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A Natural History of Empire
Fraying at the edge of a life lived uselessly, an old man ponders over things that were and things that may have been. A vanishing guerilla, a knife fight across the ocean, a chat with a friend come back from the dead. In these tales of doubles, delusions, and self-deceit, A Natural History of Empire challenges us to question who we truly are and who we want to become.
106 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 6, 2020
A Natural History of Empire is what happens when you turn Philippine history into fiction. I love how Dominic Sy picks certain parts and elements of the country's history and uses them as either entry points or climaxes of the stories. The stories are all so detailed I felt at certain points of my reading that I'm in the setting--either as a faraway outsider or a nearby bystander.
All stories are page-turners, but what kept me from my seat the most were "A Natural History of Empire," "Some Quiet Conversation," and "Before the Fire." A Natural History is about an American soldier's pursuit of a Filipino rebel; the Conversation on the contents of a blood-filled manuscript; Before the Fire on a UP faculty reminiscing with a dead friend.
Their common denominator, which is also evident in the other stories, is their structure: they're all stories within stories. The main characters did not tell the events of their stories. Rather, the events were told by narrators who were also in the stories. This is why I felt that I was just an outsider or bystander while reading this book. Normally, when I read a book, I feel like I'm the narrator that's telling (i.e., reading) the story. In this book, the narrators were already set. I was just there to watch what would happen next.
The other stories are also noteworthy. "Then Cruel Quiet" is about a boy who's forced to live in a house filled with tension because of the conflicting beliefs of his older brother and father about the dictator's presidency. "The Fingers of Sta. Juana" alluded to the Philippines' deep religious beliefs. "Prolegomena" is the story of a UP student contemplating about the mobilizations he saw in college. "The Agonies of Fray Salvador" is an analysis of two manuscripts--one on Jesus Christ, the other on John the Baptist--written by a Spanish friar who lived during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines.
The book is inspired by real-life events in the country and the different institutions that govern the Filipino society: family, government, education, and religion. This is surely a must-read for people who want to imagine the "what-ifs" of Philippine history.
All stories are page-turners, but what kept me from my seat the most were "A Natural History of Empire," "Some Quiet Conversation," and "Before the Fire." A Natural History is about an American soldier's pursuit of a Filipino rebel; the Conversation on the contents of a blood-filled manuscript; Before the Fire on a UP faculty reminiscing with a dead friend.
Their common denominator, which is also evident in the other stories, is their structure: they're all stories within stories. The main characters did not tell the events of their stories. Rather, the events were told by narrators who were also in the stories. This is why I felt that I was just an outsider or bystander while reading this book. Normally, when I read a book, I feel like I'm the narrator that's telling (i.e., reading) the story. In this book, the narrators were already set. I was just there to watch what would happen next.
The other stories are also noteworthy. "Then Cruel Quiet" is about a boy who's forced to live in a house filled with tension because of the conflicting beliefs of his older brother and father about the dictator's presidency. "The Fingers of Sta. Juana" alluded to the Philippines' deep religious beliefs. "Prolegomena" is the story of a UP student contemplating about the mobilizations he saw in college. "The Agonies of Fray Salvador" is an analysis of two manuscripts--one on Jesus Christ, the other on John the Baptist--written by a Spanish friar who lived during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines.
The book is inspired by real-life events in the country and the different institutions that govern the Filipino society: family, government, education, and religion. This is surely a must-read for people who want to imagine the "what-ifs" of Philippine history.
Read
February 18, 2021not the book for me
March 11, 2024
Worst book I read this year so far. Very derivative and playing-safe verbiage from a nobody academic pigeonholed by an echo chamber. Highfalutin words and phony historical settings used by the author does not change the fact that the book keeps on retreading old ground.
Only confirms that Filipinos will keep on only reading Philippine literature if they are required to in Philippine lit classes. There is no brilliant and flourishing "Natural History of Empire" here, only a sneak peek of the dreary out-of-print, unknown, and unsung Phil. lit. "Natural Future of Literary Mafia Empire".
Only confirms that Filipinos will keep on only reading Philippine literature if they are required to in Philippine lit classes. There is no brilliant and flourishing "Natural History of Empire" here, only a sneak peek of the dreary out-of-print, unknown, and unsung Phil. lit. "Natural Future of Literary Mafia Empire".
January 29, 2020
At least two of the short stories here should be turned into a movie.
October 22, 2024
In each story of “A Natural History of Empire”, Dominic Sy wants to establish the real centerpieces of the historical moment it is set in, perhaps by political obligation to the social analysis he subscribes to. But the real meat of his writing is about human ideas that are not exactly apolitical, but are found in the ripples of class struggle—religious trauma, coming of age, infidelity and passion, identity and personhood.
I gave this book 4 stars: a normal rating for me but still intended to be objectively high. Its biggest merit is its overall cohesion. Each story is a piece of “A Natural History of Empire”, tackling different topics through unique approaches but still fitting to the overall framework. Each of these stories are incredibly well-written, the prose is very polished and nice to read. It only stops short of being a perfect 5 to me because some of those interesting ideas are not fully fleshed out and get rushed out when its short story reaches its end.
