THE DIRECTOR of the Center for Creative Writing and Literary Studies has unveiled what she described as a compendium of her most significant pieces, ranging from her essays to excerpts of her notable novels.
Award-winning essayist Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo’s upcoming book Encantada: the Essential Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo is part of the University of the Philippines (UP) Press’ Tampok book series. The collection features works that introduce Hidalgo’s extensive career as a writer.
Hidalgo, a professor at the UST Graduate School, is best known for her pieces on travel, being one of the first English travel essayists in the Philippines. Encantada
“[The UP Press] selected writers they consider distinguished. The idea is not to publish a book that is all about one theme, but to give readers an idea of their best work,” Hidalgo told The Flame.
Hidalgo reminisced about her career while she was working on Encantada and how different the writing scene is now compared to her early years as a writer. She published her first work in 1984, Sojourns, which was the first of its kind in the Philippines.
Hidalgo remembered the struggle that came with writing some of her criticisms and journalistic pieces, especially on women’s literature. She recalled that when she was writing Filipino Woman Writing: Home and Exile in the Autobiographical Narratives of Filipino Women (1994), libraries did not have the classifications for autobiographies and would instead categorize them in the history category.
“I’m so happy for the writers now and the publishers now. And I’m grateful that I lived to see this happening. When I published Sojourns, never would I have believed that this would happen,” Hidalgo said.
“The themes are very disparate. They’re not about any one theme…I told [Pison], you choose which ones you want. She selected several travel essays,” she added.
Ruth Jordana Pison, the book’s editor, has a long professional history with Hidalgo. When Hidalgo was the director of the UP Press, Pison became her deputy and later acted as her assistant editor for many literary releases. Pison came up with the selection that makes up Encantada.
“I know her well, and she knows me well. She knew also what I would consider important. She wanted to include more than what I would have included. She’s a scholar. ‘Yung ibang essay para sa kanya na very important, ‘di ko naman masyadong gusto (Some essays that were very important to her, I didn’t really like),” Hidalgo said.
“She was the best possible editor I could want.”
Hidalgo mused that as a writer, she feels that she is never fully satisfied with her work. She recounted the amount of reprints her novel Recuerdo (1996) went through, and her constant urge to edit her work even after publishing.
“One is never completely satisfied, but I am grateful that people are doing this for me… I’m so grateful that people, my publishers are doing this for me. It’s a record of my life, my writing life,” the Philets author added.
The date of release for the book is yet to be announced.
Hidalgo has published several notable works, including To Catch a Falling Star (1999), Recuerdo (1996), and her most recent, The Thing with Feathers: My Book of Memories (2017). She is the former director of the UST Publishing House. F
