This short introduction discusses the novel Tomana by Juan S. P. Hidalgo, eminent Ilokano writer and father of the Gunglo Dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano (GUMIL), the league of Ilokano writers in the Philippines and the diaspora. First published in the magazine Bannawag in 1971, the novel does not plumb through the traditions of the Ilokano people. Rather, it converses with Asian philosophical thought on the body and soul, as well as on meditation and reincarnation. Likewise, the novel seems to exhibit a postmodern aesthetic, although postmodern literary theory only emerged among literary scholars in the 1980s. Hidalgo's poetic on the body threads through physical and spiritual corporeal experience, connects Ilokano thought to Asian philosophical traditions, and anticipates new materialism's focus on vibrant matter. In so doing, Hidalgo demonstrates that local literature and culture must be in conversation with the rest of the world.

2023/294pp
bookpaper/paperback