Dominic Sy teaches at the UP Diliman Department of English and Comparative Literature. Perhaps because of his vocation of dissecting texts, all of the works in this collection have a high degree of intentionality and are fun to parse through. However fun it's been for me to think about each story, below I've only written an analysis for the book’s title and one of the stories because I’ve hit 1.7K words.
Uniquely Perfect Title
In the closing story Before the Fire, a dead member of the New People’s Army visits the main character as a shared apparition too meaty to be called a ghost. Through Before the Fire, the author Dominic Sy closes the book by imparting to the reader a longing of the revolution’s victory. Based on the sympathy for the Red Fighter, as well as the political orientation of 80% of the people in the Acknowledgements, I assume that the writer Dominic Sy has a National Democratic (ND) perspective on history. However, Sy’s book is a departure from the standard fare of ND writing.
We can examine this by dissecting the book’s title, “A Natural History of Empire”. It is a great title for the work as the phrasing really captures the recurring motifs and themes of the book.
“History” is the first obvious bit, since the stories in the book are either set in the past, or set in an ambiguous timeframe but whose characters’ actions revolve around a historical event. The galleon trade for The Fingers of Sta. Juana, broadly Spanish colonialism in The Agonies of Fray Salvador and A Natural History of Empire, Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship in Some Quiet Conversation and Then Cruel Quiet, and the Hukbalahap and future iterations of the Red Army in Before the Fire.
The prepositional phrase “History Of Empire” is also consistent with the ND historical perspective, as these reference points are defined by their relationship to the Empire (the dominating state). The characters are sometimes also defined by their relationship with the Empire, (although the book makes a point to say that they are also more than that). There are those who are pro-status quo: some being consciously allied to it quo, some defined that way by historians perceiving them years down the line. Then there’s characters on the other end of the spectrum—revolutionary leaders, rebel soldiers, communist sympathizers.
“History” is further characterized with the adjective “Natural”, creating a more specific impression with “Natural History”. A reader may first think of the study of biological/ecological objects. That’s what I thought of when I came across the title. When I finally read the book, I found that the stories are not “Natural History” in the biological sense. It is a cultural, political history, with politically-motivated actors.
So I find that “Natural History” serves to borrow the granted legitimacy of the ecological sciences, as it reflects the book’s treatment of its characters and its ideas. It wants to paint in the primary societal conflict going on in the background. But the foreground of the story is about something tangential, almost unrelated to it. Because these concerns are believed by the characters as personal strifes and individual matters, more about their own desire as human beings, and therefore suggested as more enduring.
The Agonies of Fray Salvador
The most memorable story to me is The Agonies of Fray Salvador. The story depicts a textbook case of religious trauma, but it's presented as a scholarly article. The point of view character is a historian, and he talks about two works of fiction by a Visayas-based Spanish priest named Fray Salvador. You would assume that a scholarly article would make for a boring read, but it was actually really striking.
This is due in part to the sincere way it depicts one man’s theological crisis. The story has stakes because Fray Salvador’s spiritual belief and psychological health were intertwined, and he had an increasingly unstable mental state. But as he was pulled to the edge, his writing also became increasingly challenging and thought-provoking. Through the POV character’s examination of Salvador’s writing, the reader parses through conceptualizations about man and God that capture the magnitude of divinity usually lost in mainstream discourse and layman conceptions of God:
The Agonies of Fray Salvador is awe-inspiring writing. It’s really good in the obvious ways writing is good, like in articulated writing found above. But another writing feat of Sy is the conceptualization of the layers in the story. There’s the surface layer of the scholarly article itself, there’s the layer underneath which is about the contents of the two fictional pieces of fiction being talked about, and lastly there’s the meta layer which is the academic and personal context of the scholarly article.
If left to impact alone, this would be my favorite. I was thinking about it during my idle hours, and I’ve reread the story to go back to my favorite lines.
But the story tickles the intellectual interest, so the intellectual-based critiques of it detract the overall best part of the work.
The meta layer I mentioned above is about an academic rivalry that unfolds in the footnotes of the text. If this format is familiar, it's because it's a style lifted from Gina Apostol’s “The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata”. I don’t think it's plagiarism or anything though, and I think that there’s credit to Sy for tailoring the format to the short story’s limitations. It’s just that I feel like the idea introduced in this layer of the story is underdeveloped.
The narrator and writer of the scholarly article is named Dom (like the book’s real-life writer). He is in disagreement with another academic, named Peter Hua. This sub-story is told from the perspective of Dom alone, who in the beginning of the article only does usual ways of academic sparring, but by the middle of the article starts getting really personal. In the longest winded tirade, Dom gives us details about a specific time where Dom and Peter Hua had this argument. It was absolutely hilarious to me.
This section plays with the idea about academic pursuits. Specifically, should an academic’s individual interest be beholden to our social/political obligation as a historically-colonized country?
This is a really interesting idea that I’ve only encountered in “A Natural History of Empire”. And the form in which this debate is depicted is really interesting too. Despite being the antagonist to the narrator, Peter Hua’s argument dominates the footnotes. He believes that our academic efforts should be directed to fields and subject matters historically ignored by systematic oppression.
