Orhan Pamuk / Nick Joaquin of Cebu

[Nino Gonzales]

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I'm reading Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul right now. I feeling the same way I felt when I read Nick Joaquin's Manila my Manila. I'm longing for a similar book on Cebu. Is there anyone who has written (or even just attempted to write) a similar essay on Cebuano history and culture?

The only one that comes to mind is Resil Mojares, but what what I read from his is either dry history (War Against the Americans) (very exciting nevertheless) or detached and scholarly observations on history and culture (Waiting for Maria Makiling)...

Do you know of any personal, subjective and loving book on Cebuano identity?

[Nino Gonzales]

Okay, I found the answer to this question I posted last April. I chanced upon this book the day after Christmas: "The Cebu We Know." It's a collection of essays about Cebu by prominent writers (their bios could be found in the last page, and most are winners of literary awards). It was excellent holiday reading.

The essays which come nearest to Orhan Pamuk's Istanbul are ones by Lawrence Ypil and Januar Yap, since they express their vocations as writers through their telling of their experience as Cebuanos. Ypil philosophizes on the idea of identity and belongingness. I got goosebumps reading Januar Yap's piece, since I also grew up in downtown Cebu.

Come to think of it, among all the books I've read, this one has given me the most goosebumps. I don't know if that's a good way of judging a book. And "goosebumps" it seems tends to connote fear after the publishing of the teenage horror series of that title. The Cebuano is better: Nanglimbawt akong bahlibo...

...for Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo's essay because her memories are almost identical with my mother's and uncles' memories...

...for Charmaine Carreon's essay because my city is her "other" city, the place where she goes to be away from home...

I'm still not clear how these essays affected me and why, but it's probably because they express emotions I have felt for Cebu or as a Cebuano...

Resil Mojares is in his usual scholarly self with a very unromantic piece on the romantization of "love" in Visayan society as we got westernized... I've read somewhere that he's working on a history of the province of Cebu... looking forward to that.

Here's the complete list of writers in this anthology: Erlinda Kintanar-Alburo, Merlie Alunan, Annabelle Tan-Amor, Liza Bacay, Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard, Charmaine Carreon, Carlos Cortes, Erma Cuizon, Ma. Milagros Dumdum, Simeon Dumdum Jr., Charmaine Fajardo, Jeneen Garcia, Maria Cristina Martinez-Juan, Jovi Juan, Renato Madrid, Resil Mojares, Mayette Tabada, Januar Yap, Lawrence Ypil, Hope Yu

It's my favorite non-fiction book I've among the ones I've read this year! (Since we're in the topic, here are two other really good non-fiction I also read this year).
1. The Cebu We Know AnvilPublishing.com -- Online
2. Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk
3. The Life You Save May Be Your Own by Paul Elie (an intertwining biography of Flannery O'Connor, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day and Walker Percy)