Killing Time: The Condition of Exile in the Fiction of Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr.

• Main Author: Abad-Jugo, Cyan
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: deterritorialization; home; intellectual exile; postcolonial
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/kk/vol1/iss10/4; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/kk/article/1124/viewcontent/_5BKKv00n10_2008_5D_202.3_Article_AbadJugo.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

The exilic condition extends not only to the Filipino who has chosen to study or live abroad, or is forced to leave the Philippines, but also the Filipino who, though he resides and works in his own country, feels himself in a state of rootless suspension brought about by the circumstances of history and colonization. In this light, all Filipinos—belonging to one or the other geographic, economic, tribal or social group—could be considered exiles, and this could be reflected in our literature. Dolores Feria states: “our literature has always been a consequence of exile.” A Filipino writer’s works could be expressions, possibly even extensions, of his own condition of exile, such that his characters portray, enact, and/or embody it. In specific stories by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr., his intellectual, educated, middle class characters experience a particular kind of exile brought about by several factors from schooling and upbringing to culture, lifestyle, and choice of language. In his first novel, Killing Time in a Warm Place, and in his short stories “The First of Our Dead,” “Amnesty,” “Storyline,” and “We Global Men,” one could read distinct manifestations of exile and exertions to cope and to come to terms with this uneasy, irresolvable condition.