A LITERARY CRITIC has lauded the late National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin for his contributions to Catholic literature in the country.
Nick Joaquin is the most complete writer as far as I’m concerned. He masters different genres and deals with them in a comprehensive way, in a highly original manner,” Philippine Daily Inquirer Arts and Books editor Joselito Zulueta said in a lecture last Feb. 14 at the Thomas Aquinas Research Center.
Zulueta stressed how Joaquin’s “genius can cast and express the same old stories into fascinating modern forms” and “interrogate and analyze Catholic teachings,” citing “The Woman Who Had Two Navels” as an example.
“Basically, he is a Catholic novelist. His fiction has Catholic and sacramental delegations,” said Zulueta, also the publications adviser of the Varsitarian.
“The Woman Who Had Two Navels and Tales of the Tropical Gothic,” a collection of Nick Joaquin’s stories, is set to hit bookshelves in April under Penguin Classics, a renowned publisher of classic English literary works around the world.
The lecture was part of “Portrait of a National Artist: The Nick Joaquin Centennial Commemorative Lectures and Panel Presentations on Cultural Studies,” which marks the the birth centennial of Joaquin.
