Philippine Fiction in English and Its Intertextual Relations

Fictionist, essayist, and literary critic Rosario "Chari" Cruz-Lucero is this year's Henry Lee Irwin SJ Professorial Chair holder. She will deliver her Irwin SJ lecture titled “Philippine Fiction in English and Its Intertextual Relations” on 1 March 2024, 5:00-6:30 pm, at CTC 413, Ateneo de Manila University.

The lecture focuses on the relational nature of literature as a web of literary and nonliterary texts, also called discourse—i.e., the corpus of the authors’ experiences and their knowledge, both conscious and unconscious. Thus, the notions of intertextuality and discourse provide the theoretical framework for the analytic strategies employed in this study. This intertextual reading is not limited to source criticism—in which causal connections and authorial intentionality are empirically established. Instead, discursive systems embedded in the works under scrutiny are traced to colonial and postcolonial master narratives. These discourses may comprise institutional prescriptions, codes, and traditions, which are disseminated, for instance, through the educational system, the prevailing belief system, the court system, and both high and popular culture during the author’s time. This premise will be demonstrated in critical readings of the classic works in English by four Filipino authors. “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez Benitez illustrates the ambivalence between two colonial systems versus the fictive character’s subaltern agency; “Bread of Salt” by NVM Gonzalez—Philippine history, the pueblo complex, and architecture; “Distance to Andromeda” by Gregorio Brillantes—sci-fi nihilism, kairos, and the avatar; and “Sounds of Sunday” by Kerima Polotan—the corporate sphere, public persona, and the individual psyche. The analysis of these stories will attempt to show the ways by which these subvert the discursive systems embedded therein. 

Cruz-Lucero is a retired professor of Philippine literature, comparative literature, and creative writing at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, where she obtained her AB in English and Comparative Literature, and her MA and PhD in Philippine Studies. She has published books of fiction and personal essays as well as a book of critical essays on the literature and culture of the Visayas and Mindanao. She has won a number of Palanca awards for the short story and the essay, National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle, Free Press Literary Awards, the Nick Joaquin Literary Award, and the UP Chancellor’s Award. She has received fellowships from the British Council, Fulbright, Ford Foundation, and Asia Foundation. Among these are for a postdoctoral course on Contemporary Literary Theory at Exeter College, Oxford University, and for a creative writing residency in Geneva, Switzerland. 

The Department of English of Ateneo de Manila administers the Irwin SJ Professorial Chair. From time to time, it invites distinguished Filipino writers to teach creative writing classes and deliver a public lecture. 

The Henry Lee Irwin SJ Professorial Chair was established in school year 1988-1989 by the ADMU Class 5054 to honor Father Irwin. Irwin began teaching literature, philosophy, and rhetoric at Ateneo in the 1920s. For three decades, he was responsible for the many theatrical productions, especially Shakespeare, that Ateneo was known for, including a 1932 King Lear with a young Leon Ma. Guerrero in the title role. Father Irwin died in 1976. The Irwin Theater at Ateneo Grade School is the physical monument to his role in Ateneo dramatics. The chair is a means by which his intellectual legacy continues.