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Artistic creativity, form, and fictional experimentation in Filipina American fiction
MELUS, Spring, 2004 by Helena Grice
The whole spectrum of utterance--as anecdote, artifact, and mode of cultural exchange--is foregrounded as the central medium of communication and understanding in the text, both between characters, and between text and reader. I want to suggest that of these epistemological forms, gossip/tsismis assumes a central significance. (12) Indeed, the character Pucha describes it as "the center of our lives" (66). The novel has no central plot; rather it presents a range of characters that are affected to varying degrees by the corruptions of the Marcos regime, in both positive and negative ways. Some, predominantly the securely wealthy, are deeply invested in maintaining the Marcos regime; others like the poor young prostitute Joey Sands, simply suffer at its hands; still others, the opposition leaders, plot to bring about its demise. Although there is no central character, the well-to-do young woman Rio Gonzaga is often identified by critics as a unifying presence; it is from her circle of friends, family, and acquaintances that the intrigues and tsismis/gossip tend to emanate.
Tsismis has several functions in the text. In the quotation opening this section, Spacks notes that gossip can serve both a social purpose as a mode of power that can challenge public or "official" assumptions or opinions, and also can provide an individual or private means of affirming subjectivity. In this sense, it has "special value as a resource for the oppressed or dispossessed," insofar as it may provide a "language for an alternative culture" (Spacks 15, 46). It is also a mode of interpretation, which can penetrate the boundaries of authority. In Dogeaters, tsismis is almost always engaged in by women, and it becomes a means of connection within the female community; in fact, it could even be said to create the female community. As one female character invitingly says to another: "sit down let's make tsismis" (55). Gossip as a discursive practice is traditionally--and often stereotypically--associated with women. Rather than denigrate it as such, as often occurs, I want to suggest that gossip/tsismis in Dogeaters is in fact a valid and important gendered discourse, with a whole range of subversive and creative possibilities. Rachel M. Brownstein notes that "gossip, like novels, is a way of turning life into story. Good gossip approximates art" (7).
Gossip/tsismis is thus an art form, an intimate, oral tradition that embodies the fictional and creative; to participate in it is to reflect upon ourselves and others, to make sense of our world, to offer a creative vision of the universe, to understand and interpret the past and present events of our existences. In this sense it bears many similarities to talk-story. In Dogeaters, it is only the female characters, notably Rio and her cousin Pucha, and their mothers, who participate in gossip about leading political and cultural figures in Manila. It becomes a counter-narrative, and spreads news faster than any other form of communication, as the character Daisy Avila observes: "Tsismis quickly circulates in Manila" (107). Men, even powerful ones, do not--indeed cannot--participate. Even the powerful character General Ledesma laments that "tsismis [...] this country thrives on misinformation" (175). Through this, Hagedorn actually effects a reversal of plot emphasis. Although gossip, the spread of movie news, and activities such as the Manila Film Festival or the beauty contest would normally become sub-plot in a novel, subordinated to the primary narrative concern with all things politic, here they are the primary focus, set against the textual background noise of political maneuvering and activity. Consequently, the traditional stuff of "female" plot is foregrounded over those stereotypically "male" arenas of politics, power, and general officialdom. Gossip thus becomes not just a counter-discourse, but the primary lexicon of power in the text. (13) It also becomes the connective tissue between the disparate plot elements of the narrative: what links two characters or scenarios may only be that they hear of each other via tsismis.
