Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE

F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Education

EDENG 109: Survey in the Philippine Literature in English

2nd Semester

Discussion Paper No. 28

Title: ‘Writing Creative Short Stories During Post Edsa Revolution’
Date: February 06, 2023
Objectives:
At the end of the discussion, the students should be able to:
1. Recognize a Filipino creative writer during Post Edsa revolution
2. Identify his creative short stories compositions, and;
3. Examine the writer’s approach used in writing

FILIPINO CREATIVE WRITER DURING POST EDSA REVOLUTION

Charlson L. Ong is a fellow resident of the Institute of Creative Writing and a multi-
awarded fictionist/scriptwriter who became active during post edsa revolution. He joined
several writers' workshops here in the Philippines and abroad and has acquired
numerous grants and awards for his fiction that was already mentioned on the
previous discussion. In addition to this, Ong has served as co-editor of the Likhaan
Book of Poetry and Fiction.
His creative short stories range from parodies of well-loved Filipino texts to insightful
treatments of Chinese-Filipino culture. These have been collected into Men of the East and
Other Stories (1990 and 1999), Woman of Am-Kaw and Other Stories (1993) and Conversion and Other
Fictions (1996).

CREATIVE SHORT STORIES OF CHARLSON ONG

 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Education

This creative short story titled ‘Men of the East’ perhaps serve as a map of that other China. A country which
describes as with unfed ghosts and aggrieved spirits; of sad butterflies and deathless owls where we are all kin
and exiles. In addition, Mr. Ong also composed other creative short stories ‘Woman of Am-Kaw and Other
Stories’ (got the Palanca Memorial Award for Literature - First Print 1991-1992 Short Story and collection of 6
contemporary short stories), ‘Conversion and Other Fictions’, and ‘Of That Other Country We Now Speak and
Other Stories’.

The Writer’s Approach Used in Writing His Literary Work

(Of That Other Country We Now Speak and Other Stories)
This is a story of a troubled father seeks to heal his daughter by confronting private and ancestral ghosts; a
former priest regains his vocation by rescuing a woman from a sex cult; an unrequited lover uses a dog as his
murder weapon; a corrupt banker seeks redemption among the prayerful inside a booze bar as the “end of the
world” approaches—the denizens of Charlson Ong’s latest collection of short fiction inhabit a world fraying at
the seams, morally adrift. Wounded and compromised they nonetheless struggle mightily against the “dying of
the light.”
For Charlson Ong, whose brand of short fiction take steps to familiarize the landscape of the Chinese-Filipino
identity, his characterization and choice of settings possess some personal inscriptions. He continues to
emphasize a numerous subject in his works, as characters bearing this pointed identity has been represented
through specific depictions of their lifestyle, from witnessing people who honor traditions in the spheres of the
community and the household. We can see his characters as poets, yogi, and educators, troubled tenants in
compound apartments, young couples in commuter buses, confused clients conversing with a lethargic
veterinarian, middle-aged siblings who are seemingly unperturbed by their waning savings, from investigators
with a shadowy encounter as a boy to a province-bred lad returning to his childhood hometown. The stories in
his collection do not follow a singular theme. However, in each of the narratives, there is at least one
component that leads into related confessions. Looking at the characters, quite a few of them delve into
recollections that comprise the bulk of the story, marking the narratives with an intimate trace. In this vein, the
reader gets a sense of being an observer in the middle of someone’s confession: listening an outpour of
secrets and imagined lives. There are some characters whose presence seems to change accordingly. For
instance, a female name appears in at least three (3) of the stories, taking on various identities—both as a
significant voice and as a background.
With time as a primary element in Ong’s work, the purpose of these stories is to become a record of the past,
echoing the temper of the times. In moments where silences pervade the situation, he made the characters
continue to communicate through their movements. Ong’s selection of works in the book cuts across different
time periods, as the accounts unfold in an extending manner rather than in a chronological order.

REFERENCES:
Coursehero.com. (2022, August 07). POST EDSA FAMOUS AUTHORS AND THEIR WORKS.docx
https://www.coursehero.com/file/161409353/POST-EDSA-FAMOUS-AUTHORS-AND-THEIR-WORKSdocx/

University of the Philippines (2017) “Flashes of Time in Charlson Ong’s Of that Other Country We Now Speak
and Other Stories”
https://press.up.edu.ph/brflashes-of-time-in-charlson-ong-of-that-other-country-we-now-speak-and-other-
stories/
 Republic of the Philippines
CAMARINES NORTE STATE COLLEGE
F. Pimentel Avenue, Brgy. 2, Daet, Camarines Norte – 4600, Philippines

College of Education

EDENG 109: Survey in the Philippine Literature in English

NAME: _________________________________________ DATE: _________________________

COURSE and BLOCK: _______________________________ SCORE: ________________________

ACTIVITY TITLE: Array the Clutter Words!

Instructions: To explore the other most widely held works of Mr. Charlson Ong, let’s try to organize its title
one-by-one. In each number, you’ll encounter a jumbled words of the title of one of the author’s works and
using your bright mind, arrange the words and give some short thoughts about it.

1. A
WAR SONG BANYAGA OF

2. ENRICHMENT AN

OF RICHES

3. WINTER’S TALE A AND

TROPICAL STORIES OTHER

4. SERENITY A

SENSE OF

5. LIKHAAN POETRY BOOK THE

FICTION AND OF