Situating the Philippines in the Postcolonial Landscape: Narrative Strategies of Filipino Novels in English (1946-1980) Marie Rose B. Arong A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree oF Doctor of Philosophy School of Arts and Media Faculty of Arts and Sciences May 2017 2 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Arong First name: Marie Rose Other name/s: Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: PhD School: Arts and Media Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences Title: Situating the Philippines in the postcolonial landscape: narrative strategies of Filipino novels in English (1946-1980) The Philippines’ double-colonization at the hands of Spain (1565-1898) then America (1898-1946) has produced a distinctive type of postcolonial writing in English. Despite this unique postcolonial situation, there is a lack of substantial and sustained critical work assessing Philippine literature in postcolonial studies. In order to address this neglect, this thesis shows how a culturally specific formalist approach provides new opportunities to interrogate the distinctive postcolonial themes and issues raised in six Filipino novels: Bienvenido Santos' You Lovely People (1955), N.V.M. Gonzalez's The Bamboo Dancers (1960), N.V.M. Gonzalez's A Season of Grace (1956), Nick Joaquin's The Woman Who Had Two Navels (1961), Kerima Polotan's The Hand of the Enemy (1962), and Edith Tiempo's His Native Coast (1979). The period in which these novels were published (between the 1950s and the 1970s) has usually been considered by scholars such as Soledad Reyes (1994) and Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo (2008) as the turning point of Philippine writing in English because of the authors’ innovative use of narrative techniques. However, despite all these observations, there is a lack of substantial and sustained critical work assessing the implications of these technical strategies, specifically in postcolonial studies. This thesis argues that the thematic concerns of the novels need to be related more productively to their formal innovations. It suggests that a contextual examination of the various narrative strategies and techniques deployed in the novels can help shed light on the authors’ respective projects of engaging with the consequences of both the American-endorsed narrative of Philippine modernity and development and the nationalists’ quest for the authentic Filipino. This thesis, thus, demonstrates the relationship between narrative structure and the modes of interrogation (or resistance, such as the case of Joaquin's novel) of postcolonial issues in the Filipino novels in English. 8. ARIEL may u'aive the fee fbr reprinting in parlicular cases. should the AUTHOR request this in advance. 9. 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This AGREEMENT is signed by tz furlFl z,ti6 furlFl z,ti6 12/05/2017 ……………………………………………………………tz ……………………………………..……………… ……….……………………...…….… Signature Witness Signature Date The University recognises that there may be exceptional circumstances requiring restrictions on copying or conditions on use. Requests for restriction for a period of up to 2 years must be made in writing. Requests For a longer period of restriction may be considered in exceptional circumstances and require the approval of the Dean of Graduate Research. at Calgary, Alberta, Canada at Calgary, Alberta, Canada FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Date of completion of requirements for Award: For and onbehalf of ANEL For and onbehalf of ANEL THIS SHEET IS TO BE GLUED TO THE INSIDE FRONT COVER OF THE THESIS 3 4 Contents Thesis/dissertation sheet 1 Title page 2 Copyright and Authenticity statement 3 Originality statement 4 Table of contents 5 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction—Understanding the Absence of Philippine Literature in Postcolonial Studies 8 “One Grievous, Irrevocable Error:” A Short History of Philippine-U.S. Relations 11 The “Invisibility of the Philippines” in Global Postcolonial Studies 14 Global Postcolonial Literary Studies 19 Narrative Strategies in Postcolonial Filipino Novels in English 22 Chapter One—Toward a Native Clearing: A Case for Narratology in the Study of Postcolonial Filipino Novels in/from English 26 Philippine Literary Studies: A Tale of Two Masters 28 Formalism v.s. Marxism in Philippine Literary Criticism 31 Philippine Literary Studies Intersects with Postcolonial Literary Studies 35 Origins and Rise of the Filipino Novel: A Case for Narratology 38 Narratology: From Classical to the Postclassical Approaches 40 Postcolonial Theory and Narratology: Early Works in Postcolonial Narratology 41 Chapter Two—Narrative Complexity: The Narrators in N.V.M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers and Santos’ You Lovely People 48 A Native Consciousness in Voice and Focalization 51 “He doesn’t write. He only sculptures:” Ambivalence in the Narrator of N.V.M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers 55 The Hurt Narrator(s) in Santos’ You Lovely People 69 Chapter Three—Subtle Subversion: Covert Narration in Polotan’s The Hand of the Enemy and Tiempo’s His Native Coast 80 The Transformation of Maria Clara into the Ideal Filipina 84 “Rearranging” Narrative Authority through Covert Narration 88 Kerima Polotan’s Smaller Upheavals: The Covert Narrator in The Hand of the Enemy 90 Edith Tiempo’s Substitute for Authenticity: 5 The Covert Narrator in His Native Coast 101 Chapter Four—Narrating Temporal Interventions in N.V.M. Gonzalez’s A Season of Grace and Nick Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels 110 Modernity and Tradition: A Philippine Postcolonial Context 113 Time, Memory, and Narrative in the Philippine Novelistic Tradition 116 History, No Longer Fuzzy: Weaving the Kaingin into the Temporality of A Season of Grace 118 Reimagining a Postcolonial Philippines: Temporal Frenzy in Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels 130 Chapter Five—Conquering the Frontier: Various Forms of the Native Clearing of English in Filipino Postcolonial Novels 144 Standard Philippine English or Philippine english? 147 Language and Narration 149 Translation as the Foundation for Native Clearing in Santos' You Lovely People and N.V.M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers 152 "Imposing" the Filipino on the English Language in N.V.M. Gonzalez’s A Season of Grace and Joaquin’s The Woman Who Had Two Navels 159 A Language of Her Own: Becoming More at Home with English in Polotan’s The Hand of the Enemy and Tiempo's His Native Coast 169 Conclusion 176 Avenues for Future Research 180 ReFerence List 182 6 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the help of invaluable people and to them all, I owe a debt of gratitude: The University of New South Wales for their generous scholarship and my Philippine institution, the University of the Philippines Cebu, for endorsing my PhD leave and thesis grant. My supervisor, Paul Dawson, whose vast narratological “toolbox” helped focalize my arguments. My co-supervisor, Bill Ashcroft, whose post-colonial expertise amplified my appreciation of Philippine literature. My friends, Daniel Hempel, Maddie Wilson, Tanya Thaweeskulchai, Naoko Mochizuki, Wendyl Luna, and Rowan Payton, whose comforting presence kept me sane in Sydney. Special thanks to Gemma and Mario Tuccia (also, Rexi and Coco) for welcoming me into their home from day 1. Daghang salamat. 7 Introduction—Understanding the Absence of Philippine Literature in Postcolonial Studies It is as if future U.S. Filipino visibility requires no less than U.S. American self-recognition that the U.S.-Philippine colonial encounter proved central to the strategic formulations and transformations of 20th-century American imperial modernity and nationality; or that the politics of recognition pursued by Filipino Americans is fatally entwined with an effective unrecognizeability of the U.S. Empire. [Emphases added] (Campomanes 1995, p. 160) In postcolonial literary studies, the concept of the center and the margins has been crucial to understanding relations between colonizer and colonized. But even in its