The narrator’s side is more implicit, which is through showcasing the fruits of his scholarly interest: the actual article itself. It’s a great article, comprehensively written and interesting. If Dom were hindered from writing about Fray Salvador because he also believed, like Peter Hua, that being interested in the Spanish priest upholds the neocolonial status quo, then we wouldn’t have been able to read a case study about fatal theological thought exercises. Dom articulates it this way, in a footnote near the end of the article:
Except the problem with this is that it simply dismisses Peter Hua’s argument rather than offering a real rebuttal to it. I thought Peter Hua’s challenge made sense, but I would be open to changing my mind. However, the best that the character of Dom could come up with is an expression of personal investment and assertive undermining of the initial argument posed. The writing is so emotional I can practically see the gesticulation of the character of Dom. I don’t know if it's intentional that Dom can’t come up with a response based on intellectual merit, and maybe I’m just missing the point here, but it dampened my jubilant applause for a really amazing short story.
I gave this book 4 stars: a normal rating for me but still intended to be objectively high. Its biggest merit is its overall cohesion. Each story is a piece of “A Natural History of Empire”, tackling different topics through unique approaches but still fitting to the overall framework. Each of these stories are incredibly well-written, the prose is very polished and nice to read. It only stops short of being a perfect 5 to me because some of those interesting ideas are not fully fleshed out and get rushed out when its short story reaches its end.
Really Liked: A Natural History of Empire, The Fingers of Sta. Juana, Before the Fire
Really Liked with Some Critiques:The Agonies of Fray Salvador
Enjoyed Reading but Not Liked-Liked: Some Quiet Conversation, Then Cruel Quiet
Dominic Sy teaches at the UP Diliman Department of English and Comparative Literature. Perhaps because of his vocation of dissecting texts, all of the works in this collection have a high degree of intentionality and are fun to parse through. However fun it's been for me to think about each story, below I've only written an analysis for the book’s title and one of the stories because I’ve hit 1.7K words.
Uniquely Perfect Title
In the closing story Before the Fire, a dead member of the New People’s Army visits the main character as a shared apparition too meaty to be called a ghost. Through Before the Fire, the author Dominic Sy closes the book by imparting to the reader a longing of the revolution’s victory. Based on the sympathy for the Red Fighter, as well as the political orientation of 80% of the people in the Acknowledgements, I assume that the writer Dominic Sy has a National Democratic (ND) perspective on history. However, Sy’s book is a departure from the standard fare of ND writing.
We can examine this by dissecting the book’s title, “A Natural History of Empire”. It is a great title for the work as the phrasing really captures the recurring motifs and themes of the book.
“History” is the first obvious bit, since the stories in the book are either set in the past, or set in an ambiguous timeframe but whose characters’ actions revolve around a historical event. The galleon trade for The Fingers of Sta. Juana, broadly Spanish colonialism in The Agonies of Fray Salvador and A Natural History of Empire, Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship in Some Quiet Conversation and Then Cruel Quiet, and the Hukbalahap and future iterations of the Red Army in Before the Fire.
The prepositional phrase “History Of Empire” is also consistent with the ND historical perspective, as these reference points are defined by their relationship to the Empire (the dominating state). The characters are sometimes also defined by their relationship with the Empire, (although the book makes a point to say that they are also more than that). There are those who are pro-status quo: some being consciously allied to it quo, some defined that way by historians perceiving them years down the line. Then there’s characters on the other end of the spectrum—revolutionary leaders, rebel soldiers, communist sympathizers.
“History” is further characterized with the adjective “Natural”, creating a more specific impression with “Natural History”. A reader may first think of the study of biological/ecological objects. That’s what I thought of when I came across the title. When I finally read the book, I found that the stories are not “Natural History” in the biological sense. It is a cultural, political history, with politically-motivated actors.
So I find that “Natural History” serves to borrow the granted legitimacy of the ecological sciences, as it reflects the book’s treatment of its characters and its ideas. It wants to paint in the primary societal conflict going on in the background. But the foreground of the story is about something tangential, almost unrelated to it. Because these concerns are believed by the characters as personal strifes and individual matters, more about their own desire as human beings, and therefore suggested as more enduring.
The Agonies of Fray Salvador
The most memorable story to me is The Agonies of Fray Salvador. The story depicts a textbook case of religious trauma, but it's presented as a scholarly article. The point of view character is a historian, and he talks about two works of fiction by a Visayas-based Spanish priest named Fray Salvador. You would assume that a scholarly article would make for a boring read, but it was actually really striking.
This is due in part to the sincere way it depicts one man’s theological crisis. The story has stakes because Fray Salvador’s spiritual belief and psychological health were intertwined, and he had an increasingly unstable mental state. But as he was pulled to the edge, his writing also became increasingly challenging and thought-provoking. Through the POV character’s examination of Salvador’s writing, the reader parses through conceptualizations about man and God that capture the magnitude of divinity usually lost in mainstream discourse and layman conceptions of God:
”The divinity of Christ is inseparable from his humanity, and so inseparable from his being. Thus, to understand the Savior is to understand divinity that by its very nature cannot be comprehended, that by its very nature is ultimately and immutably abstract.
As he finished the first draft, Salvador already realized that he was separated from Christ’s agony not only by temporality and space, but also by the very nature of his being. It was impossible for a mere man to understand the doubt and faith of the Savior.”
