Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals (original) (raw)

B ack in 1990 I had occasion to hear Filipino novelist Bienvenido Santos speak at a conference in Hong Kong on Asian writing in English. I'd been in the Philippines for the better part of a year then, had begun to read some of the country's writers, Santos included, and I was interested not only in hearing what he'd have to say but in seeing how he would stack up against the other conference headliners, some of whom were impressively big names. He stacked up pretty well: head and shoulders above the others, in fact. He gave a mesmerizing talk, by turns challenging, charming, laugh-outloud funny, and deeply insightful, all delivered without a note in sight. I remember one moment in particular very well. It came not during the talk but in the question-and-answer following. Someone from one of the other countries represented at the conference asked: "Mr. Santos, what has been the reception of you and other Filipino writers outside the Philippines?" The reply was as blunt as it was immediate: "We haven't made a dent." To illustrate, the speaker went on to cite, unflinchingly, his own inability to find a publisher for his work in the United States, where he had resided for many years.

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