Jessica Hagedorn Reads: Prose and Poetry from Dogeaters, Danger and Beauty

by Jessica Hagedorn

In 1990, Jessica Hagedorn won the National Book Award for her vibrant and surrealistic novel Dogeaters. Here, she reads several passages from the book - and introduces the listener to Rio, a Filipino school girl just beginning to understand how the mysteries of her family reflect the mysteries of Manila. Listeners also meet Rio's fashion-obsessed mother and Joe, a disco DJ who has followed his mother into a life of prostitution. There's Daisy Avila, beauty contestant and future guerrilla, and the infamous First Lady herself, who dreams of afternoon trysts with the Pope at the Waldorf Astoria. In addition to the Dogeaters selections, Hagedorn reads 3 poems from her collection Danger and Beauty: "Souvenirs," "Song for My Father," and "The Song of the Bullets."

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1995

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.