Cinarding

Jay Salvador III P. Salvosa

Objectives:
1. Differentiate a postmodern text
from a traditional story;
2. Analyze the story’s use of
postmodern techniques; and
3. Point out the relationship between
the text and contemporary Bikol
culture.
Warm-up challenge
• if there were a magic potion that could
transform you or loved one into a
character from a short story, novel,
play, movie, telenovela, anime, video
game, etc. or from history or current
events, who would you want that
someone else’ to be?
Absurdist fiction
• shows the human condition as irrational,
purposeless, helpless, and absurd in stories
with characters and plots that are also non-
consequential and absurd.
• If there are any messages or themes, they
are not explicitly stated or ambiguous and
readers have to find these out for
themselves.
• Black humor, satire, and nihilism are
sometimes related to absurdism.
Postmodernism
• it is said to have started after World War
II.
• It continues some practices of modern
writers such as fragmentation, but also
counters the elitism of modernism by
embracing and mixing “high art” such as
Greek Tragedy and Shakespeare with
popular forms such cartoons and
television shows.
• Postmodernist writers
foreground parody, paradox,
pastiche, irony, unreliable
narrators, dark humor,
narcism, and authorial self-
reference.
Other elements of postmodernism:
1. Intertextuality
2. Metafiction
3. Temporal distortion
4. Magic realism
5. Reader involvement
• Modernist and postmodernist
employ similar techniques, the
modernist Laments fragmentation
while the postmodernist celebrates
it. (Abrams, Fleming, Hawthorn,
Barry)
The Author
Jay Salvador III P. Salvosa
• earned a degree in Creative Writing
at the Ateneo de Manila University
• works as a staff member at the
President’s office of the Ateneo de
Naga University.
• “Cinarding” won First Prize for
Fiction in the 2012 Premio Tomas
Arejola competition.
• he classifies his story as
contemporary absurdist literature
inspired by the works of Donald
Barthelme and Ray Bradbury.
• His literary influences include
Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Alan
Moore, Etgar Keret, Haruki Muraki,
Michael Chabon, David Sedaris,
Adam David, Luis Cabalquinto, Anne
Lamott, and Annie Dillard.
• He resides in Naga City
Reading Activity

CINARDING
Jay Salvador III P. Salvosa
 Processing Questions:
1. Why is the title Cinarding and not Carding?
2. Compare and contrast the story to a more
traditional or conventional story such as
“Aurea”. Identify the major differences in
terms of plot, character, and theme.
3. What aspect of contemporary life does the
story criticize?
4. Identify a line from the story that
could qualify as an epiphany.
5. What details in the story are
indicative of contemporary Bikol
culture?
6. Identify the absurdist elements
in the story. What makes these
details’ absurd?
Worksheet 1: (Group work)
• Map the movement of the characters through
the landscape of the story from Dayangdang
to SM. Use a combination of text and
graphics by using drawings, pictures or
photographs. You may use pencils, ballpoint
pens, markers, crayons or paint.
• (use cartolina for this activity)
Activity 2:
•Classify the following lines based
on what you consider funny. Say H
if you think it’s Hilarious; SF if you
think it’s Somewhat Funny, or L
for Lame.
1. “Tigsaway ni Carding an
maribok nyang ataman pero
garo man sa nakakaintindi ini ta
sya German Shepherd—mayo
sa bokabolaryo niya an
tataramon na Bikol.”
2. “pagbuklat niya kan saiyang mga
mata nahiling nya an mabarahibong
pandok. Dinungaw sya kaini. Dai man
si Bornok naiintindihan ni Carding pero
may duwa siyang teoria: 1.) dai pa
nababahog an saiyang ataman, o 2.)
naghahanap ini nin “Kadyamanin.”
3. “may nag-agi nin paratindang kalamay pero
dai man nagbakal si Carding ta basog pa siya.
Nagrani si Bornok asin pinarong an lubot kan
parakalamay.”

4. “Nagbalik ako sa kinaban para sabihon

saindo na may thirty percent discount sale sa
SM!” Kurahaw kan Handyong. “Igwa man ako
nin mall tour na mapoon ngonyan!”
5. “Madali nang matapos an teleserye
ni Claudine asin Raymart.”

6. “Pero hilngon mo: kalalawgon ni

Handyong si Gerald Anderson asin
kalalawgon man ni Oryol si Kim Chiu.
7. “Tinaas niya an saiyang mga kamot asin
naglitanya. Nagluwa siya nin mga tataramon na pano
nin kadunungan na mahahanap mo man lang sa mga
Hallmark cards o sa Quotable Quotes kan Reader’s
Digest.”

8. “Pinikit ni Handyong an saiyang mga mata asin

nagpoon na magkanta nin Never Gonna Give You Up
ni Rick Astley mantang binebendisyonan niya an
gabos.”
9. “Pagal na siya kan mabatang parong kan
dinailan pagkaaga—pagal na siya sa
tambalang Angel Locsin asin Piolo Pascual.”

10. “May mga UMD (Universal Motion

Dwendes) na nagbabarayli sa gilid kan
entblado. May mga umboy na nakarilinya
para sa maharang pero libreng sopas sa may
stall harani sa Jollibee.
Activity 3: Postmodernism
Below are some characteristics of
postmodernist fiction culled from Fleming
and Barry. Identify which postmodernist
feature is present in “Cinarding” by saying
details and other evidence from the story to
prove your point.
PASTICHE –using ideas from previous
work and literary styles and pasting them
together to create something new, e.g.
the movie Moulin Rouge
INTERTEXTUALITY – references to earlier
literary works within a new work, a form
of homage, or the paying of respects to
the older works.
METAFICTION – writing about writing to make
readers conscious that what they are reading
stems from the imagination of the writer, and
not reality.
METAFICTION – writing about writing to make
readers conscious that what they are reading
stems from the imagination of the writer, and
not reality.
TEMPORAL DISTORTION – a way of telling a story
by jumbling up the chronological sequence of
events; the author may zigzag from past events to
the present to further past events within a story.

MAGIC REALISM – the mixing of realistic and fantastic

scenes in a story; something as common in the Philippines
as using a palm blessed on Palm Sunday to ward off
lightning may sound like magic realism to a Western
audience
Group activity:
•Group 1: Retell the story by singing.
•Group 2: Retell the story through story
map
•Group 3: Retell the story through re-
enactment
•Group 4: Retell the story through story
relay.
Criteria:
• Creativity: 50%
• Relevance: 30%
• Teamwork: 20%
• TOTAL: 100%
•Based from the story read, have
you experienced losing or almost
losing someone and realizing later
or too late the value of that person
in your life?
Group Activity
In a small group, devise an
alternative ending for the
story and dramatize or
perform this in class.
Criteria:
•Creativity: 40%
•Characterization: 30%
•Relevance: 20%
•Teamwork: 10%
•TOTAL: 100%
Agreement:
•What is Flash Fiction?
•Read the story
“Fastrix” by Casilda
Paz