— Page 66
The Agonies of Fray Salvador is awe-inspiring writing. It’s really good in the obvious ways writing is good, like in articulated writing found above. But another writing feat of Sy is the conceptualization of the layers in the story. There’s the surface layer of the scholarly article itself, there’s the layer underneath which is about the contents of the two fictional pieces of fiction being talked about, and lastly there’s the meta layer which is the academic and personal context of the scholarly article.
If left to impact alone, this would be my favorite. I was thinking about it during my idle hours, and I’ve reread the story to go back to my favorite lines.
But the story tickles the intellectual interest, so the intellectual-based critiques of it detract the overall best part of the work.
The meta layer I mentioned above is about an academic rivalry that unfolds in the footnotes of the text. If this format is familiar, it's because it's a style lifted from Gina Apostol’s “The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata”. I don’t think it's plagiarism or anything though, and I think that there’s credit to Sy for tailoring the format to the short story’s limitations. It’s just that I feel like the idea introduced in this layer of the story is underdeveloped.
The narrator and writer of the scholarly article is named Dom (like the book’s real-life writer). He is in disagreement with another academic, named Peter Hua. This sub-story is told from the perspective of Dom alone, who in the beginning of the article only does usual ways of academic sparring, but by the middle of the article starts getting really personal. In the longest winded tirade, Dom gives us details about a specific time where Dom and Peter Hua had this argument. It was absolutely hilarious to me.
This section plays with the idea about academic pursuits. Specifically, should an academic’s individual interest be beholden to our social/political obligation as a historically-colonized country?
This is a really interesting idea that I’ve only encountered in “A Natural History of Empire”. And the form in which this debate is depicted is really interesting too. Despite being the antagonist to the narrator, Peter Hua’s argument dominates the footnotes. He believes that our academic efforts should be directed to fields and subject matters historically ignored by systematic oppression.
The narrator’s side is more implicit, which is through showcasing the fruits of his scholarly interest: the actual article itself. It’s a great article, comprehensively written and interesting. If Dom were hindered from writing about Fray Salvador because he also believed, like Peter Hua, that being interested in the Spanish priest upholds the neocolonial status quo, then we wouldn’t have been able to read a case study about fatal theological thought exercises. Dom articulates it this way, in a footnote near the end of the article:
20 And I said: yes, this is my choice. Yes, this is the extension of my will. Because who are you to tell me to choose otherwise, or to say that a late-eighteenth-century Spanish priest cannot tell us anything about ourselves as human beings or as Filipinos? Who are you to choose what should and should not belong to this nation? Who are you anyway, Peter Hua? Who am I? Who is anyone or any of us to decide what does and does not, what can and cannot, what will and will not matter? Who are we to judge?
— Page 74
Except the problem with this is that it simply dismisses Peter Hua’s argument rather than offering a real rebuttal to it. I thought Peter Hua’s challenge made sense, but I would be open to changing my mind. However, the best that the character of Dom could come up with is an expression of personal investment and assertive undermining of the initial argument posed. The writing is so emotional I can practically see the gesticulation of the character of Dom. I don’t know if it's intentional that Dom can’t come up with a response based on intellectual merit, and maybe I’m just missing the point here, but it dampened my jubilant applause for a really amazing short story.
September 1, 2020
Scored this at a discounted price at Ateneo Press. Honestly one of the best reads I've had in 2020.
December 31, 2020
In A Natural History of Empire, history becomes text. Here an American soldier chases after a vanishing guerilla (“A Natural History of Empire”), a child is caught in the crossfire of ideology during a family dinner (“Then Cruel Quiet”), a friend comes back from the dead to return books, reminisce, and move forward (“Before the Fire”). Despite being an observation of the development (natural history) of empire, more is revealed about the history of colony in the currency and afterlife of empire. I think the stories urge us to reconsider how we assess history as partakers, or not (“Prologomena”), and recipients—through documents (“The Agonies of Fray Salvador”), personal memory, and myths and legends (“The Fingers of Sta. Juana”)—and how it should always be an exercise not only in mapping out the past but also the future.
June 23, 2023
“If that sounds contradictory, it is because all names are contradictory—the attempt to unite in a set of syllables the multiplicities of the body.”
Tunay na kamangha-mangha ang mga akdang napagtatagumpayan ang kambal na kahingian ng kathang makasaysayan o historical fiction—una, ang verosimilitud o ang katapatan sa makasaysayang datos at ang pagsasaharaya sa mga katotohanan at katahimikan nito. At ano pa nga ba ang “A Natural History of Empire” ni Dominic Sy kundi ilang ulit na tagumpay sa pagsulat ng makakasaysayang katha?
May malapanaginip na katangian ang mga kuwento ng koleksiyong ito na sukat makabighani sa sinomang babasa. Litaw na litaw sa teksto na sinaliksik ni Sy nang masinsinan ang mga panahunan at lunan na itinampok sa aklat. Subalit higit sa katapatan sa batid nang kasaysayan ay napakagilas din siyang nakapaghabi ng musika at hiwaga sa mga patlang ng nakalipas. Samakatuwid, hindi lamang kathang makasaysayan ang karamihan sa mga salaysay ng koleksiyon kundi mga katha ring masasapantaha o speculative fiction. Lalo tuloy tumaginting ang mga kuwento sa pagtitiyap ng gilalas at realismo—ang mismong palasak ding kalatis o tekstura ng pananaw sa mundo ng karaniwang Pilipino.
