AMERICAN writer Annie Dillard said the act of writing a memoir tends to cannibalize and reinvent one’s story that what one is writing becomes one’s “remembered truth.”
John Jack Wigley, the director of UST Publishing House, admitted as much, saying that his account in his book, Falling into the Manhole: A Memoir (UST, 2012), is an act of reconciliation between the “remembering and the remembered self.”
Wigley seems not shy in parading the skeletons in his closet, retelling the ups and even the downs of his life in his book, which contains several heart-rending essays that talk about his early life as a “G.I. baby” from Angeles City in Pampanga, working in a famous pizza joint in Makati, and actually falling into a manhole.
The author is able to wrestle with some of the hard-pressing topics in the book by employing his signature wit and humor.
“It’s important for me to hear my own stories in my own voice, without fear or embarrassment,” he told the Varsitarian.
Abandoned by his American father at a very young age, Wigley writes he had a hard time growing up.
Along with his mother and siblings, he frequently transferred homes—from what appeared to be a haunted house, to a former dress shop near the railroad where they got robbed twice, and on to an apartment that resembled a septic tank.
“Missing Link” tells of the unexpected dead-end he encountered in America when he attempted to get in touch with his father, saying that the “story is complete.”
“One thing is clear though,” he writes. “There are no illegitimate children in the world. Only illegitimate parents.”
But his undying love for his mother is highlighted in “Coping with an Old and Sick Parent.” He wrote it while his mother was suffering from two degenerative illnesses. (She has since passed away.)
“This may sound gross but when you genuinely love your mother, you can do anything for her,” he writes. “Even pull out her shit.”
Femme fandom
“Madonna: Vogue-ing the art of reinvention” is a pop culture reference to the so-called Anti-Christ of the 20th century, Madonna. While Wigley’s other idols, Philippines’ Superstar, Nora Aunor and the Prada-wearing devil, Meryl Streep refused to be left unwritten, as he allocated narratives for them as well.
Meanwhile, “…Miss Philippines!” illustrates his adoration (if not obsession) for beauty contests.
Even though he mines the stories from his past, Wigley says he did not play with the facts. He adds he even retained the downright degrading parts. He said he incorporates humor, making the bitter experiences lighter and, in a way, less humiliating.
Overall, the book is as honest as it gets. Readers would easily grasp the narratives and their meanings because of the author’s clear language.
Wigley said that even academics like him are only human, prone to folly and idiocy. And he does not spare himself the flak judging from his book.
