Lualhati Bautista
From WikiPilipinas: The Hip 'n Free Philippine Encyclopedia
Lualhati Torres Bautista is one of the foremost Filipino female novelists in the history of contemporary Philippine Literature. Her novels include Dekada '70, Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa?, and Gapô.
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[edit] Biography
She was born in Tondo, Manila on December 2, 1946 to parents Esteban Bautista and Gloria Torres. She studied in public schools, both in her elementary and high school years. She graduated from the Emilio Jacinto Elementary School in 1964 and from Torres High School in 1968. While studying in the Lyceum of the Philippines, she took the course of which she had no interest, and eventually stopped schooling. She started writing while she was still 16 years old, and was mainly influenced by her parents who were into composing and poem-writing. Her first stories were published in the magazine, Liwayway. She was the vice-president of the Screenwriters Guild of the Philippines and the chair of the Kapisanan ng mga Manunulat ng Nobelang Popular. She became a national fellow for fiction of the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center in 1986. She often joins in writing contests, only now she is one of the judges. Until now, Ms. Lualhati Bautista is one of the sought-after writers of our time.
[edit] Her works
Ms. Lualhati Bautista is known for her outstanding and award-winning novels. Among these, are Gapo (1980), Dekada '70 (1983), and Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (1984). All of these won the grand prize in the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. Aside from this, she has written numerous poems and short stories, some of which were compiled in an anthology. In addition to being a novelist, Lualhati Bautista is also a movie and television scriptwriter and a short story writer. Her first screenplay is Sakada (Seasonal Sugarcane Workers), a story written in 1972 that exposed the plight of Filipino peasants. Copies of the script were even confiscated by the military. As a writer, Lualhati Bautista received recognition from the Philippine's Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature and then the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa in 1987. Her award-winning screenplays include Bulaklak sa City Jail (1984), Kung Mahawi Man ang Ulap (1984), Sex Object (1985). Among the screen play writing awards she received include recognition from the Metro Manila Film Festival (best story-best screenplay), Film Academy Awards (best story-best screenplay), Star Awards (finalist for best screenplay), FAMAS (finalist for best screenplay), and URIAN awards. Two of her short stories also won the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, namely: Tatlong Kuwento ng Buhay ni Julian Candelabra (Three Stories in the Life of Juan Candelabra), first prize, 1982; and Buwan, Buwan, Hulugan mo Ako ng Sundang (Moon, Moon, Drop Me a Sword), third prize, 1983. She was honored on 10 March, 2004 during the 8th Annual Lecture on Vernacular Literature by Women by the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings (ALIWW). Among the television dramas she wrote include: Daga sa Timba ng Tubig (1975) and Isang Kabanata sa Libro ng Buhay ni Leilani Cruzaldo (1987). The latter won best drama story for television from the Catholic Mass Media Awards.
[edit] Her novels and Philippine cinema
[edit] Dekada '70
The defining but not subversive Filipino novel, Dekada '70 was made into a film by Star Cinema in 2003. It is a story about a family caught in the middle of a tumultuous decade of the 1970's. It details how a middle class family struggled with and faced the new changes that empowered Filipinos to rise against the Marcos government. These series of events all happened after the suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, the proclamation of Martial Law, the bombing of Plaza Miranda, the random arrests of political prisoners. The oppressiveness of the Marcos regime made people become more radical. This shaping of the decade are all witnessed by the female character, Amanda Bartolome (portrayed by the Filipino female actress, Vilma Santos), a mother of five boys. While Amanda's sons grow, form individual beliefs and lead different lives, Amanda awakens her identity to state her stand as a Filipino citizen, mother and woman. The film adaptation of Dekada '70 was directed by Chito S. Roño. Dekada '70 introduces the new generations of Filipino readers to a story and a family of a particular time in Philippine history. Its appeal lies in the evolution of its characters that embody the new generation of Filipinos.
[edit] Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa?
Lualhati Bautista's novel Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa? or Lea's Story also became a film in 1998 and then as a stage play in August, 1999. The story basically talked about how Lea,(also portrayed by Ms. Vilma Santos), faced the troubles brought about by her unusual family. She is a mother of two children; Ojie, her eldest, who was already a budding adolescent, and Maya, her youngest, who had just graduated from Kindergarten. Things started to heat up when Ojie felt incomplete, that he didn't have a father. Although Ding, Lea's live-in partner and Maya's father, was always ready to be the father figure for him, he still longed for his real father's affection. Adding up to her problems, was when Raffy, Ojie's father and Lea's legal husband, whom she separated with because of unsettled matters, decided to come back from the States. The story then develops on how Lea dealt with her feelings towards men she loved and how she explained their situation to her kids.
[edit] Translations of her novels
Excerpts from Lualhati Bautista's novels have been anthologized in Tulikärpänen a book of short stories written by Filipino women published in Finland by the The Finnish-Philippine Society (FPS), a non-governmental organization founded in 1988. Tulikärpänen was edited and translated by Riitta Vartti, et al. In Firefly: Writings by Various Authors, the English version of the Finnish collection, the excerpt from the Filipino novel Gapô was given the title "The Night in Olongapo," while the excerpt from Bata, Bata, Pa'no Ka Ginawa? was titled "Children's Party."
A full translation of Bautista's best works could break the sound barrier of Filipino writing in international publishing. Some speculate, however, that no such translations have been published because her use of simple yet incisive language to describe complex social and spiritual conditions in the Philippines is often dismissed in Philippine literary circles.
[edit] Books
- Dekada '70: Ang Orihinal at Kumpletong Edisyon
- Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?
- Gapo
- Desaparesidos
[edit] References
- English Language Summary of Bata, Bata Pa'no Ka Ginawa? (Lea's Story)
- About Lualhati Bautista
- Lualhati Bautista
- NY Times Film Review Lualhati Bautista
- Lualhati Bautista Film
- Lualhati Bautista Film
- Lualhati Bautista Translated into English and Screening in America
- Lualhati Bautista
- Lualhati Bautista
- Lualhati Bautista
- Dekada ’70: A Book Review
- Dekada ’70: A Film Review
- Firefly: Writings by Various Authors, Lualhati Bautista Translated into Finnish and English
[edit] External links
- Lualhati Bautista at the Internet Movie Database
- Lualhati Bautista author website
- Link to the interview with Ms. Lualhati Bautista: Contains facts, reviews, and critiques about the great author :).
[edit] Original Source
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