Nakabibighaning basahin ang mga salaysay. Dumadaloy ang mga katha na tila sapang tinatanglawan ng kabilugan ng buwan: napakalinaw sa kapayakan ng wika subalit nagtataglay rin ng mga anino, ng malakutsilyong mga kislap ng hiwatig at balaghan. Mahirap gagapin ang iisang mukha ng katotohanan. Oo, may mga datos, may mga malak, subalit katulad ng paggunita ni Isabela Alonza sa “Some Quiet Conversation” o nina Vicente at Tomas sa “The Fingers of Sta. Juana,” palaging madulas ang nakalipas. Paulit-ulit natin itong binubuo sa kasalukuyan. Sa bawat paglalahad. At huling-huli ng koleksiyon ang ganitong ilap ng pagkakaroon ng iisang katotohanan.
Isa sa dalawang paborito kong kuwento ng koleksiyon ang “A Natural History of Empire,” ang kathang pinagmulan ng pamagat ng libro. Isinaysay sa kuwentong ito ang pagbitag ng gobyernong kolonyal ng Amerika kay Julio Manatili, isang pinunong rebolusyonaryong mala-Macario Sakay na sinasabing ubod ng ilap sapagkat may taglay na hiwaga. May suryal na himig ang kuwentong ito, kagaya ng iba pang mga kuwento, na bumibighani sa haraya habang sinusundan ang marahang paglalahad nito, ang lumalagong misteryo ni Manatili at ng dating rebolusyonaryong si Maximo Rodriguez, hanggang maghalo ang dilim at tanglaw, ang realismo at kababalaghan upang ilantad sa dulo ang mahalimaw na landas na likas sa mga kolonya at imperyo.
Tumatak din nang malupit sa akin ang “The Agonies of Fray Salvador,” na nasa anyo ng isang akademikong sanaysay na nagtatangkang bigyan ng sariwang pananaw ang dalawang esoterikong sulatin ng isang prayleng Dominikano noong ika-18 dantaon. Subalit palamuti lang ang talambuhay ni Fray Salvador—ang totoong kuwento ay nangyayari sa mga talababa (na puno ng mga gawa-gawang akda ng mga totoong akademiko). Tuwang-tuwa ako kung paanong sa pamamagitan ng anyong akademiko ng katha ay sabay-sabay na pinupuna at ginagagad ni Sy ang produksyon ng kaalaman, ang pagbasa sa kasaysayan, at lalo na ang mga bangayan at talakan ng mga akademikong sukat makapuno ng tatlong pahina ng talababa.
Tunay na karapat-dapat ngang nagwagi ang aklat na ito sa kauna-unahang Kritika Kultura First Book Prize. Mahuhusay ang mga akda hindi lamang dahil may sinasabi ang mga ito tungkol sa poskolonyalismo, sa kasaysayan, at napakarami pang bagay kundi dahil bukod sa may sinasabi ang mga akda ay may ligaya at bighani ring taglay ang mismong danas ng pagbasa sa kanila.
May iisang bagay lang na kapuna-puna tungkol sa librong ito—masyado itong manipis. Nakakabitin. Kaya tulad ng otakung lingguhang sabik sa lingguhang labas ng paborito niyang pang-shonen na manga, sabik ko ring inaabangan ngayon ang mga susunod na kuwentong ilalathala ni Dominic Sy.
10/10
Tunay na kamangha-mangha ang mga akdang napagtatagumpayan ang kambal na kahingian ng kathang makasaysayan o historical fiction—una, ang verosimilitud o ang katapatan sa makasaysayang datos at ang pagsasaharaya sa mga katotohanan at katahimikan nito. At ano pa nga ba ang “A Natural History of Empire” ni Dominic Sy kundi ilang ulit na tagumpay sa pagsulat ng makakasaysayang katha?
May malapanaginip na katangian ang mga kuwento ng koleksiyong ito na sukat makabighani sa sinomang babasa. Litaw na litaw sa teksto na sinaliksik ni Sy nang masinsinan ang mga panahunan at lunan na itinampok sa aklat. Subalit higit sa katapatan sa batid nang kasaysayan ay napakagilas din siyang nakapaghabi ng musika at hiwaga sa mga patlang ng nakalipas. Samakatuwid, hindi lamang kathang makasaysayan ang karamihan sa mga salaysay ng koleksiyon kundi mga katha ring masasapantaha o speculative fiction. Lalo tuloy tumaginting ang mga kuwento sa pagtitiyap ng gilalas at realismo—ang mismong palasak ding kalatis o tekstura ng pananaw sa mundo ng karaniwang Pilipino.
