The Paraplegics and Five Short Stories

by Edilberto K. Tiempo

Cry Slaughter was perhaps the only manuscript that crossed the Pacific in a submarine in 1943 when Edilberto K. Tiempo was in charge of the historical section of the Negros USAFFE for which he wrote They Called Us Outlaws, used by the American prosecution in the war crimes trial of Tomoyoki Yamashita, Japanese commanding general in the Philippines during World War II. Tiempo submitted the novel for his M.A. thesis at the University of Iowa where he was a writing fellow for four years and concurrently a Rockefeller fellow in the fourth year. It had four reprints in paperback by Avon, a hardbound edition in London, and six European translations. Three subsequent novels (More Than Conquerors, Cracked Mirror, and The Standard-Bearer) won national awards.

When his third novel, To Be Free (reprinted more times than any other Philippine novel in English) came out, Tiempo received notice he was to get the Republic Cultural Award, but President Marcos, like a good dictator, allergic to novel's title and especially because it was published in the first year of martial law, nullified the jury's decision. Two short story collections, A Stream at Dalton Pass and Finalities, also won national awards, and Snake Twin and Other Stories was written on his appointment as national fellow in fiction by the U.P. Writing Center. Tiempo submitted A Stream at Dalton Pass for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Denver where he spent a year as a Guggenheim writing fellow.

Edilberto Tiempo taught fiction and literary criticism for four years in two American schools which asked him to stay permanently, but he opted to return to Silliman University where he founded the National Writers Workshop in 1962 and CETA shortly after, and where he has been English department chairman, graduate school dean, academic vice president, writer in resident emeritus professor.

131 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Fiction-writer and literary critic Edilberto Tiempo (1913-Sept. 1996) obtained his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa and his Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver. In addition to having been a Guggenheim and Rockefeller fellow, Ed Tiempo, alongside wife Edith L. Tiempo, spent around four years studying literature and creative writing in the Iowa Writers Workshop. Upon returning to the Philippines in 1962, the Tiempos founded the Silliman National Writers Workshop after the objectives of the Iowa writers' clinic. The annual writing workshop in Dumaguete City is the longest running in Asia.

In the 1960s he taught in two American schools, but it was the Silliman University which Tiempo chose as his base, serving as department chair, graduate school dean, vice-president for academic affairs, and writer-in-residence. He reaped numerous honors for his writing, among them the Cultural Center of the Philippines Prize, Palanca Awards, the National Book Award, and a prize in the U.P. Golden Anniversary Literary Contest.

(from panitikan.com.ph)

Reviews

[guiltlessreader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim collection of short stories are slice-of-life stories of everyday Filipinos, varying from a pair of paraplegics to a shoeshine boy. I had difficulty connecting with any of the stories and sometimes felt let down when I finished a story. I’ll likely reread as nine were especially memorable to me.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I've appreciated about Tiempo's stories, aside from its great command of the language, is that they are plausible. If a story is closer to fact than fiction, its reader can distinguish himself with the characters or situation. Just to be clear, Tiempo is not a historical narrator and yet he knows how to incorporate it in a story. Tiempo's realist stories will make its readers closer to his senses. Tiempo's romantic words will make its readers hinged on the story. He's one of the best Filipino storytellers.