The Bread of Salt and Other Stories

Long considered the dean of modern Philippine literature, N. V. M. Gonzalez has influenced an entire generation of young Philippine writers and has also acquired a devoted international readership. His books, however, are not widely available in this country. The Bread of Salt and Other Stories provides a retrospective selection of sixteen of his short stories (all originally written in English), arranged in order of their writing, from the early 1950s to the present day.
This is a powerful collection, both for the unity and universality of the author's subjects and themes and for the distinctive character of his prose style. As Gonzalez remarks in his Preface: "In tone and subject matter, [these stories] might suggest coming full circle - in the learning of one's craft, in finding a language and, finally, in discovering a country of one's own."
Gonzalez has traveled widely and has taught the writer's craft in various countries. Nonetheless, his primary metaphor is his colonial island homeland, and his stories are peopled with the farmers and fishermen, the schoolteachers and small-town merchants, "the underclass who constitute the majority in all societies." He portrays, in the men, women, and children of the peasantry, an ordinary and enduring people who live lives of stark dignity against a backdrop of forgotten and unknown gods. A broad humanity suggests itself: "This feeling of having emerged out of a void, or something close to it, is not uncommon, and we face our respective futures predisposed, by an innocence, to prayer and hope."
Colonization, Gonzalez feels, has created in Filipinos "a truly submerged people." The stories in The Bread of Salt explore this rich vein at several levels, from the river-crossed wilderness of the kaingin farmers, stoic in the hard face of nature; to the commercial centers of the town dwellers, cut off from the mythic animism of the land; to the America of the contemporary sojourner, exiled from the old ways without the guidance of new traditions. Gonzalez writes: "It was in America that I began to recognize my involvement in the process of becoming a new person... of trying to shed my skin as a colonial."
Gonzalez's social commentary is implicit throughout his stories. His message is humane, moral, tellingly accurate, and gently ironic; he is neither sentimental nor doctrinaire. His narratives are presented without intrusive explanation, invoking instead the reader's own powers of contemplation and discovery. His strong prose style, spare yet lyrical suggests the cadences of Philippine oral narrative traditions.
Each of these sixteen tales is a small masterpiece. The language and its imagery, the characters and their aspirations, all connect powerfully with the reader and serve to illuminate the dreams of exiles and colonials, suggesting what it was like, as a Filipino, to witness the endless interacting of cultures.

Literature & Fiction

Gonzalez, N. V. M.

British & Irish

Univ of Washington Pr

Long considered the dean of modern Philippine literature, N. V. M. Gonzalez has influenced an entire generation of young Philippine writers and has also acquired a devoted international readership. His books, however, are not widely available in this country. The Bread of Salt and Other Stories provides a retrospective selection of sixteen of his short stories (all originally written in English), arranged in order of their writing, from the early 1950s to the present day.

United States

University of Washington Press

This collection of 21 short stories by noted Filipino FilAm writer, N.V.M. Gonzalez. The hardbound book with dj and mylar cover is signed and inscribed by the author.

Mindoro and beyond: Twenty-one stories (Philippine writers series)

Short Stories & Anthologies

University of the Philippines Press

Seven Hills Away

Literary

Literary Licensing, LLC

What Critics Have Said"N.V.M. Gonzalez is easily the master of Filipino short story."Bienvenido Lumbera, Revaluation/Essays on Philippine LIterature, Cinema and Culture"American critics have also been impressed... Lucian Stryk, a renowned scholar of Asian Literature, offered his assessment in Panorama...'Mr. Gonzalez is most telling when he writes of the young, the old, the deprived, and he finds people to care about all over those 7,000 islands of his. He is a very pure writer.'"Roger J Bresnahan, Asiaweek Literary Review"The paradox of Gonzalez is that he has gained an international reputation for himself at a variety of intellectual centers while identifying constantly with the uneducated folk-wise peasant of the Philippines..."Leonard Casper, Survey of Long Fiction"Here too is a chance to chart the development of an artist...and the expansion of his literary landscape."Doreen G. Fernandez, World Literature Today"Fortunately for the Philippines, Gonzalez' vision--even in its twilight, somber hues--is strong, complex and daringly hopeful."Richard R. Guzman, Virginia Quarterly Review"This unique modern Filipino writer is a master not only of English, but of his own individual prose style...The stories...bear the stamp of a most sensitive personality and of an original mind."James Kirkup, The Weekly Nation

Mindoro and Beyond: Stories

New Day Publishers

The winds of April (Philippine writers series)

What Critics Have Said-"N.V.M. Gonzalez is easily the master of Filipino short story."Bienvenido Lumbera , Revaluation/Essays on Philippine LIterature, Cinema and Culture"American critics have also been impressed... Lucian Stryk, a renowned scholar of Asian Literature, offered his assessment in Panorama ...'Mr. Gonzalez is most telling when he writes of the young, the old, the deprived, and he finds people to care about all over those 7,000 islands of his. He is a very pure writer.'"Roger J. Bresnahan , Asiaweek Literary Review"The paradox of Gonzalez is that he has gained an international reputation for himself at a variety of intellectual centers while identifying constantly with the uneducated folk-wise peasant of the Philippines..."Leonard Casper , Survey of Long Fiction"Here too is a chance to chart the development of an artist...and the expansion of his literary landscape."Doreen G. Fernandez , World Literature Today"Fortunately for the Philippines, Gonzalez' vision--even in its twilight, somber hues--is strong, complex and daringly hopeful."Richard R. Guzman , Virginia Quarterly Review"This unique modern Filipino writer is a master not only of English, but of his own individual prose style...The stories...bear the stamp of a most sensitive personality and of an original mind."James Kirkup , The Weekly Nation

Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty-one Stories

History & Criticism

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