Nick Joaquin, The Woman Who Had Two Navels (via bookmania)
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I saw this on my dash and had to reblog. I don’t often see quotes by Filipino writers floating around the interwebs.
Nick (short for Nicomedes) Joaquin was one of the grand patriarchs of Philippine Literature, but even more than that, he was one of its terrorists — he had the dedication of a religious fundamentalist, and he was a terrifying figure in himself.
Let me tell you something. Higher education in the Philippines is not like that in the United States, at least not when I was a still a student. Teachers were given quite a lot of leeway not just in subject matter, but also in approach. And Nick Joaquin utilized all the leeway he was given, certainly. He would berate students until they cried. People have walked out of his class due to nervous breakdowns. He was unflinching and unapolegetic as a critic, and to even consider sitting through one of his workshops meant that you were prepared to take as much as he could dish out - and he certainly could throw a lot of things at you, including insults, curses, pieces of chalk, and occasionally, even the chalkboard eraser.
But sign-ups for his classes were always full (strangely enough, this is true of almost all the terror teachers, which probably says loads about the Filipino psyche right there). Completing - and passing - one of his classes was a badge of honor. Any affirmation from him sent us over the moon, because we knew it hadn’t been given lightly, and it would be well-deserved. And in retrospect, his classes were good training. After all, a writer’s life is full of rejections, and a writer’s work will always be open to all kinds of scrutiny. If you can’t take the heat, you should pack up the pens and save yourself the heartache and drama.
So, I tip my coffee mug to you, sir. Rest in peace, Mr. Nick Joaquin.
