Philippine E-Journals

Efren R. Abueg’s Isang Babae sa Panahon ng Pagbabangon: A Woman's Reading of a Man's Writing on Women's Rising

Gregory Wright

Discipline: Literature

 

Abstract:

On the surface, Efren R. Abueg's carefully constructed novel, lsang Babae sa Panabon ng Pagbabangon, comes across as feminist, its title conjuring an image of a woman situated within a significant historical moment, a period of revolution. The word pagbabangon highlights the more inspiring, more glorious aspect of social upheaval: the rising of a people who have seen the need for change and are not afraid to effect it, whatever the cost. The woman in that title, by association with the given historical moment, shares in the glory of the rising, so that the pagbabangon seems to be not just that of society, but of this woman as well. The teaser on the book's cover cues the reader in on where the story is headed: "Isang babae. Middle class. Maganda at edukada. Biktima ng exploytasyon. Paano nangyari ito? Paano siya bumangon sa isang panahong ang bansa ay nagdaraan sa matinding krisis ng pagbabago?" And the novel proceeds to answer these questions in a narrative fraught with intrigue and spiced with a little