you, our hearts are in the offer,
Our giving not mere service of the lips.
Simple our manners? Our fathers gave the graces,
Our hearts pure as the hills, clear as the seas,
I tell you not of greed nor of accumulation,
We have washed off these stains of the West.
Look through us then, beyond what you think,
Know us, understand us; we, too, have our pride.
If you give us flowers, we exchange pearls;
We greet you sincerely; acclaim what we have.
Technically, Daguio belongs to the “emergence period” (1935-1945) in Philippine literature when the period said to have been the more productive, producing distinctive work in the half century of Filipino writing in English. During this period, writers were already consciously and purposefully write stories that reflect the Filipino way of life, including our values and traditions as well as the tropical climate and the environment. At the same time, Filipino writers were able to gain full control of of the English language, using it successfully as an effective literary medium. There were writing groups and awards formed. I would have loved to go back to the past and see the period for myself.
However, most unfortunately and very sadly, the Japanese occupation in 1941-1945 brought the flowering of the literary creativity in the Philippines to an abrupt close. There was so much fear during the occupation that writers could not think; survival was a priority. But of course, good ‘ol Daguio joined the resistance and secretly wrote poems, later compiled into a publication called Bataan Harvest. To Those of Other Lands is one of his works during the Japanese occupation. He was a close friend of another writer in resistance, Manuel E. Arguilla, who is from La Union and who wrote another of my favorite short story, How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife. I hope Mel and I could feature him in the succeeding readings in Philippine literature.
The first work by Daguio that I’ve read is The Wedding Dance when I was in college and I’ve read it twice again within the past seven years. It’s a bittersweet story of how culture, traditions, are more important to a man than his love for his wife. It is more like a necessity for the man to leave his wife. The Wedding Dance refers to the second wedding dance of the man where the dramatic conversation between him and the wife he is about to leave for another woman who could bear him sons. Ah, that’s the crux of the matter, and you should read the story to experience the climax and taste the bitter end. The Wedding Dance could be read online.
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