Partial Views: On the Essay as a Genre in Philippine Literary Production

by Conchitina R. Cruz

This monograph explores key concepts and issues that undergird the essay as a genre in Philippine literary production. It tracks the emergence of “creative nonfiction” as a category of writing and studies its impact on the literary norms that govern the ways in which essays are written and read. It examines assumptions of what constitutes the personal when writing from lived experience, illuminating the challenges that lie in the intersection of point of view and positionality. Arguing for what it terms the “expansive first person” as the minimum obligation of the essayist who transacts in the field of literary production, which, like the world at large, is shaped by relations of powers, the monograph ponders approaching the essay, even at its most personal, with a keen regard for accuracy and accountability traditionally expected of journalism and for critical inquiry most associated with scholarly work.

Intended for Filipino readers, writers, and teachers of literature and creative writing, this monograph engages with studies of Philippine essay production both remote and recent, from post-war anthologies by A. G. Abadilla and Leopoldo Y. Yabes, to the works of Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Ramon Guillermo, and Martin Villanueva in the early decades of the twenty-first century. Drawing from a bilingual archive, it provides a provisional chronological reading list of essays by Filipino authors from the era of the Japanese Occupation to the aftermath of the Marawi Siege. By considering a range of texts, from essays produced in the professionalized writing circuit to writing circulated as zines and pamphlets, from works not conceived as literary to works not initially received as essays, the monograph seeks to expand possibilities in imagining, writing, and reading the essay.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays

60 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Conchitina R. Cruz is Professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature, University of the Philippines Diliman. She received her PhD in English from State University of New York (SUNY) Albany.

Reviews

[Jerwin Bilale · Rating 5 out of 5]

“… literature has become increasingly privatized in the course of becoming increasingly professionalized, turning the act of writing, a means of cultural expression that should be available to all, into the domain of the privileged few who are able to avail of formal education.”

“ The personal is not exempt from relations of power, and to write without an awareness of class, gender, or race or without sensitivity to geographic and linguistic hierarchies risks turning one’s essay into a realm that mindlessly replicates prevailing inequities in the world at large.”

“ As an arbiter of what constitutes (good) literature in general and (good) creative nonfiction in particular, the academy directly intervenes in literary production by bestowing prestige on work it deems compatible with its literary values, which in turn fortifies its special status as literary gatekeeper. The creative writing classroom functions as a venue where models of good writing are identified and studied, student writers are taught to follow in their footsteps, and those most successfully able to execute the replication are recognized and rewarded.”

Maligaya sapagkat naging bahagi ng klase (CL 115) ni Ma’am Chingbee kung saan hindi lamang tinalakay ang problematikong sanaysay ni Tizon, kundi ang mismong problema ng genre na tila inihihiwalay ang sarili’t nagkakasya na lamang sa sarili (CNF). Masinsin, mapanghamon at walang pag-iimbot na paglalantad ng kinakatigang posisyon. Napakaraming dapat iproseso’t muling pagnilayan lalo na sa panahong punong-puno ng kaakuhan (“I”) ang lipunan at panitikan. Sana, me makatulong sa pagkumpleto ng inisyal na listahan na inilatag ni Ma’am, hehe.

[Zymon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised to know that Alex Tizon’s My Family’s Slave prompted this entire monograph. The (in)famous essay was an assigned reading in one of my feature writing classes back in college. I was seated in the front row on the day my instructor asked: “What did you think of the essay?” To which I responded: “It made me mad.” The essay is Tizon’s means of telling his readers that he in no way shared the cruelty his family had inflicted on their housemaid. The manner with which he approached the issue was infuriatingly passive. He was fully aware of the abuse and trafficking, of the modern-day slavery his family had deliberately instituted within the four corners of their house, yet at no point in his life did he try to stop them. Later on, he must have felt so guilty he had to pay their housemaid back by treating her kindly until she died. To fully absolve himself, he wrote a lengthy essay, which was categorized as long-form journalism and eventually as “creative nonfiction,” that adheres to stylistic choices whose core purpose is to convince his readers that he did nothing wrong. It was published posthumously, which I personally consider as another sinister way for him to evade the consequences of his unreasonable inaction and sly craftsmanship.

Conchitina Cruz, who’s as sharp as ever, validates my opinion about Tizon and his essay. She calls out the individuals and institutions behind the emergence of creative nonfiction, a relatively recent genre under which nonfiction works such as the essay fall as long as the work adheres to a certain set of guidelines that upholds literariness and, in return, erases works that belong outside the category. Although mainly directed toward the stylistic choices of Tizon’s essay and other similar works, the monograph remains insightful with regard to the recent developments pertaining to writing. Cruz calls for the rejection of the genre that restricts nonfiction, specifically the essay, inside a fence of literary standards mostly deployed in creative writing schools and by writers who have made their marks in the industry. The point is to rise above, if not return to, the original definition of the essay in order to welcome rather than exclude its possible forms. Most importantly: she reminds the writer to be more conscious of their “positionality” when writing, and the reader to be more critical of works that are considered well-written but “unmediated” and complicit in perpetuating injustice.

[Ivan Labayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://nordis.net/2023/02/12/article...

"At present, I am preparing for an upcoming sem where I will be teaching a major writing course—creative nonfiction—for the first time. In between, I tried to purchase, procure a copy of, produce something out of Chingbee Cruz’s Partial Views: On the Essay as a Genre in Philippine Literary Production. I got one, and now copying this statement: “As a teacher of literature and creative writing, it is my pedagogical obligation to provide students with archives to explore…. In effect, I am constantly performing the work of the anthologist in my classes. The opportunity to introduce readers to new texts, to renew their experience of texts they may have already encountered… to invite them to regard specific texts in relation to each other, and to develop their understanding of a literary category (… “Philippine Literature in English” or Survey of American Literature” or… “Poetry” or “Creative Nonfiction”) according to a particular order and combination of texts is one I do not take lightly. … To my students… I try to instill a keen awareness of the limits of the required reading list, to register its incompleteness, even as we strive to attend to it with care and rigor.”

[hapit na madugta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love how this short book gave us a whole reading list. Lmao.

[Levi]

Just read it. it's good. Love the recommendations of works outside the PH CW circuit