Nakabibighaning basahin ang mga salaysay. Dumadaloy ang mga katha na tila sapang tinatanglawan ng kabilugan ng buwan: napakalinaw sa kapayakan ng wika subalit nagtataglay rin ng mga anino, ng malakutsilyong mga kislap ng hiwatig at balaghan. Mahirap gagapin ang iisang mukha ng katotohanan. Oo, may mga datos, may mga malak, subalit katulad ng paggunita ni Isabela Alonza sa “Some Quiet Conversation” o nina Vicente at Tomas sa “The Fingers of Sta. Juana,” palaging madulas ang nakalipas. Paulit-ulit natin itong binubuo sa kasalukuyan. Sa bawat paglalahad. At huling-huli ng koleksiyon ang ganitong ilap ng pagkakaroon ng iisang katotohanan.
Isa sa dalawang paborito kong kuwento ng koleksiyon ang “A Natural History of Empire,” ang kathang pinagmulan ng pamagat ng libro. Isinaysay sa kuwentong ito ang pagbitag ng gobyernong kolonyal ng Amerika kay Julio Manatili, isang pinunong rebolusyonaryong mala-Macario Sakay na sinasabing ubod ng ilap sapagkat may taglay na hiwaga. May suryal na himig ang kuwentong ito, kagaya ng iba pang mga kuwento, na bumibighani sa haraya habang sinusundan ang marahang paglalahad nito, ang lumalagong misteryo ni Manatili at ng dating rebolusyonaryong si Maximo Rodriguez, hanggang maghalo ang dilim at tanglaw, ang realismo at kababalaghan upang ilantad sa dulo ang mahalimaw na landas na likas sa mga kolonya at imperyo.
Tumatak din nang malupit sa akin ang “The Agonies of Fray Salvador,” na nasa anyo ng isang akademikong sanaysay na nagtatangkang bigyan ng sariwang pananaw ang dalawang esoterikong sulatin ng isang prayleng Dominikano noong ika-18 dantaon. Subalit palamuti lang ang talambuhay ni Fray Salvador—ang totoong kuwento ay nangyayari sa mga talababa (na puno ng mga gawa-gawang akda ng mga totoong akademiko). Tuwang-tuwa ako kung paanong sa pamamagitan ng anyong akademiko ng katha ay sabay-sabay na pinupuna at ginagagad ni Sy ang produksyon ng kaalaman, ang pagbasa sa kasaysayan, at lalo na ang mga bangayan at talakan ng mga akademikong sukat makapuno ng tatlong pahina ng talababa.
Tunay na karapat-dapat ngang nagwagi ang aklat na ito sa kauna-unahang Kritika Kultura First Book Prize. Mahuhusay ang mga akda hindi lamang dahil may sinasabi ang mga ito tungkol sa poskolonyalismo, sa kasaysayan, at napakarami pang bagay kundi dahil bukod sa may sinasabi ang mga akda ay may ligaya at bighani ring taglay ang mismong danas ng pagbasa sa kanila.
May iisang bagay lang na kapuna-puna tungkol sa librong ito—masyado itong manipis. Nakakabitin. Kaya tulad ng otakung lingguhang sabik sa lingguhang labas ng paborito niyang pang-shonen na manga, sabik ko ring inaabangan ngayon ang mga susunod na kuwentong ilalathala ni Dominic Sy.
10/10
February 6, 2021
"The first and last stories in this collection talk about memories, mistakes, and the things we do to evade acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. It’s fitting that Sy started with a story of a man’s attachment to the past and ended with a story tackling a man’s motivation through life. But man, the last few paragraphs of the final story wrecked me and sent me into an existential crisis past midnight. I didn’t want it to end."
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Continue reading our review here.
Please note: We don't use ratings but for this purpose, we tag books with three stars by default.
Would like to be a reviewer/contributor to Bookbed? Sign up here!
We also accept review requests. More info here.
April 21, 2022
If there is one among many books that it will somehow define my visions as an activist and an academic, A Natural History of Empire could be it. It has a transcendental almost euphoric sense of describing and illustrating an experience, a memory, a conversation. It felt as if I am reading a Magical Realism book but a progressive one. I think that the younger generation must at least read this book in their lifetime.
April 7, 2021
A collection of short stories and essays that blend together suspense, historical fiction, and sociopolitical commentary. It's an engaging read and you find yourself lost in the worlds that the author created. The writing is in the fine line between being pedestrian and complicated—it's spontaneous and intricate at the same time.
June 11, 2021
When the last story weaved all the previous stories, it made me realize that I would need to reread this book in the future. To be honest, I had struggled understanding some of the stories, with a lot of questions in my mind running as I end each story. But the book is a very interesting exploration of possibilities in Philippine history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2020
I just want to live inside these stories.
July 21, 2021
favorite stories from the small bunch: 'some quiet conversation' & 'before the fire'
August 19, 2021
A fascinating collection of stories based on events in Philippine history.
March 13, 2024
Pastiche or blatant copies of other short stories written by people of color.
Have some originality, please.
Have some originality, please.
