Vigan and Other Stories

Anvil 2011, softcover, 168 pages, ISBN 9789712724435

Finalist for the 31^st National Book Awards Philippines

Avail­able from PALH — PALH has a few rare out-of-print copies, $75 each, US ship­ping $10, email palhbooks@gmail.com

Avail­able in Kindle

 

Spare yet Powerful Stories … Scenographic

This is a col­lec­tion of twen­ty sto­ries, some of which were “sal­vaged” (as Cecil­ia puts it) from a nov­el that “fiz­zled after my mother’s death.” Some sto­ries were inspired by her vis­its to var­i­ous places includ­ing Vigan in the Philip­pines, Cuz­co in Peru, San Miguel Allende in Mex­i­co, and India. The sad sto­ries about moth­ers were inspired by her own moth­er whose com­plex­i­ty will always be a source of con­tem­pla­tion for Cecil­ia. Vigan and Oth­er Sto­ries was a final­ist of the 31^st Nation­al Book Awards of the Philippines.

Praise

“In this, her third col­lec­tion of short sto­ries, Cecil­ia Manguer­ra Brainard shows an uncan­ny tal­ent for speak­ing in var­ied voic­es that bridge time and place: she is at home in Vigan, the myth­i­cal Ubec (Cebu), Saga­da, Mani­la, Cus­co, Peru, Cal­cut­ta, Chartres, Cal­i­for­nia, bring­ing each loca­tion alive with lov­ing detail. She speaks as a school girl, an old­er woman, a love-struck boy, a stolen child, an under­ground rev­o­lu­tion­ary. She writes of her own fam­i­ly and child­hood with love and sad­ness and a deep sense of human­i­ty. Most charm­ing? ‘Meet­ing Che Gue­vara’, which starts out “I was nine­teen when I met Che Gue­vara.”’ (Susan Evan­ge­lista, Pro­fes­sor, Palawan State University)

“This is a rich and gen­er­ous col­lec­tion of sto­ries. They spring from var­i­ous sources–autobiographical, anec­do­tal and exper­i­men­tal. It enter­tains the casu­al read­er, instructs aspir­ing and prac­tis­ing writ­ers alike, and enrich­es the coun­try’s cul­ture.” (Pauli­no Lim, Jr., Pro­fes­sor Emer­i­tus, Cal­i­for­nia State University)

“Cecilia’s style is even more spare or spar­ing, let­ting the words do the barest pos­si­ble work of depict­ing action, descrip­tion, or sequenc­ing the events in the col­lect­ed narratives…I’d call this style, which seems fair­ly unique to her (even when com­pared to that of old mas­ters like Bulosan and Gon­za­lez), as sceno­graph­ic, to bor­row a term from cin­e­ma.” (Oscar V. Cam­po­manes, Pro­fes­sor, Ate­neo de Mani­la University)

 

Excerpt

https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2018/01/short-story-by-cecilia-brainard-about.html

Book Review

Review by Allen Gabor­ro for Pilipinas

Introduction by Oscar V. Campomanes

https://cbrainard.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-third-short-story-collection-vigan.html