Early life and family

Nicomedes “Nick” Joaquin y Marquez, fondly called “Onching” by close family and friends was born on May 4, 1917, in Paco, Manila.^[3] There are varying accounts on the date of his birth, some cite it as September 15, 1917. This could stem from how Joaquin himself refrained from revealing his date of birth because he disliked the fuss of people coming over and celebrating his birthday.

Joaquin was the fifth out of the ten children of Don Leocadio Joaquin and Salomé Marquez. Don Leocadio fought in the Philippine Revolution by the side of his friend General Emilio Aguinaldo, and reached the position of Colonel. He retired after he was wounded in action and moved on to a prolific career as a lawyer in Manila and the southern province of Laguna. Salomé Marquez was a well-educated woman who taught in a Manila public school. She was trained by Americans in English to teach at the public schools when the United States colonized the Philippines.^[3]

The Joaquin family lived in a two-story residential and commercial building, greatly uncommon at that time, on Herran Street (now Pedro Gil Street) in Paco, Manila.^[4] Joaquin was said to have had an extremely happy childhood. The Joaquin children were tutored in Spanish & piano, and the children were encouraged to have an interest in the arts. The Joaquin household communicated in Spanish and heard mass regularly. Joaquin is a notably devout Christian and continued being so his whole life.^[3]

The Joaquins had lived a handsome life until Don Leocadio lost the family fortune in a failed investment on an oil exploration project in the late 1920s.^[4] The family moved out of their Herran home and into a rented house in Pasay. Don Leocadio passed not long after. The young Joaquin was only twelve years old and this signalled a big change in their family.

Education

Nick Joaquin attended Paco Elementary School and went to Mapa High School for secondary education. However, in his third year informed his mother that he wanted to drop out because he felt that the classroom was too confined for him and that he learned more outside of it.[3] His mother Salomé, a former teacher, was devastated by the news, but still allowed him to do so.

After leaving school, Joaquin worked as an apprentice in a bakery in Pasay and later on in the publishing company TVT (Tribune-Vanguardia-Taliba.)[4] This allowed him a small taste of an industry he would spend most of his life in.

An avid reader, Joaquin, used this time to pursue his passion for it. He was described as having a “rabid and insane love for books” by his sister-in-law Sarah K. Joaquin. His parents had encouraged his interest in books early on. He already had a borrower's card at the National Library when he was ten. He purveyed his father's personal library and loved the bookstores in downtown Manila. He read voraciously and intently, he read everything that had caught his eye. He enjoyed the “poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Vachel Lindsay to the stories of Anton Chekhov, to the novels of Dostoyevsky, D. H. Lawrence, and Willa Cather. He read American magazines (Saturday Evening Post, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Magazine) and discovered the fiction of Booth Tarkington, Somerset Maugham, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway.”[4]

Career beginnings

Very early on, Joaquin was already exploring his literary voice. At age 17, he published his first English poem about Don Quixote, in the literary section of the pre-World War II Tribune, where he worked as a proofreader. It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafin Lanot. Joaquin had felt a strong connection with the story of Don Quixote; he felt like he could identify with the character. Later in life, he used a similar iteration of Quixote in his various pen names, Quijano de Pacó and Quijano de Manila.

A little later, in 1937 he published his first short story in the Sunday Tribune Magazine, “The Sorrows of Vaudeville” telling the story of the vaudevilles in Manila—a city he was endlessly enamored by. ^[4] It was accepted by the writer and editor Serafin Lanot.

After Joaquin won a nationwide essay competition to honor La Naval de Manila, sponsored by the Dominican Order, the University of Santo Tomas awarded him an honorary Associate in Arts (A.A.) and a scholarship to St. Albert's Convent, the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong. There he was once again close to his family's original goal for him to enter the seminary. Joaquin and his family were devoutly Christian. He notably heard mass daily and was fond of praying the Holy Rosary. He only stayed in Hong Kong for two years before returning to Manila.

