Writer in Exile/Writer in Revolt: Critical Perspectives on Carlos Bulosan ed. by Jeffrey Arellano Cabusao

Abstract

Reviewed by: Writer in Exile/Writer in Revolt: Critical Perspectives on Carlos Bulosan ed. by Jeffrey Arellano Cabusao Leo Angelo Nery Jeffrey Arellano Cabusao, E D. Writer in Exile/Writer in Revolt: Critical Perspectives on Carlos Bulosan lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2016. 378 pages. "Occupation: Writer … Estate: One typewriter, a twenty-year old [sic] suit, worn out socks; Finances: Zero; Beneficiary: His people" (xix). Thus read Carlos Bulosan's obituary, which was published in the Daily People's World in 1956. Penned by his friend and fellow unionist Chris Mensalvas, the tribute is a brief but poignant summation of Bulosan's contribution not just to Philippine literature but also to social movements both in the US and the Philippines. However, although Bulosan's place in literature and history is beyond dispute, interpreting his work (and his life) has been a site of contestation for the past sixty years. Early literary criticism of Bulosan's writings was dominated by formalist readings until in the 1970s, under the repressive but radicalizing conditions of martial law, Bulosan and his work were liberated from "promiscuous sentimentalism" (xxi) and reimagined as products of the struggle against repressive and exploitative colonial relations between the US and the Philippines. Post–martial-law scholarship on Bulosan has since branched out to include, among other lenses, gender, migration, transnationalism, and culture; recent events, such as the resurgence of authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and the intensification of racial and gender discrimination, have made Bulosan's experience as a Filipino exile in the US contemporary once more. The task, however, is to reintroduce Bulosan to a new generation of aspiring scholars, activists, and social scientists, without disregarding the more than half-century of scholarly work that Bulosan has inspired. Introducing new scholars and readers to the history of Bulosan scholarship is Jeffrey Arellano Cabusao's primary objective in his compendium Writer in Exile/Writer in Revolt: Critical Perspectives on Carlos Bulosan. It is not simply a collection of Bulosan-inspired works, but also a historical narrative of Bulosan criticism as well as an exposition on the appropriate methodology in reading Bulosan's life and works. Affirming E. San Juan Jr.'s perspective that Bulosan should always be viewed in light of his emancipatory vision and project, Cabusao aims to contribute toward "historicizing, decentering, [End Page 519] and renewing Bulosan criticism" (xix). By positing that "the formation of the critical reception of Bulosan's art parallels the formation of Bulosan's literary imagination" (xvii), Cabusao firmly asserts that an appreciation of Bulosan's work must also include the historico-material conditions that provided Bulosan an ethico-political vision geared toward the liberation of oppressed peoples, an interpretation that in 1972 San Juan introduced in his pioneering work, Carlos Bulosan and the Imagination of Class Struggle (University of the Philippines Press). The book is composed of twenty works on Bulosan, curated in a manner that parallels the emergence of Bulosan's social, political, and literary views. Part I, "Bulosan's Voice: Listening to the Manong Generation," serves as a starting point both for Bulosan's literary journey and the maturation of Bulosan criticism. Part II, "Location of Exile: Creating an Alter/native Filipino Literary Practice," situates Bulosan within Filipino and Third World writing through literary criticism produced by his texts America is in the Heart (1946) and The Laughter of My Father (1944). Part III, "The Writer as Worker: Broadening the Bulosan Canon," charts Bulosan's growing commitment to the utilization of literature as an instrument of social change, which coincided with his increased literary production from the Great Depression to the Cold War period. The concluding section, "Collective Memory and Revolt: Becoming Filipino—Becoming Free," is a collection of articles that provides a unifying thread for Bulosan scholarship. By claiming that the process of remembering Bulosan is linked to the preservation of the collective memory of Filipinos as "subjects in revolt" (xxvii), Cabusao reaffirms simultaneously Bulosan's historical significance and his relevance in the contemporary period, as the conditions of racial and national subordination are not just present, but have also intensified over the recent decades. In addition to serving as a repository of rare and/or out-of-print works, Writer...