Eye of the Fish

by Luis H. Francia

392pp | 2001 | Paperback | ISBN 9781885030313

A deft, luminously intelligent examination of the Philippines through a glass darkly. Cross-cutting between Francia’s recollections of the Philippines of his youth and accounts of his travels through the archipelago over the past two decades, Eye of the Fish paints a vivid and detailed portrait of the terror, beauty, and insistent humanity of the Philippines today. Francia’s odyssey takes him the length of the nation, from Batanes in the north to the Muslim Jolo and Marawi regions of the south, and from the rugged mountain hideaways of revolutionary freedom fighters to the well-appointed salons of the political and cultural elite. Painters and priests, island shamans and small-town politicians, cultists, feminists, and infamous first ladies all make an appearance in this imaginative and idiosyncratic exploration of “home.” Through their stories, and through his own memories of estrangement and acceptance in the Philippines and in the U.S., Francia reflects on the hybridity that is simultaneously the burden and the benediction of the Philippines — and of his own mestizo self.

praise

“As engaged as he is intrepid, Luis H. Francia proves a sure-footed guide as he leads us through insurgencies and art exhibitions, cockfights and cabarets. Eye of the Fish is at once a hugely readable travelogue and an indispensable guide to a fascinating and richly varied archipelago.” —Amitav Ghosh, author of The Glass Palace

“Gifted with a sharp eye for the incongruous, a keen taste for the ironic, and a deft feel for the tragic, Luis H. Francia writes about the Philippines like a man possessed by ghosts he can neither tame nor fully recognize. Haunted by childhood memories of a post-war Manila, Francia in turn has been haunting the land of his birth. He has visited the centers and peripheries of everyday lives, recounting encounters with victims and victimizers, retelling the rumors and truths that surround and inflect the most tumultuous events in the nation’s recent history.”
—Vicente L. Rafael, author of White Love and Other Events in Filipino History

awards

Winner, PEN Open Book Beyond Margins Award
Winner, Asian American Writers’ Workshop Literary Award