Rosalinda Orosa turns back the pages
MANILA, Philippines - Literary critic Amadis Ma. Guerrero describes the wide range of subjects in Turning Back the Pages as “remarkable.” Written by Rosalinda L. Orosa, STAR’s internationally-awarded cultural essayist-critic, the book virtually offers a subject for every reader historian, sociologist, artist, student, music-lover, society matron, etc.
Widely diverse personalities are portrayed: President Jose Laurel, industrialist Eugenio Lopez, painter Sanso, and the author as a budding ballerina.
Historian-economist Benito Legarda, Jr. regards the chapter on Rizal the best part of the book. Sociologists will have a view of the Filipino family then and now — as also of the vaunted Filipino hospitality. Music maniacs will be introduced to the music-lover.
Nationalists will want to learn by heart the revolutionary song Birola which Filipino rebels sang during the Fil-Spanish war. When Orosa sang Birola at the book launch, the audience applauded the song so lustily, she had to repeat it after which a listener observed: Birola is a unique legacy to the nation.
Known largely for her reviews, Orosa will surprise readers with her poems, light verses and short stories, one of which the DepEd made required reading in high school. Readers will be even more surprised by the chapter “Humor in Various Guises” which delightfully runs counter to her thought-provoking essays.
The author’s responses to her international awards reveal the enormous contributions — cultural or otherwise — which Germany, Spain and France have made to this country.
Turning Back the Pages is available at National Book Store branches and Solidaridad Bookshop at P300 a copy.
