The Philippines is in the Heart

by Carlos Bulosan

A posthumous response to his classic America Is in the Heart, this collection of original, hitherto unpublished stories by Carlos Bulosan reveals the innovative, radical intellect sublimated in his comic masterpiece, The Laughter of My Father. Bulosan's homecoming explodes the stereotype of the author as a subaltern mimic and offers us a promise of celebrating the advent of proletarian jouissance and national liberation. This is an unprecedented performance of convivial fashioning of the Filipino artist as the exile forging the conscience of the race.

Now an iconic author in the American literary canon, Carlos Bulosan (1911-1956) acquired world-renown for his retelling humorous folktales in The Laughter of My Father. His reputation was established with the ethnobiographical testimony. America Is in the Heart, and has been confirmed by the radical novel, The Cry and the Dedication. Haunted by the FBI during the Cold War years, Bulosan has been rediscovered by a new generation of diasporic Filipinos and multi-ethnic readers sympathetic to the national liberation struggles of "the wretched of the earth," the new agency for emancipation from neoliberal, white-supremacist terrorism now threatening the planet.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

217 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Carlos Sampayan Bulosan was a Filipino American novelist and poet best-known for the semi-autobiographical America is in the Heart.

Reviews

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read on Bulosan. These aren't any of the stories I've read from other Filipino authors.

The first section may contain simple stories of childhood. The second section centers the Rich Uncle who manages to pillage his own kin. The third section have two stories containing supernatural elements. The last is the comedy that is love.

The second section seemed satirical with its approach, either way it got me intrigued.

The collection makes me curious about his "America Is in the Heart".

[Daniele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope these short stories are not rappresentative of the Filipino culture! Most of them are revolving about money and the unethical men's behaviors.
It was an entertaining read even if I'm not Filipino.

[Ree · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twisted little short stories mostly written from the perspective of a young boy, dealing with the theme of desperation. Having grown up in a country similar to the Philippines that has survivalism woven into its cultural and intellectual fabric, I have to say this book is kind of genius. Nothing else like satire can capture what can be grotesque and yet so understandable and almost admirable about hustle like this. You are in awe sometimes at the wit and enterprise of this young boy, and yet so repelled by him and everyone else around him. You know he is a product of his tribe and can only anticipate he will grow up to be just like the rest. Conniving, smooth, leeching, opportunist, lustful, dependent… everyone needs to optimize for themselves in what looks like a zero sum game. What makes all this even better is that these stories are written simply and end gravely, as if for children. The matter-of-fact stories that dealt with ghosts were so culturally soaked and a cherry on top.

[Jashon Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing ❤

[Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Novels revolving around a child's point of view got me feeling nostalgic of how naive I was as a child; A life of worry free environment where you only live for the moment.

[Sasha Dalabajan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few weeks after I finally finished the book (read: it took me more than a month, for less than 200 pages), I met up with a friend with whom I exchanged Christmas presents. I told her I was thinking of giving her a copy of this book, instead of the anthology I got her. She responded in relief that it was a good thing I didn't give her Bulosan's short stories because she sees through the public reverence he receives.

My feelings for this book are summed up by that conversation. I enjoyed Bulosan's seminal memoir, which was why I picked this book up in the first place, but this gave me nothing.

That the best part of it was the E. San Juan Jr.'s introduction, which in itself was difficult to get through and at times pretentious, is telling of what kind of book you're getting into if you plan to read this.

[sdw · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories by Carlos Bulosan set in the Philippines. I did not particularly enjoy reading most of them and do not think I’d recommend the full book unless you were specifically trying to read works by Bulosan. For the most part, these short stories are grotesque satires on colonialism and capitalism and greed. Most of them are family stories. The center set of stories - “No More Laughter” - focus on a young smart man whose drunkard father has no use for money while his greedy rich uncle hoards money. These stories revolve around everyone trying to get their hands on the uncle’s money but he always seems to get the last laugh. My favorites stories were the “ghost” stories that ended the book.

[Dorotea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I miss Pangasinan.