Joaquin continued publishing stories and poems between 1934 and 1941 in the Herald Mid-Week Magazine and the Sunday Tribune Magazine. The Commonwealth years were a particularly vibrant era in Philippine literature. Later, the Japanese occupation closed down the Tribune and other publications. The young Joaquin had to look for ways to support his family.

Throughout the occupation, Joaquin had continued writing. “The Woman Who Felt Like Lazarus” and the essay “La Naval de Manila” were borne out of this war period Joaquin had detested. His work had appeared in the Philippine Review, an English-language journal, in 1943. His story, "It Was Later Than We Thought" and his translation of Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios were also published. He was beginning to spark an interest from readers. However, the reticent Joaquin shied away from recognition. He had created this mysterious and distant author. ^[4]

Career

After returning to the Philippines, Joaquin joined the Philippines Free Press, starting as a proofreader. He soon attracted notice for his poems, stories and plays, as well as his journalism under the pen name Quijano de Manila. His journalism was both intellectual and provocative, an unknown genre in the Philippines at that time, and raised the country's level of reportage.

Nick Joaquin is interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Joaquin deeply admired José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, paying him tribute in such books as The Storyteller's New Medium – Rizal in Saga, The Complete Poems and Plays of Jose Rizal, and A Question of Heroes: Essays in Criticism on Ten Key Figures of Philippine History. He translated the hero's valedictory poem, in the original Spanish Mi Ultimo Adios, as "Land That I Love, Farewell!".^[5]

Joaquin represented the Philippines at the International PEN Congress in Tokyo in 1957, and was appointed as a member of the Motion Pictures commission under presidents Diosdado Macapagal and Ferdinand E. Marcos.^[5]

After being honored as National Artist, Joaquin used his position to work for intellectual freedom in society. He secured the release of imprisoned writer José F. Lacaba. At a ceremony on Mount Makiling attended by First Lady Imelda Marcos, Joaquin delivered an invocation to Maria Makiling a diwata and the mountain's mythical maiden. Joaquin touched on the importance of freedom and the artist. After that, Joaquin was excluded by the Marcos regime as a speaker at important cultural events.^[5]

Joaquin died of cardiac arrest in the early morning of April 29, 2004, at his home in San Juan, Metro Manila. He was then editor of Philippine Graphic magazine, where he worked with Juan P. Dayang, the magazine's first publisher. Joaquin was also publisher of its sister publication, Mirror Weekly, a women's magazine, and wrote the column “Small Beer” for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Isyu, an opinion tabloid.^[5]

Recognition

Literary prominence, as measured by different English critics, is said to rest upon one of Nick Joaquin's published books entitled “Prose and Poems” which was published in 1952. Published in this book are the poems “Three Generations”, “May Day Eve”, “After the Picnic”, “The Legend of the Dying Wanton”, “The Legend of the Virgin Jewel;”, “It Was Later than we Thought”. Among these, the first of the mentioned written works were deliberated by editors Seymour Laurence and Jose Garcia Villa as a “short story masterpiece” (1953). The poem was also chosen as the best short story published in the Philippine Press between March 1943 and November 1944.^[5]

Nick Joaquin, as a member of the Philippine Free Press staff, submits weekly articles which are published under his pen name Quijano de Manila. Additionally, he was chosen journalist of the year in the 11th National Press Club-Esso Journalism awards in 1996. He was nominated by Free Press Editor Teodoro Locsin who mentions that the journalistic work of Nick Joaquin has raised the journalism to the level of literature.^[1]

The literary ability of Nick Joaquin allowed him to earn multiple distinction and honors in the field of Philippine literature. On June 1, 1973, he won in the Seato Literary Award Contest for his submitted collection of short stories and poem. While on May 27, 1976, he was a recipient of one of the nation's most prestigious awards which carried material emoluments besides honors and privileges. He was conferred the title of “National Artist for Literature” by the former president and Mrs. Marcos during the special rites at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1976, on the condition that the Regime release Pete Lacaba, the author of the poem "Prometheus Unbound" from detention.^[1]

