The Chieftest Mourner
A Literary Analysis of N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories”
N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is a humble and comely collection of seven short stories that plunges deep into “the private and the public lives” of Filipino women and children bound to see life in a new light as events unfold. The world of the book is, as Francisco Arcellana puts it, is “the world of Mindoro and Manila: the world of theparaya and the anting-anting and anito-worshiping as well as the world of public lectures and TV and Cinemascope. The theme of the collection is the clash between the city and the farm, the impact of the sophisticate upon the primitive, the collision between reality and the unreal city. The subject is man and the life of man…” (Arcellana). The stories are rich, deep and massive in their delineation of the aspects of rural and urban living and especially the depiction the private and public lives of the main characters that are basically women and children.
“No other Filipino writer has written prose more clear and clean and straight and direct and hard and pure as N.V.M. Gonzalez” writes Arcellana. His prose is a perfect vehicle of thought. A prose where texture has been added to structure and subtlety to strength. A collection of prose with an inner calmness, subtly and warmth but the effect is startling and powerful. Indeed, N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is one of the few Filipino stories of real power.
Evident in “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is Gonzalez’s economy with words and focus on surface description. There is also a certain striking restraint in his prose style, sparseness of story, and flatness of narrative tone. However, the sparseness in place, descriptive detail and characterization of Gonzalez’s stories are balanced by his emphasis on dialogue and dispassionate approach of his narrators to consequential
N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is a humble and comely collection of seven short stories that plunges deep into “the private and the public lives” of Filipino women and children bound to see life in a new light as events unfold. The world of the book is, as Francisco Arcellana puts it, is “the world of Mindoro and Manila: the world of theparaya and the anting-anting and anito-worshiping as well as the world of public lectures and TV and Cinemascope. The theme of the collection is the clash between the city and the farm, the impact of the sophisticate upon the primitive, the collision between reality and the unreal city. The subject is man and the life of man…” (Arcellana). The stories are rich, deep and massive in their delineation of the aspects of rural and urban living and especially the depiction the private and public lives of the main characters that are basically women and children.
“No other Filipino writer has written prose more clear and clean and straight and direct and hard and pure as N.V.M. Gonzalez” writes Arcellana. His prose is a perfect vehicle of thought. A prose where texture has been added to structure and subtlety to strength. A collection of prose with an inner calmness, subtly and warmth but the effect is startling and powerful. Indeed, N.V.M. Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is one of the few Filipino stories of real power.
Evident in “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and other stories” is Gonzalez’s economy with words and focus on surface description. There is also a certain striking restraint in his prose style, sparseness of story, and flatness of narrative tone. However, the sparseness in place, descriptive detail and characterization of Gonzalez’s stories are balanced by his emphasis on dialogue and dispassionate approach of his narrators to consequential