December 26, 2024
favorites: the agonies of fray salvador, some quiet conversations, before the fire
January 31, 2025
Elegant prose
February 2, 2022
this novel is sacred. i finished this novel with an ecstatic, airy joy—but also with a deep, smothering feeling in my chest. this curious experience can only be invoked, i think, from a novel that weaves the heavy history of the philippines into gorgeous, enthralling fiction.
personal favorites: ‘prolegomena’, ‘a natural history of empire’, ‘some quiet conversation’, ‘before the fire’. (i will spend the rest of my life thinking about those last few paragraphs).
also, dominic sy was my eng13 prof last sem, and his class was one of the few things i genuinely looked forward to. such a brilliant, brilliant person.
personal favorites: ‘prolegomena’, ‘a natural history of empire’, ‘some quiet conversation’, ‘before the fire’. (i will spend the rest of my life thinking about those last few paragraphs).
also, dominic sy was my eng13 prof last sem, and his class was one of the few things i genuinely looked forward to. such a brilliant, brilliant person.
July 5, 2022
I bought this book because I am fond of reading history and is tempted with its sale price. I did not search for its contents nor reviews on the internet, and just bought it without any other apprarent reason aside to its alluring title 'A Natural History of Empire'. I expected that this book is just like any other non-fiction/historical narratives I always read; but to my surprise, it is a compilation of short fictional stories.
I find this book slightly difficult to read, or maybe my reading comprehension is not enough to fully embrace the hidden meanings and metaphors the author wants to portray. Some of the stories included in this book are not for me, as I did not understand what those stories are trying to say to its readers and I do need to look up for other readers' interpretation to understand its flow. I also skipped one story because I find it not worth of my time. But I can also say that I do enjoy the other stories very well, specifically the 'A Natural History of Empire' and 'A Quiet Conversation'.
The common denominator with Sy's collection is that the stories are related to the tide of history and our society. They are narratives of our everyday lives, culture, myths and tales, and our disturbing past that shall be remembered. The stories are also carefully crafted as I always find myself immersed in every stories as if I am just consciously watching in the margins. Sy effectively narrates his stories with details so it is easy to visualize the stories in your mind.
I know my lack of vocabulary and comprehension hinders me to enjoy this book at its fullest. The way Sy writes and narrates his stories is way heavier and "professional" compared to what I always read. So, I will surely re-read this book next time! The second time reading is always the best 'for me'.
I find this book slightly difficult to read, or maybe my reading comprehension is not enough to fully embrace the hidden meanings and metaphors the author wants to portray. Some of the stories included in this book are not for me, as I did not understand what those stories are trying to say to its readers and I do need to look up for other readers' interpretation to understand its flow. I also skipped one story because I find it not worth of my time. But I can also say that I do enjoy the other stories very well, specifically the 'A Natural History of Empire' and 'A Quiet Conversation'.
The common denominator with Sy's collection is that the stories are related to the tide of history and our society. They are narratives of our everyday lives, culture, myths and tales, and our disturbing past that shall be remembered. The stories are also carefully crafted as I always find myself immersed in every stories as if I am just consciously watching in the margins. Sy effectively narrates his stories with details so it is easy to visualize the stories in your mind.
I know my lack of vocabulary and comprehension hinders me to enjoy this book at its fullest. The way Sy writes and narrates his stories is way heavier and "professional" compared to what I always read. So, I will surely re-read this book next time! The second time reading is always the best 'for me'.
October 13, 2025
"all names are contradictory — the attempt to unite in a set of syllables the multiplicities of the body"
A Natural History of Empire was the very first book I’ve bought from Mt. Cloud Bookshop two years ago. Its 100 or so page count was probably what made it get priced on the cheaper side, relatively. I read it shortly after and eventually listed it in my 2023 favorite books because of it being “a very relevant read, historical fiction that offers the best of the genre”.
It was a weird statement from me then as the HisFic I’ve read so far barely scratched the surface of the genre. And not every story in this collection belonged to the genre per se, albeit they all have history as a theme. But in my reread this year, I thought that this is what I want my Historical Fiction reads to exactly feel like. Characters who feel inconsequential in the grand fabric of history as they grapple with the conditions of their time but whose dreams, desires, and conflicts are recognizable, universal.
A Natural History of Empire is a collection of seven short stories set in the Philippines from the Spanish Colonial Period to the modern day. They are distinct from each other but are connected by a thread as the first story introduces characters that reappear in the succeeding stories.
‘Prolegomena’ opens up with a Martial Law commemoration rally in UP Diliman from the point of view of a college student narrator who goes on to have a standard academic/writer life. It’s a bleak yet accurate depiction of the academic’s place in remembering and contending with our history, one of the overarching subjects in the book. Although it’s unclear to me if the other stories are supposed to be the writings of this narrator or not.
From the modern day, it then jumps to what’s presumably the Spanish Colonial Era in ‘The Fingers of Sta. Juana’, what I could describe as a dream-like tale basked in moonlight.
A favorite of mine is the title story ‘A Natural History of Empire’ that gave off a cinematic atmosphere similar to the TBA Tarrog films because of its Filipino-American War setting. It has a strong emphasis on the resistance not being so easily killed as an American Military officer desperately hunts a myth-shrouded revolutionary leader.
Another favorite is ‘Then Cruel Quiet’ which is sort of a coming-of-age of a boy who becomes a witness of a heated family argument over the Marcos legacy during what’s supposed to be his mom’s birthday celebration. It raises to us the question of how the next generations would remember the Marcoses, especially now, four years deep in the Junior’s administration. Additionally, I just love dining table scenes in any form of media as I think they are a reliable test of a writer’s characterization and chemistry-building.