Themes & motifs

In a critical study of his prose and poems, the subjects depicted his nostalgia for the past, church rituals, legends, the mysterious, the different shades of evil, the power of the basic emotions over culture, the freedom of the will against fate, the mutability of the human body compared to the spirit, and the like. They are often set in old Manila, the walled city of Intramuros, and sometimes Paco – as a symbol of congruence, the glory and culture of the past, rather than a geographical concept. His characters are mostly cultured intellectuals of past generations, while the opposing characters are usually from the materialistic modern age. Unless they are portrayed to adjust better than old men, women seldom have significant roles in this cultured world of the past. ^[1][2]

Criticism

Bibliography

Filmography

• Siglo Filipino : Odyssey of a Nation (2001)

Contribution to English Letters

Nick Joaquin on a 2010 stamp of the Philippines

Nick Joaquin's name as a literary artist is considered, by different university professors, as a key figure in Philippine literature in English due to the imparted truths of his writing. In his different works, Nick Joaquin has presented objective realities about different events and people capturing both their good and bad qualities^[5]. In his essays, Nick Joaquin is said to employ real life situations through symbolic qualities reflecting certain social and cultural values. This is done through the subject selection and form of writing chosen which are considered by many different fellow artists as unique.^[5] In terms of the development of the English language, Nick Joaquin was able to contribute to this by adding Filipino feelings, values, and nuances. Literary writers have mentioned how he was able to preserve the culture of the Filipinos through the use of a different tongue. The English language used by Nick Joaquin became a medium to express his literary artistry and Filipino Patriotism.^[10] Nick Joaquin was able to publish a large body of literary works during his time and through this, he has had great contribution to Philippine literature in English.^[5]

Contribution to Literary Journalism

Nick Joaquin's foray into literary journalism involved bringing together his two careers. Joaquin argued that Philippine letters during the 1950s and 1960s were polarized into extremes: literature and journalism.^[11] Joaquin, under the name of Quijano de Manila during that time, belonged to both worlds as found in his works. According to different studies on literary journalism, works of Nick Joaquin serve as examples of social sciences applied to the arts^[10]. This was further seen in his work “Philippine letters’ Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde which, according to scholars, showed de Manila's career which oscillates between fiction and non-fiction^[10]. It was during 1960 wherein Nick Joaquin entered journalism from being a fiction writer. It was under the name of de Manila wherein he began to publish reportage in a literary journalistic style. This was then referred to as, he claimed, “New Journalism” in the United States according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.^[11] Different literary scholars claim that the works of Nick Joaquin as de Manila exemplifies what he quotes as “good reportage with grace of style”. One of de Manila's publication, “The House on Zapote Street”, was termed journalism by the author but is read much like his fictional works under the name Nick Joaquin.^[11]

Adaptations

• Jaguar (1979), is a 1979 Film Noir directed by Lino Brocka with the screenplay written by Jose F. Lacaba and Ricardo Lee. The plot was inspired by Nick Joaquin's 1960 article "The Boy Who Wanted to Become Society" later republished in the non-fiction crime anthology, Reportage on Crime (1977).
• Kisapmata (1981), is a 1981 psychological horror film directed by Mike De Leon, written for the screen by De Leon, Clodualdo del Mundo Jr., and Raquel Villavicencio. The plot was inspired by Nick Joaquin's 1961 article "The House on Zapote Street" later republished in the non-fiction crime anthology, Reportage on Crime (1977).
• Tatarin (2001), a movie based on Joaquin's short story "The Summer Solstice", was directed by Amable “Tikoy” Aguiluz. The screenplay was written by Ricardo Lee. Joaquin was consulted on the film. The cast included notable Filipino actors Edu Manzano (as Paeng Moreta,) Dina Bonnevie (Lupe Moreta), Rica Peralejo (Amada), and Raymond B. Bagatsing.
• Ang Larawan (2017), which won the best picture award in the 2017 Metro Manila Film Festival. It is a screen adaptation of Joaquin's A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino. It was translated to Filipino and written as a libretto by Rolando Tinio. The music was set by Ryan Cayabyab.
• Filipina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval is currently working on the film inspired by the sensibilities of Nick Joaquin's 1972 short story collection, Tropical Gothic. ^[12][13]