num_pages: 432
description: Celebrating the centennial of his birth the first-ever U.S. publication of Philippine writer Nick Joaquins seminal works with a foreword by PEN/Open Book Awardwinner Gina ApostolA New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Nick Joaquin is widely considered one of the greatest Filipino writers but he has remained little-known outside his home country despite writing in English. Set amid the ruins of Manila devastated by World War II his stories are steeped in the post-colonial anguish and hopes of his era and resonate with the ironic perspectives on colonial history of Gabriel Garca Mrquez and Mario Vargas Llosa. His work meditates on the questions and challenges of the Filipino individuals new freedom after a long history of colonialism exploring folklore centuries-old Catholic rites the Spanish colonial past magical realism and baroque splendor and excess. This collection features his best-known story The Woman Who Had Two Navels centered on Philippine emigrants living in Hong Kong and later expanded into a novel the much-anthologized stories May Day Eve and The Summer Solstice and a canonic play A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino . As Penguin Classics previously launched his countryman Jose Rizal to a wide audience now Joaquin will find new readers with the first American collection of his work. Introduction and Suggestions for Further Reading by Vicente L. Rafael For more than seventy years Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1700 titles Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
language: English
title: The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic
publisher: Penguin Classics