The Virgin-- Kerima Polotan Tuvera

PART I – AUTHOR/WRITER OF THE STORY
Kerima Polotan-Tuvera (December 16, 1925 – August 19, 2011) * Was a Filipino author. She was a renowned and highly respected fictionist, essayist, and journalists, with her works having received among the highest literary distinctions of the Philippines.

* Some of her stories have been published under the pseudonym Patricia S. Torres

* She graduated from the Far Eastern University Girls' High School. In 1944, she enrolled in the University of the Philippines School of Nursing, but the Battle of Manila put a halt to her studies. In 1945, she transferred schools to Arellano University, where she attended the writing classes of Teodoro M. Locsin and edited the first issue of the Arellano Literary Review. She worked with Your Magazine, This Week and the Junior Red Cross Magazine.

* In 1949, she had married Juan Capiendo Tuvera, a childhood friend and fellow writer, with whom she had 10 children. Between the years 1966 to 1986, her husband served as the Executive Secretary of then President Marcos. Her husband's work drew her into the charmed circle of the Marcoses.

* Her 1952 short story, (the widely anthologized) “The Virgin”, won two first prizes: of the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards and of the Palanca Awards. In 1957, she edited an anthology for the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, which English and Tagalog prize-winning short stories from 1951 to 1952.

* Her short stories “The Trap” (1956), “The Giants” (1959), “The Tourists” (1960), “The Sounds of Sunday” (1961) and “A Various Season” (1966) all won the first prize of the Palanca Awards.

* In 1966, she published Stories, a collection of eleven stories. In 1970, alongside writing the biography of Imelda Marcos, Polotan-Tuvera collected forty-two of her hard-hitting essays during her years as a staff writer of the Philippines Free Press and published them under the title Author's Circle. In 1976, she edited the four-volume Anthology of Don Palanca Memorial Award Winners. In 1977, she published another collection of thirty-five essays, “Adventures in a Forgotten Country”. In the late 1990s, the University of the Philippines Press republished all of her major works.

* The 1961 Stonehill Award was bestowed on Polotan-Tuvera, for her novel "The Hand of the Enemy”. In 1963, she received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award, an award discontinued in 2003 but was then considered the government’s highest form of recognition for artists at the time. The city of Manila conferred on Polotan-Tuvera its “Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award”, in recognition of her contributions to its intellectual and cultural life.

* Polotan-Tuvera died at 85, after a lingering illness. She had suffered a stroke and was wheelchair-bound for the last months of her life. The wake was held at Funeraria Paz Sucat, within Manila Memorial Park.

VOCABULARY: 1. PEREMPTORILY – Putting an end to all debate or action; Not allowing contradiction or refusal. SYNONYMS: Imperative, absolute, assertive, autocratic, commanding, decisive 2. INCONSPICUOUSLY – Not readily noticeable. SYNONYMS: Modesty, secretly, surreptitiously 3. PRECARIOUSLY – Dangerous lacking in security or stability. SYNONYMS: Dangerously, desperately, hazardously, unsafe 4. TEETERED – To walk or move unsteadily or unsurely; Sway back and forth. SYNONYMS: Balance, dangle, flutter, stumble, sway 5. COQUETRY – A flirtatious act or attitude or behavior. SYNONYMS: Dalliance, flirting 6. OBTRUDING – To impose (oneself or one’s ideas) on others with undue insistence or without invitation. SYNONYMS: Impose, infringe, intrude 7. AMIABLE – Having or displaying a friendly and pleasant manner. SYNONYMS: Friendly, delightful, lovable, pleasant, sociable, kind 8. BEWILDERING – To confuse or befuddle, especially with numerous conflicting situations, objects or statements. SYNONYMS: Confuse, baffle, daze, upset, puzzle 9. AWRY – Away from the appropriate, planned or expected source. SYNONYMS: Askew, astray, badly 10. EMBITTERED – Cause someone to feel bitter or resentful; Give a sharp or pungent taste SYNONYMS: Disaffected, irritated, bitter