Jose “Butch” Dalisay Jr.

By Ybañez lars Paul V.

Having a set of literary works written by Filipino authors and another set of literary works written by foreign authors, what would you choose? 

Reality is, most of us would choose the literary works written by foreign authors. Well in fact, foreign works are more popular compared to our very own literature. We prefer reading works not from our countrymen. In addition, we can say that poems, novels, books, as long it's written by a Filipino is not satisfying enough to read. Comparing an American film to a Philippine film is just the same. We prefer on Hollywood blockbusters rather than our very own movies.

Nevertheless, as I was obliged to post a blog about a Filipino author named Jose Dalisay Jr. also known as Butch Dalisay, I was forced to read some of his works and biography and I could say literary works by some of Filipino authors could be interesting and competitive to foreign works.   

  

Starting about the author's biography, he graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1984 (AB English, cum laude ), and then he received an MFA from the  University of Michigan (1988) and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1991) on a Fulbright-Hays grant. He teaches English and Creative writings as a full professor at the University of the Philippines, where he also serves as a Fellow and a former Director of the UP institute of Creative writing. After serving as Chairman of the English department, he assumed the post of Vice President for Public Affairs of the UP system from 2003 to 2005.

He has published nearly 30 books of his stories, plays, and essays, with six of those books receiving the National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle. More than 20 of his screenplays have also been produced. In 1998, he was named to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Centennial Honors List as one of the 100 most accomplished Filipino artists of the past century.

I was totally overwhelmed about the number of awards he received. Among his literary distinctions, he has won 16 Carlos Palanca Awards in five genres (entering the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000), five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting, and Famas, Urian, Star and Catholic Film awards and citations for his screenplays. He was even named as one of The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) OF 1993 for his creative writing by the Philippine Jaycees. In 2005, he was given the Premio Cervara di Roma in Italy for his literary achievements. In 2007, his second novel, Soledads sister, was shortlisted for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize in Hong Kong; it has since been published in Italian, Spanish, and French editions.

These are only glimpse of our great Filipino writer.  

Some of his works are: Tayong dalawa, The Best of barfly, Whore of a mother, At the Breast of the enemy and more. Two of his master pieces that I was able to access online are Cameo and Amnesty. By reading his works, we can experience memories of youth, love, and grief as he distills growing up and rites of male adulthood with his carefully-crafted scenes and descriptions. He can takes us to a Philippines of a previous century, one with a different atmosphere and setting. 

After reading his works, I noticed his writing style. He is into descriptive sentences that will make the reader visualize exactly what he is trying to describe. Also, I love the setting of his stories for it was all set in the Philippines. Moreover, some of his works featured the cultures and traditions of Filipinos including but not limited to Fiestas and Santacruzan. His works opened the gates of grandeur Philippine literature. As indeed, Jose Dalisay Jr. is an outstanding author who proves that Filipino can do amazing feats in the field of literature.