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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen writing the essays that are now part of Returning to My Father\u2019s Kitchen, I sought to challenge the stereotypes of Filipino fatherhood and manhood reinforced by the media and popularized in public discourse. Not only did my father challenge stereotypes with his style of fatherhood, but he also set an example for me as I pursued the life of an artist. He was a poet who nurtured my literary gifts, and his faith in the life path I chose enabled me to withstand the various challenges that writers face in a society that places little value in the arts. Literary fiction and nonfiction enabled me to explore the complexities and contradictions of the Filipino fathers I knew, which is why I gravitated towards the written word when seeking examples of Filipino fathers that my own work could respond to and be in conversation with.<\/p>\n
It was when I began to think back on the books I had read featuring Filipino fathers that I saw how varied and complex their depictions are in literature. While conforming to Philippine society\u2019s expectations of manhood and fatherhood, they also question and even subvert these expectations with their individual actions. Below are nine books that shed light on Filipino fatherhood, presenting us with complex and layered characters whose struggles invite us to perform a closer examination of Filipino masculinity.<\/p>\n
Ilustrado<\/a> by Miguel Syjuco<\/p>\n There are two fathers in Miguel Syjuco\u2019s sweeping 2010 novel Ilustrado: the protagonist\u2019s biological father, a corrupt career politician who expects his son to follow in his footsteps, and Crispin Salvador, a Filipino novelist based in New York who serves as the protagonist\u2019s second father, setting a more positive example for the protagonist as he strives to extricate himself from his powerful family\u2019s tainted history. These two father figures serve as models for what the country\u2019s leaders could be: men who look to the past as they reinforce the ingrained corruption of Philippine politics, and men who hope to break this cycle by exposing the sins of the past.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The Diaspora Sonnets<\/a> by Oliver de la Paz<\/p>\n In his National Book Award-longlisted collection, The Diaspora Sonnets, de la Paz turns a sympathetic eye on his immigrant father, who attempts to make a clean break with his past while navigating a strange new land with his family. The silence with which his father chooses to enshroud his past becomes a burden in itself, weighing down on his family as they follow his lead into an unchartered future: \u201cWhere\/there are memories, he lets the splinters\/of those shards bury themselves deep into\/\/skin. Where there\u2019s a past, he lets it drive nails\/into a tongue he holds back. Father, speak.\u201d Despite these silences, de la Paz refuses to underestimate his father\u2019s inner life, pondering over his father\u2019s reasons for holding back as they provide possibilities for reconnection.<\/p>\n Love Can\u2019t Feed You<\/a> by Cherry Lou Sy<\/p>\n In Cherry Lou Sy\u2019s coming-of-age novel, Love Can\u2019t Feed You, the protagonist\u2019s father, an elderly Chinese-Filipino man, finds himself adrift when the family lands in Queens and his much younger wife, who immigrated a few years before, immediately puts him to work as a janitor to pay off their debts. Papa reacts violently to his wife\u2019s newfound power and to his diminished role as a new immigrant. His behavior toward his children is oftentimes immature and cruel: in one chapter, he steals money from his own daughter to buy a gift for his wife. His character is an interesting study of fragile masculinity, and the struggles Filipino men face when adjusting to immigrant life.<\/p>\n The Body Papers<\/a> by Grace Talusan<\/p>\n In her memoir The Body Papers, Grace Talusan reflects on the difficult decisions her father faced to give his family a better life. From choosing to remain in the United States after his medical residency ends, to making the heartbreaking decision to cut off his own father to protect his children, Talusan\u2019s father is complicated but resolute, firm in his attachments to an old way of life, but also brave in defying his culture\u2019s expectations when the occasion warrants it.<\/p>\n Abundance<\/a> by Jakob Guanzon<\/p>\n Jakob Guanzon\u2019s novel Abundance is a tale of two fathers: the protagonist\u2019s father, a Filipino academic who comes to America for graduate school, only to drop out of his doctoral program and slide into blue collar work to support his family, and Henry, his son, whose feelings of alienation gradually lead him down a life of crime, and who only begins to understand his father\u2019s struggles when he becomes a father himself. Both Henry and his father struggle with fatherhood: Henry\u2019s father responds with violence to his son\u2019s failings in school and in life, while Henry finds himself raising a hand with his child during a particularly low point in his life. Their stories run parallel to each other as they grapple with a sense of inadequacy, borne out of their struggles as immigrants, that taints their relationships with their children.<\/p>\n In the Country<\/a> by Mia Alvar<\/p>\n The fathers in Mia Alvar\u2019s story collection, In the Country, run the gamut of character types, from being distant and abusive, to having a little selfishness mixed in with their selflessness. My favorite fathers in the collection are Andoy in \u201cA Contract Overseas\u201d and Jim in the titular story, \u201cIn the Country.\u201d Working-class Andoy gets his girlfriend pregnant by accident before deciding to find work in Saudi Arabia, joining an exodus of Filipino men who eagerly take on blue collar jobs in the Middle East to support their families back home. Young and na\u00efve, he continues to pine for romance and adventure amidst the drudgery of his work, even when his pursuit of romance turns dangerous. Jim, like Andoy, is an idealist, criticizing the Marcos dictatorship in articles that land him in prison and force him to spend years away from his growing son. Believing that his activism can pave the way for a democratic revolution in his country, and a better future for his children, he ignores the practicalities of raising a family in an authoritarian society, and brushes aside warnings that his writing can put his family in danger.<\/p>\n Forgiving Imelda Marcos<\/a> by Nathan Go<\/p>\n Nathan Go\u2019s debut novel, Forgiving Imelda Marcos, opens with Corazon Aquino\u2019s chauffeur, Lito, as he drives her from Manila to the mountain city of Baguio to secretly meet Imelda Marcos. At the heart of this novel, however, is Lito\u2019s difficult relationship with his son, who grew up without a father while Lito worked overseas to support his family. Mostly told from the point of view of Lito\u2019s son, Forgiving Imelda Marcos sheds light on the difficult choices that working-class Filipino fathers face: either stick with a low-paying job that does not pay enough to feed, clothe, and educate one\u2019s children, or go overseas for better-paying work, sending money back home while parenting one\u2019s children from afar.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Snail Fever: Poems of Two Decades by Francis C. Macansantos<\/p>\n