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Over a Cup of Ginger Tea: Conversations on the Literary Narratives of Filipino Women
The author describes the essays in this collection as "mongrols of a sort"―part personal essay and part literary commentary or criticism. The conversations range over the narratives of several generations of women writers, from Maria Paz Mendoza and Edith Tiempo to F. H. Batacan and Tara Sering; and cover conventional realist novels and short stories, as well as fairy tales, chick lit, crime fiction, and war memoirs.
148 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2007
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About the author
Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
38 books90 followersCristina has been writing for Philippine newspapers at the young age of fifteen and is now an award-winning author.
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April 24, 2012
Truly, one of those books I wish I had read when I was writing my Senior thesis. Books about women and women's writings were absolutely my thing in college (and maybe until now, but more back then). If Nicole did the Marxist thing, I had my Feminist theory in check. I did Irigaray (thus, my Twitter ID, in case you were wondering), Butler -- and all them other girls.
I was totally enamored by the title I gave my work, "Mangyari Babae", which I felt was an excellent play on words. So when I read the essay on "Tales of Love and Power", I immediately thought, THESIS!:
"All four protagonists face problems on entrapment, caused by either poverty or the presence of a parent, who is tyrannical or ill (and therefore in another sense also a tyrant. Not all of them recognize their situation for what it is. Those who do must negotiate within the limited spaces allowed them in order to break free. The results of the struggle are ambivalent in each case." (43-44)
"Over a Cup of Ginger Tea" was an intellectually stimulating read. Familiar names grazed the pages: Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, Edith Tiempo (whose beloved poem "Bonsai" is sadly no longer taught in AC), Aida Rivera Ford, FH Batacan, and Tara FT Sering. I loved reading this book simply because it brought me once ore to one of my loves: women's writing.
Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo did achieve her goal to writing this book: its entirety felt like a meaningful discussion on Literature over a cup of ginger tea (or coffee mug or glass of beer, in her words) with a beloved mentor. It was a zest for life read!
I was totally enamored by the title I gave my work, "Mangyari Babae", which I felt was an excellent play on words. So when I read the essay on "Tales of Love and Power", I immediately thought, THESIS!:
"All four protagonists face problems on entrapment, caused by either poverty or the presence of a parent, who is tyrannical or ill (and therefore in another sense also a tyrant. Not all of them recognize their situation for what it is. Those who do must negotiate within the limited spaces allowed them in order to break free. The results of the struggle are ambivalent in each case." (43-44)
"Over a Cup of Ginger Tea" was an intellectually stimulating read. Familiar names grazed the pages: Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, Gilda Cordero-Fernando, Edith Tiempo (whose beloved poem "Bonsai" is sadly no longer taught in AC), Aida Rivera Ford, FH Batacan, and Tara FT Sering. I loved reading this book simply because it brought me once ore to one of my loves: women's writing.
Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo did achieve her goal to writing this book: its entirety felt like a meaningful discussion on Literature over a cup of ginger tea (or coffee mug or glass of beer, in her words) with a beloved mentor. It was a zest for life read!
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