The Philippine Online Chronicles

The history of literature has been one of constant change. Today, on the anniversary of People Power, we’ll take a look at twenty-five titles that have subverted one rule or another. While this list is hardly all-encompassing or comprehensive, it’s a good starting point. Ranging from political texts to novels to children’s books, we’ve got something to recommend for everyone in the family.

1. Daodejing (attributed to Lao Tzu)

On this anniversary of revolution, what better way to kickstart your day than by settling down with a classic philosophical text by one of China’s most brilliant minds, Lao Tzu. Reflect. After all, was it not Lao Tzu who said: “Do not conquer the world with force, for force only causes resistance. Thorns spring up when an army passes. Years of misery follow a great victory. Do only what needs to be done without using violence.” (PDF here)

2. The Prince (Niccolo Macchiavelli)

Arguably the most influential political work of all time, Machiavelli’s controversial book moves past the ideal of the utopian state and into the brutal realities of how to govern and hold on to power. Be like Stalin, Napoleon, and Marcos, and keep a copy on your nightstand. (e-books here)

3. Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)

In this world, who doesn’t dream of the ideal man—a well-read romantic who will sweep you off your feet and shower you with roses? Don Quixote is such a man, albeit slightly on the mature side. Fascinated by books of chivalry, he embarks on a quest to fight dragons and save damsels in distress, with his trusty sidekick Sancho and noble steed Rocinante. (e-books here)

4. The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels)

While it was commissioned by the Communist League in 1848, the political theories of Karl Marx in his seminal work were relevant then and still are today. His analysis of the class struggle gives insight into our modern society, delving into contrasting social phenomena such as mass world hunger coinciding with overproduction. (e-books here)

5. Les Misérables (Victor Hugo)

The story of the ex-convict Jean Valjean and his transformation into a force for good, set against the turbulent backdrop of nineteenth-century France, influenced many future novels on revolution, including Jose Rizal’s writings. Most of us have been exposed to adaptations of the novel in some form or another, but only in the original can we read Hugo’s treatises.

6. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Ernest Hemingway)

This historical novel is one of the most brutal depictions of the Spanish Civil War. When the American Robert Jordan, Spanish instructor and demolitions expert, is sent behind enemy lines to destroy a bridge, his encounter with a group of guerrillas leads him to question his own beliefs regarding life and war. If you want to read a book about death, well, the bell tolls for thee.

7. America is in the Heart (Carlos Bulosan)

If you’re a Filipino, this will make you cry. While this book isn’t exactly the pinnacle of Filipino writing in English, with its combination of sometimes rough and sometimes flowery language, the struggles of Bulosan as a migrant worker in America strike a chord for anyone who’s ever felt any form of racism. Is it a novel or nonfiction? It’ll all depend on your mood.

8. Without Seeing the Dawn (Stevan Javellana)

Follow the life of Ilonggo farmer Ricardo Suerte as he battles his way through the Philippine precolonial period and throughout World War II. This is arguably the best written historical novel about the Philippines, begging the pardon of Rizal. Crying while reading is normal.

9. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)

“Every Breath You Take,” The Police’s most famous single, isn’t a love song. It actually stems from this book, which depicts a dystopian future where Big Brother is—are you ready for this?—watching you. When the archivist Winston Smith rebels against the regime, his escape and subsequent fate are enough to excite, but also make you think. Besides, the last four words of this novel comprise one of the best endings in modern literature.

10. On Revolution (Hannah Arendt)

Historical novels and fiction too mainstream? Try Arendt’s theoretical masterpiece. Three hundred pages of intricate philosophical discourse on the necessity of revolution, how revolutions start, their socioeconomic consequences, and a comprehensive comparison between the two most well-known revolutions of the eighteenth century, the American and French.

11. “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” (Harlan Ellison)

Continuing our foray into totalitarian futures, this short story presents a state where time is of the essence. What would you do if the leader of your nation had the ability to remotely stop your heart for being late to any of your appointments? If you’re anything like the Harlequin, you know the solution is jellybeans. Lots and lots of jellybeans.

12. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Rooted in the fictional Colombian town of Macondo after Spanish colonization, the novel covers one hundred years in the life of the town founders, the Buendia family. More precisely, the seven generations of the Buendia family all named José (and Aureliano, Ursula, and Remedios). The book does have a family tree and the page it’s on is likely to age very quickly as you flip back and forth to figure who is doing what to whose cousin’s daughter’s rooster. One Hundred Years of Solitude has been acclaimed in Italy, France, Venezuela, and most recently though perhaps anticlimactically, on Oprah.

13. Dekada '70 (Lualhati Bautista)

Possibly the most appropriate book to read today, Bautista’s book details the life of a typical moderate-sized middle-class Filipino family during the Marcos era—complete with Plaza Miranda bombing, illegal arrests, civil unrest, and family drama. Don’t be deterred by the fact that Bautista’s books are required reading for most high school students.

14. Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons)

This work, one of the first to be branded with the (now often-abused) label “graphic novel,” depicts an alternate-universe New York at the height of the Cold War, where Nixon is still president and America possesses the world’s greatest weapon: the superhuman Doctor Manhattan, who can rearrange the rules of physics at will and singlehandedly enable the U.S. to win the Vietnam War. The chapters of the novel are preceded by the Doomsday Clock, with each succeeding chapter inching ever closer to midnight.

15. State of War (Ninotchka Rosca)

Encompassing most of contemporary Filipino history, this political novel centers around three characters and their ancestry—a mixture of Caucasian, Chinese, and Malaysian blood, along with ethnic Filipino, of course. Set on an island where “The Commander” is attending a festival, the three characters are linked to an assassination attempt on this dictatorial leader, who is a fictional stand-in for... someone.

16. Pyramids (Terry Pratchett)

For satirical commentary on politics, religion, and the relationship between the old regime and the new (and importantly, the toppling of the former by the latter), nothing beats Pyramids. It was a British Science Fiction Award winner in 1989, and the best part is that literary theorists and linguists will have their fun spotting all the signs and symbols found therein. Discworld fanatics know it as the seventh book; the uninitiated can take it as the first step into the world of Pratchett.

17. Like Water for Chocolate (Laura Esquivel)

Revolutionary in its own way, Esquivel’s novel is a romantic tragedy revolving around the life of Tita, her sisters, her lovers, and her manipulative, scheming mother. The story takes place during the Mexican Revolution over a course of months. Each chapter begins with a recipe, these recipes forming the action around which this food-centric novel is based.

18. Maus (Art Spiegelman)

This nonfiction narrative about the experiences of Spiegelman’s father during the Holocaust is the only comic book to have ever won the Pulitzer Prize. With the Jews portrayed as mice and the Germans depicted as cats, Maus manages to be graphic without being too disturbing. This one degree of separation enables one of the most moving accounts of World War II to be experienced by even the most squeamish of readers.

19. Killing Time in a Warm Place (Jose Dalisay, Jr.)

This first book by the author, which won the Carlos Palanca Grand Prize for the Novel and the National Book Award, tells the story of a young man’s life before and after Martial Law. Introspective and philosophical, it takes a more reserved approach than the other works on the list that deal with the Marcos era.

20. The Giver (Lois Lowry)

A children’s book (or perhaps not), The Giver is a book about a world with no hunger, poverty, war, sickness, crime, or unemployment. This story of utopia is narrated by one Joshua, who is given the task to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. Banned in many places and hotly debated by parental organizations, The Giver deals with the concepts of sex, death, and old age, as well as the question of how far one would go to achieve perfection.

21. Politically Correct Bedtime Stories (James Finn Garner)

Many of us grew up with the Grimm fairy tales, and this book retells them for the modern reader. From a Red Riding Hood saved by a “log fuel technician” who is deemed as sexist for daring to rescue Red and her grandmother in the first place, a Rapunzel who cuts off her hair for charity, and an emperor who sparks a nudist movement in his kingdom because of his new clothes, this book pokes fun at today’s overly politically correct society.

22. Pig Tales (Marie Darrieussecq)

Not for the squeamish, prudish, or faint of heart, Pig Tales is Darrieussecq’s decidedly perverse novel originally in French and translated into English in record time (to spread the perverseness, naturally). If  hyperrealism, science fiction, and the study of the human psyche and societal interaction is your thing, and you are not averse to ham, this “novel of lust and transformation” is for you.

23. Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)

Smart, funny, and often times heartrending, Persepolis is the author’s memoir of growing up as a young girl in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Told in black and white comic strip form, it makes deceptively simple the overthrow of the old regime, religious conflict, and the war with Iraq. Think of it as a much darker, much more disturbing diary of a young girl.

24. You Wouldn’t Want to Be Mary, Queen of Scots (Fiona Macdonald and David Antram)

Most of us know the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, the child ruler who eventually married three men and was beheaded for plotting the overthrow of her cousin Elizabeth. Now children will too! With beautiful illustrations and bedtime-story-appropriate text size, no child (or historically-minded parent) could say no to this. Part of a series, further delights for the voracious reader include You Wouldn’t Want to be Sick in the 16th Century, You Wouldn't Want to Live in a Medieval Castle and You Wouldn’t Want to Be an Aristocrat in the French Revolution.

25. Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (Jose Rizal)

Since they’re recommended reading for most of us, many Filipinos associate Rizal’s novels with feelings of dread. However, they’re not only good political texts, but they’re damn fine reads as well. When I found out as a young boy (after reading the tragic end of the Noli) that Crisostomo Ibarra would return to exact his revenge, I was ecstatic. That was, of course, before I read El Filibusterismo to its conclusion. Damn you, Isagani!

Fist of Fury image Some rights reserved by redwood 1.

* For this piece, the author chose to use a pseudonym.