The Jessica Hagedorn Papers

“A prominent figure in contemporary Asian American literature, Hagedorn is widely respected as a postcolonial author whose work addresses issues of power and identity in Filipino society and among Filipino American immigrants. Portraying the stark realities of urban street life, her works cover themes of cultural and economic imperialism, ethnic and gender identity, violence, and political corruption. Known for blending stylistic elements from disparate literary genres—poetry, fiction, music, and performance art—Hagedorn utilizes collage to examine the influence of popular American culture on the development of Asian American identity.”

—Kyzer, “Hagedorn, Jessica,” p. 51.

“The Jessica Hagedorn Papers, 1974-2006, [at The Bancroft Library] consist of drafts of her works, public relations materials, contracts and agreements, notes, and correspondence. The materials relate to her major or minor works, or are directly relevant to Jessica Hagedorn’s career as a novelist and a playwright.”

—Espinoza, “Finding Aid.”

“Jessica Hagedorn’s 1990 novel Dogeaters occupies a prominent position within the US academy as the best known and most widely taught novel about the Philippines. The novel has proven resonant with contemporary critics because of the various theoretical connections it suggests. Its kaleidoscopic multiplicity of narratives, set in a former colony of the United States, as well as Hagedorn’s status as a Filipino American author writing about the Philippines, has facilitated productive linkages between postcolonial theory and theories of postmodernism; American Studies and postcolonial theory; Asian American Studies and theories of transnationalism. A number of critics have also articulated feminist and queer analyses with theories of nation and colonialism, noting the centrality of native female, queer, and maternal subjects in the novel.”

—Chang, “Masquerade, Hysteria, and Neocolonial Femininity,” p. 637

Like the Asian and Asian American scholars who use the words of American imperialists to critique colonialism, Hagedorn uses the words of historical figures for her own purpose.

“Hagedorn takes seriously the perspectives of the watched, the gazed upon, the icon of spectatorial pleasure (and contempt) who offer counternarratives to the official ‘information’ produced about Filipinos by political and intellectual authorities such as the nineteenth-century French traveler Jean Mallat and the American president William McKinley. Rather than offering a single perspective on ‘reality,’ Hagedorn presents several conflicting and simultaneous narratives that exist in a horizontal relationship to one another.”

—Lee, The Americas of Asian American Literature, p. 84

Jean Mallat (1806-1863) “was a nineteenth-century man of science… an amateur historian, biologist, anthropologist, geologist, economist, and political scientist… he presented this encyclopedic study to his countrymen as a guide for those contemplating a trip or a commercial venture in the archipelago. He provided hints about business conditions and possibilities—prices were given in French francs—and descriptions of local customs—those of the natives and the colonials. ... Clearly, he depended on others for some of his material; he borrowed freely from earlier works in the historical section, and his descriptions of many outlying areas suggested that he was not really personally familiar with them.”

—Larkin, [Book review], p. 457.

William McKinley (1843-1901) was the twenty-fifth president of the United States and a proponent of American imperialism. The Spanish American War broke out in 1898, during his presidency; after the Treaty of Paris was signed in December of 1898, the United States acquired Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. McKinley also pushed for the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii, worked to expand trade opportunities in China, and oversaw the negotiations that led to the building of the Panama Canal.

José Rizal is a Philippine national hero whose novels Noli me tangere (1887) and El filibusterismo (1891) depicted the corruption of the Spanish colonial government and the Catholic church in the Philippines. Rizal was declared an enemy of the state and executed in 1896.Rizal’s status as a national hero is not without controversy. The anniversary of his death, December 30, has been celebrated every year as Rizal Day since 1898. The American colonial government declared December 30 a public holiday in 1902. Monuments honoring Rizal can be found all over the world, and his novels are required reading in high schools and colleges in the Philippines.

Renato Constantino, however, referred to Rizal as an “American-sponsored hero,” adding “the attention lavished on Rizal relegated other heroes to the background—heroes whose revolutionary example and anti-American pronouncements might have stiffened Filipino resistance to the new conquerors. The Americans especially emphasised the fact that Rizal was a reformer, not a separatist. He could therefore not be invoked on the question of Philippine independence.”

Rizal wrote his novels in Spanish. The English translation The Social Cancer—far from the literal translation of the original title in Latin, Touch me not—was published in 1912.

“For Whom the Air Waves” was the working title for the script that was eventually made in 1994 as Fresh Kill.

“Video maker Shu Lea Cheang’s vibrant experimental debut feature, ‘Fresh Kill,’ is self-described as ‘Eco-Cyber-Noia,’ and it’s hard to improve upon that.

“She and writer Jessica Hagedorn concern themselves with the interaction of a deteriorating environment, burgeoning cyberspace and mounting urban paranoia to create a vividly contemporary background for their gentle lesbian love story.

“‘Fresh Kill,’ a celebration of multicultural diversity with as much humor as seriousness, suggests that love may be the only defense in a world whose existence is endangered by conglomerates, ever expanding and polluting the mind as well as the planet.”

—Thomas, “Vital ‘Fresh Kill’ Dissects Life’s Absurdities,” p 1.