UST Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies (CCWLS) Resident Fellow Assoc. Prof. Chuckberry J. Pascual, Ph.D., has brought to four his translations of works by noted essayist and fictionist Prof. Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Ph.D.
To be published next year by the UST Publishing House (UST PH) is Pascual鈥檚 latest translation into Filipino of Hidalgo, her Tales for a Rainy Night (1993) under the title Mga Kuwentong Bayan para sa Gabing Maulan.
His translations of her Where Only the Moon Rages (1994) as Sa Bayan ng Nagngangalit na Buwan, and Ballad of a Lost Season (1987) as Kundiman ng Panahong Naiwan, were published by UST PH in July 2021, while the Filipino version of Catch a Falling Star (1999) was released by Lampara Publishing House in September 2021.
Pascual is an awarded essayist, fictionist, and literary critic. He teaches literature and creative writing at the UST Graduate School and Faculty of Arts and Letters. He has written 13 books and co-edited many anthologies.
Hidalgo, who is the Center鈥檚 director, is a pioneer in the writing, teaching, and promotion of the creative nonfiction (CNF) genre in the Philippines. She has published over 40 books of fiction, CNF, and literary criticism.
The significance of memory in literature
Pascual, long a fan of Hidalgo鈥檚 works, said he chose to translate her books and make them accessible to to a wider Filipino audience because he believes they are a significant reminder of the importance of memory and narrative in literature toward the shaping of a nationalistic and feminist social identity.
鈥�Binabasa ko talaga si Ma鈥檃m Jing [Hidalgo鈥檚 nickname] dati pa,鈥� Pascual said. 鈥�At formative din ang mga kuwento niya sa akin bilang manunulat, kaya karangalan ko nang pumayag siyang isalin ko ang mga akda niya sa Filipino.鈥�
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In a critical essay for the UST PH translations, he wrote: 鈥淪a kabuuan, maaaring ilarawan ang mga akda ni Hidalgo bilang makabayan, makababae, at eksperimental… Ngunit marahil, ang pinakahamahalagang kontribusyon ni Hidalgo ay ang pagpapahalaga sa gunita, ang walang tigil niyang pagpapaalala na dapat tayong umalala, at huwag na huwag makakalimot–sa mga kuwento ng kababaihan, sa mga kuwento ng bayan.鈥�
[Overall, Hidalgo鈥檚 works may be described as nationalistic, feminist, and experimental鈥ut perhaps the most important contributions of Hidalgo are the value she places on memory and her constant reminders that we should always remember and never ever forget – the stories of women, the stories of the nation.]
Pascual wrote Kumpisal: Mga Kuwento (UST PH, 2015), Pagpasok sa Eksena: Ang Sinehan sa Panitikan at Pag-aaral ng Piling Sinehan sa Recto (UP Press, 2016), Ang Nawawala (Visprint Inc., 2017), and a translation of Miguel Syjuco鈥檚 2010 novel Ilustrado (UST PH, 2022), among others.
His forthcoming titles this year are Bayan ng mga Bangkay, a horror/crime short story collection (UP Press), and two volumes of the Maramihan anthologies co-edited with Dr. Rolando Tolentino (Ateneo de Manila University Press).
Pascual has won many awards, among them the Dangal ng UST Gawad San Alberto Magno for Best Book and Best Published Research in 2019 and Best Creative Work in 2017;听and Best Book of Short Fiction in Filipino, National Book Development Board/Manila Critics Circle 2018 National Book Awards for Ang Nawawala.
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@cccruz@ust.edu.ph maybe we can just keep the original tagalog quoted text.
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If I recall correctly po, anything longer than a sentence (that isn’t a story/poem excerpt) has to be translated into English po. Previously, when Tagalog comments were paragraphs long, we just kept the English ver. and indicated that it was originally said in Filipino (e.g. [English translation], X commented in Filipino.)
