Jessica Hagedorn
Burning Heart: A Portrait of the Philippines
January 4, 2000 - I just found out about this book by my favorite Filipino author, Jessica Hagedorn and photographs by Marissa Roth. I just bought the book from Amazon.com so the review will come later. But I am so excited about this book because the cover photograph alone tells me it is something very special. More later.
Dogeaters by
Jessica Hagedorn. One of the more celebrated novels in 1990. Nominated for the US National Book Award in 1990.
Robert Stone (author of Dog Soldiers and Outerbridge Reach) says "(It) is a fine
achievement on a very serious scale. It succeeds in rendering
the portrait of a nation in troubled times through vivid, memorable characters and
with irrefutable wit and passion. This is the definitive novel of the encouter between
the Philippines and America and their history of mutual illusion, antagonism, and
ambiguous affection. it is a rich and satisfying work and certainly among the best
novels I've read this year ..." From Pantheon Books, 1990.
Jessica Hagedorn is a poet, multimedia artis, screenwriter, and novelist, born and raised in the Philippines. She moved to the United States in her teens. Dogeaters is her first novel was nominated for the 1990 National Book Award. Ms. Hagedorn was also a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Writers Award recipient and a 1995 NEA grantee.
Dogeaters received a lot of flak from Filipinos because of its title. I guess many just didn't see the point to it - why indeed name a book with a derogatory word? All I have to say though, is you really have to read it to understand why such a title is appropriate. Dogeaters remains to be one of my favorite books of all time. It's funny, serious and true. You may even find and image of yourself in it.
Order Dogeaters now.
The Gangster of Love
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1996.
From the book: "Alternating between the Philippines and the United States, The Gangster of Love is the story of Rocky Rivera, who plays in a dissolute rock band with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Elvis Chang; Rocky's spirited and deeply traditional mother, Milagros; her troubled and bedeviled brother, Voltaire; her wonderfully eccentric uncle, Marlon; and her best friend, the wildly unpredictable, enigmatic Keiko. These along with other characters real and imagined, form a family story spanning generations and cultures. Together they grow and through adulthood, acquiring spouses, lovers, companions, children, and in-laws; making a place for themselves in the world; shattering myths, icons, and expectations; struggling to find that point where alienation and assimilation, identity and dignity, coincide."
Jessica Hagedorn's first novel, Dogeaters was nominated for a National Book Award in 1990 and was voted the best book of the year by the Before Columbus Foundation. She is also the author of Danger and Beauty: Poetry and Prose, as well as the editor of Charlie Chan is Dead: an Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction.
Gangster of Love was featured in a lengthy article in Time magazine a few monts after it came out - I don't remember much of the article though except that the review was a rave. I couldn't get into the book though. I read it and didn't finish.
Charlie Chan Is Dead, an Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction edited
by Jessica Hagedorn. Published by Penguin Books 1993.
Included in this anthology are many Filipino American literary luminaries including Peter Bacho (author of "Cebu"), N.V.M. Gonzalez, Jessica Hagedorn, R. Zamora Linmark, Ninotchka Rosca, Bienvenido Santos, Jose Garcia Villa, and Marianne Villanueva. A truly wonderful book to shatter stereotypes, especially Charlie Chan.
From the book: The writers included in this ground-breaking anthology are exhilarating in their differences: cultural backgrounds, age range, literary styles. From Jose Garcia's minimalist "Untitled Story," first published in 1933, to Meena Alexander's Manhattan Music," with its razor-sharp look at the hip downtown New York art scene of the troubled 1990s, their stories sweep across the twentieth century and across the range of Asian American experience. These characters make love, worry about the future, endure hardships ... These are stories about Asian Americans, yes, but, finally, they are stories about life."
Purchase Charlie Chan is Dead now!
Danger and Beauty
Published by in 1992.
I must admit, I haven't read this book completely. It's actually a compilation of Ms. Hagedorn's earlier
efforts (Dangerous Music and Pet food and Tropical Appartitions) plus some new writings. Mostly poems and
some short stories. There is one story that I did read - Gangster of Love - which is probably the basis
of the novel published in 1997. That's why I thought the story was familiar.
Order Danger and Beauty now!
Suitcase - A Journal of Transcultural Traffic is an anthology in which Ms. Hagedorn is included. I haven't seen the book, but you can order it if you want. Published in 1998.
Making More Waves - New Writing by Asian American Women is another anthology that includes work by
Jessica Hagedorn.
Order it now!
Dogeaters Danger and Beauty Cassette. Probably the audio version of Dogeaters and Danger and Beauty. It should be an ok listening to it ... Order it now!
