Writing the Body Corporeal Intimacy in N. V. M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers

Authors

Stanley Guevarra, University of TokyoFollow

Abstract

In postwar Philippine literature, there is a conspicuous presence of Japanese and American characters, whose appearances can be investigated in terms of bodily representation. In his novel The Bamboo Dancers (1959), N. V. M. Gonzalez marks the corporeal presence of an American character and atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima through bodily description. Building on previous readings of the novel, I propose corporeal intimacy as an interpretative lens for analyzing the representation of bodies of other races in a postwar, postcolonial Philippine context. Literary descriptions of bodies reveal implicit attitudes toward the owners of those bodies as much as they manufacture affects and construct an emotional landscape of their time. In the specific case of The Bamboo Dancers, corporeal intimacy toward Japanese and American characters is a modest, albeit suspect, venture toward transcultural understanding worth considering in the context of the novel’s publication.

Recommended Citation

Guevarra, Stanley (2025) "Writing the Body Corporeal Intimacy in N. V. M. Gonzalez’s The Bamboo Dancers," Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 26.
Available at: https://archium.ateneo.edu/paha/vol5/iss2/26