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Title: Dream Jungle by Jessica Hagedorn ISBN: 0-670-88458-8 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 25 September, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Matter of Perspective
Comment: When I first encountered the work of Jessica Hagedorn, I have to admit - I found the oeuvre suspect. I read "Dogeaters" and this was my initial reaction: "As a Filipino abroad, you will be nostalgic but you will be disturbed by it. The language is pure sensationalism - but it is representative of a slice of life that we might not be proud of but seem to fall into without much examination. That "Dogeaters" is a cold, hard look at ourselves, I give her the 5 stars. The question I have for Jessica Hagedorn is, if this is deconstruction, where is the reconstruction? Do we remain "Dogeaters"?" Then, my curiosity got the better of me, I read "Gangsters of Love." I found myself easing up a little: "Perspective is another thing Hagedorn is good at. Despite destabilizing a basically linear story she plays with perspectives when she switches from Rocky to Elvis and plays around with what Elvis is thinking and feeling. The whole question of the Chinese experience is not really fully developed in this story - as if Hagedorn did not really want to go there - as if to tease us that there is more there. Maybe the story can be picked up by something like the movie Mano Po (Regal Films) or Arlene Chai's works. Nonetheless, the book ["Gangsters of Love"] is as compelling as any in its genre. After reading Dogeaters, I was convinced that Hagedorn may have missed an opportunity by not presenting a possible solution - but perhaps the cathartic nature of her work is a solution in itself. I highly recommend this book ["Gangsters of Love"] not only to the Diaspora Filipino trying to form some sense of closure but to the widest possible audience to get a sense of the Filipino immigrant experience and to begin dialogue. This piece ["Gangsters of Love"] is new dawn - a reconstruction from a deconstruction." Then I picked up "Dream Jungles" and now I find myself caught by the "cojones."
In this work, we see a more subdued but not any less forceful Hagedorn - it seems that all the angst that filled "Dogeaters" has washed away and we are left with a more penetrating piece - heavily researched and always problematizing. The problem with a forum like this one - the review section - is that it allows for perspectivism making reader response to the book less polished, more real. Since we are in the space of perspectives...
The narrative can be seen to be emanating from two central perspectives: Zamora de Lagazpi and his counterpoint Rizalina. In a funny sort of way, Hagedorn is trapped in a self-created "double-bind." While she problematizes all types of categories she inadvertently reifies them. At the hub of this tale, is Zamora de Legazpi - the son of a powerful family of the Filipino elite. Zamora is a "mestizo," personifying what the common sense understanding is of mixed Spanish and Filipino "blood." The mestizo is stereotyped as having a huge appetite and a passion for conquest the not only rivals the Spanish conquistadors but in a sense picks up from where they have left off.
Oddly enough, reality has provided Hagedorn with a convenient backdrop as she includes the account of Pigafetta. Zamora is as guilty as Pigafetta of a malignant form of "Orientalism" - actually it is more like "Primitivism." Zamora "discovers" the "Taobo" - a lost tribe of natives. Zamora makes one of the younger members Bodabil his "Wild Child." In an effort to legitimize his bizarre project - Zamora solicits the aid of his friend and college roommate journalist Ken Forbes. Who is she kidding? Anyone who is the least bit familiar with the story of the Tasadays will spot Manda Elizalde, John Nance, and the Tasadays. As I have previously written, about Robin Hemley's exceptional book, "Invented Eden: The Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday." The story of Emmanuel "Manda" Elizalde is as problematic as ever. If there was any reason to doubt the veracity of the story at all, it would be very involvement of Elizalde at the center and the Marcos" at the periphery - or where they? Anyway, another way to position oneself as a reader is to see things from Rizalina's perspective.
Juxtaposed against the caricature of the elite in Zamora, is the powerless imagery of Rizalina vis-à-vis not just Zamora but Moody, Mayor Fritz, and Pierce. Rizalina enters the milieu a peasant girl who comes to work for Lagazpi as a maid - the daughter of the cook actually. Zamora finds himself smitten by the young Rizalina and pursues her immediately. I am still in a quandary about the use of names - Rizalina and Zamora, is there something in that? Why would Rizal or his project be played through the personification of a young girl of 14? Oh well, stuff to keep thinking about. Rizalina's life becomes increasingly problematic. It begins when she runs away and is just as quickly abandoned by a never-do-well boyfriend - who apparently already had a wife. Rizalina finds a job as a prostitute in the metropole. Rizalina is "strong," serving as a counterpoint to Lagazpi's inherent weakness. Rizalina is nothing short of a survival machine. In a sense I found myself thinking that this is a really poignant articulation of how Filipinos negotiate survival. In the end, isn't that what we are really all about survival? Anyway, as Hagedorn's oeuvre grows - like fine wine - she just gets better with age. Back to the source... Charlie Chan anyone?
Miguel Llora
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Title: Dogeaters (Contemporary American Fiction) by Jessica Hagedorn ISBN: 014014904X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Gangster of Love by Jessica Hagedorn ISBN: 0140159703 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: American Woman : A Novel by Susan Choi ISBN: 0060542217 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 14 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Danger and Beauty by Jessica Hagedorn ISBN: 0872863875 Publisher: City Lights Publishers Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Imagine Otherwise: On Asian Americanist Critique by Kandice Chuh ISBN: 0822331403 Publisher: Duke University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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