Ilustrado: A Fragmented View from the Apex of Privilege

Criticism of didacticism is common fare when talking of works of literature. Poems or novels must not express political views. …

Airport Bookshops

Out of curiosity, while waiting to board my flight at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport the other day, I dropped by …

Beyond Our Comfort Zones: On Pagbutlak, Literature and Politics

Tol, pasok ako sa UP! Pano ba yan, iwan mo na kami? Malabo, wala naman akong pang-tuition. —TV commercial The …

Miclat’s Not So Secret Revelations (Fragments from an Unfinished Critique)

Disappointing. Nothing less can describe the supposedly untold stories unveiled by Mario Miclat in Secrets of the Eighteen Mansions. Miclat’s …

Pleasures of the Text*

We need history, but not the way a spoiled loafer in the garden of knowledge needs it. –Nietzsche, Of the …

A Critical Response to Genevieve Asenjo’s Lumbay ng Dila

On a personal note, I bought a signed copy of Genevieve L. Asenjo’s Lumbay ng Dila on a discounted price from …

Pagtatagpo sa Kabilang Dulo: Panitikang Testimonial ng Desaparecidos

Desaparecidos, the national organization of the families of the disappeared, and Pagbutlak, the official student publication of the University of …