‘The Agonies of Fray Salvador’ is a historical account of the life and writings of a priest assigned in the Philippines written in a style close to Apostol’s ‘Raymundo Mata’, a stand out from the more accessible writing in the rest of the stories. A separate conversation is going through the footnotes of the text with two peers arguing over differing interpretations. I thought I’d appreciate this story more if I had a deeper understanding of the religious references but I thought the footnotes were funny and thoughtful.
A borderline horror tale, ‘Some Quiet Conversation’, gets closer to the topic of history as this features an interview with a historian tasked by the old Marcos admin to rewrite the whole history of the Philippines, in the process discovering some revelations that escalate into what could be a more physical representation of the power of shaping the past. The last story ‘Before the Fire’, the fire being the 2016 UPD Faculty Center fire, brings back the reader to the university in a wistful conversation with a co-faculty member who’s supposed to be dead. Parallel worlds, alternate pasts and futures, and the last pages drive home the concerns of the whole book.
August 29, 2020
“When he succeeded in struggling for another day, he knew he could do all these things only because he knew the future was possible, because he had definite proof that it was possible, because he had seen the world where the true revolution had succeeded while his comrades then and now, his friends who were infinitely braver than he would ever be, who fought against greater forces knowing only this small and bleak and desperate world, persisted without ever knowing certainty.”
––––––––
There is a level of paranoia triggered by the stories in Dominic Sy’s A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE, pushing you to doubt your perception of reality, but at the same time comforting amid the unknown.
Maybe it’s because of the familiarity of the incidents depicted? That even if the stories are set in different decades, characters and situations might as well exist in the present. I guess this realization says so much about the country’s history and influence, and maybe continuing grip, of colonial powers.
The first and last stories in this collection talk about memories, mistakes, and the things we do to evade acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. It’s fitting that Sy started with a story of a man’s attachment to the past and ended with a story tackling a man’s motivation through life.
I love this book. I love how it unpacked history and the notion of how the past is key to how we determine our place in the present and future. What came to mind while reading the stories was a Karl Marx quote that says “history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
“When he succeeded in struggling for another day, he knew he could do all these things only because he knew the future was possible, because he had definite proof that it was possible, because he had seen the world where the true revolution had succeeded while his comrades then and now, his friends who were infinitely braver than he would ever be, who fought against greater forces knowing only this small and bleak and desperate world, persisted without ever knowing certainty.”
––––––––
There is a level of paranoia triggered by the stories in Dominic Sy’s A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE, pushing you to doubt your perception of reality, but at the same time comforting amid the unknown.
Maybe it’s because of the familiarity of the incidents depicted? That even if the stories are set in different decades, characters and situations might as well exist in the present. I guess this realization says so much about the country’s history and influence, and maybe continuing grip, of colonial powers.
The first and last stories in this collection talk about memories, mistakes, and the things we do to evade acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. It’s fitting that Sy started with a story of a man’s attachment to the past and ended with a story tackling a man’s motivation through life.
I love this book. I love how it unpacked history and the notion of how the past is key to how we determine our place in the present and future. What came to mind while reading the stories was a Karl Marx quote that says “history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
But man, the last few paragraphs of the final story wrecked me and sent me into an existential crisis past midnight. I didn't want it to end.
––––––––
There is a level of paranoia triggered by the stories in Dominic Sy’s A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE, pushing you to doubt your perception of reality, but at the same time comforting amid the unknown.
Maybe it’s because of the familiarity of the incidents depicted? That even if the stories are set in different decades, characters and situations might as well exist in the present. I guess this realization says so much about the country’s history and influence, and maybe continuing grip, of colonial powers.
The first and last stories in this collection talk about memories, mistakes, and the things we do to evade acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. It’s fitting that Sy started with a story of a man’s attachment to the past and ended with a story tackling a man’s motivation through life.
I love this book. I love how it unpacked history and the notion of how the past is key to how we determine our place in the present and future. What came to mind while reading the stories was a Karl Marx quote that says “history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
“When he succeeded in struggling for another day, he knew he could do all these things only because he knew the future was possible, because he had definite proof that it was possible, because he had seen the world where the true revolution had succeeded while his comrades then and now, his friends who were infinitely braver than he would ever be, who fought against greater forces knowing only this small and bleak and desperate world, persisted without ever knowing certainty.”
––––––––
There is a level of paranoia triggered by the stories in Dominic Sy’s A NATURAL HISTORY OF EMPIRE, pushing you to doubt your perception of reality, but at the same time comforting amid the unknown.
Maybe it’s because of the familiarity of the incidents depicted? That even if the stories are set in different decades, characters and situations might as well exist in the present. I guess this realization says so much about the country’s history and influence, and maybe continuing grip, of colonial powers.
The first and last stories in this collection talk about memories, mistakes, and the things we do to evade acknowledging the uncertainty of the future. It’s fitting that Sy started with a story of a man’s attachment to the past and ended with a story tackling a man’s motivation through life.
I love this book. I love how it unpacked history and the notion of how the past is key to how we determine our place in the present and future. What came to mind while reading the stories was a Karl Marx quote that says “history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
But man, the last few paragraphs of the final story wrecked me and sent me into an existential crisis past midnight. I didn't want it to end.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews