Burning Heart: A Portrait of the Philippines

by Jessica Hagedorn (Introduction), Hagedorn Roth, Marissa Roth (Photographer)

Nothing is absolute, especially in the Philippines. It is a land of opposites, where religion, spirituality, superstition, and mystery are all present in equal doses. It is a place where Catholics consult tarot card readers and prostitutes keep shrines to the Virgin Mary. Burning Heart allows a rare glimpse into this the taste of cane liquor and salty stews, the sound of infectious dance music, and the hopelessness of political turmoil and violence.

Photographer Marissa Roth says "I saw the Philippines in terms of luminous, reflective, hard, and deeply shadowed. Filtering that light was the constant heat and humidity, a deceptive sensual salve, masking a country scarred by violence and pain." Her unflinching photographs uncover the importance of religion in the Philippines, as well as the social inequality, dire poverty, overpopulation, and ingrained class system that are all part of daily life. The poetry of Jessica Hagedorn reinforces these realities, but also shows that the simple pleasures we all experience as human beings-- dancing, eating, rejoicing, laughing-- are not absent from Philippine life. Together, these images and poetry are a deeply affecting vision of a country and its people.

152 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 1999

About the author

Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn was born (and raised) in Manila, Philippines in 1949. With her background, a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Filipino-Spanish father with one Chinese ancestor, Hagedorn adds a unique perspective to Asian American performance and literature. Her mixed media style often incorporates song, poetry, images, and spoken dialogue.

Moving to San Francisco in 1963, Hagedorn received her education at the American Conservatory Theater training program. To further pursue playwriting and music, she moved to New York in 1978.

Joseph Papp produced her first play Mango Tango in 1978. Hagedorn's other productions include Tenement Lover, Holy Food, and Teenytown.

In 1985, 1986, and 1988, she received Macdowell Colony Fellowships, which helped enable her to write the novel Dogeaters, which illuminates many different aspects of Filipino experience, focusing on the influence of America through radio, television, and movie theaters. She shows the complexities of the love-hate relationship many Filipinos in diaspora feel toward their past. After its publication in 1990, her novel earned a 1990 National Book Award nomination and an American Book Award. In 1998, La Jolla Playhouse produced a stage adaptation.

She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters, and continues to be a poet, storyteller, musician, playwright, and multimedia performance artist.