5 questions for Jessica Hagedorn

MANILA, Philippines - Jessica Hagedorn talks to ‘Supreme’ about her crime anthology ‘Manila Noir,’ working with fellow Filipino writers, and her best memories of Manila.

It was a bright, sunny morning when I got to talk to Jessica Hage- dorn about Manila Noir, the latest of the Akashic Books’s original noir anthologies. The weather was a perfect contrast to the topic that we were about to discuss: crime and the feral side of Manila. For a city whose tabloids carry stories of murder, rape, chop-chop la- dies, and other grotesqueries, it’s sur- prising that we don’t have a lot of crime fiction books. Along with other handful of crime fiction such as Trese, Smaller and Smaller Circles and The Philippine Genre Stories: Crime, Manila Noir arrives just in time when Manila grows shinier with all the rapid urban development but with the old, gritty underbelly still lurking beneath the shadows.

Manila Noir showcases excellent crime fiction from some of the best Filipino writers like Gina Apostol, R. Zamora Linmark, Lysley Tenorio, Jose Dalisay, and Angelo Lacuesta. The crimes that take place may not be as grisly or graphically depicted as we’ve read in the tabloids and/or seen in the movies, but each story uncovers the dark heart of Manila that we fear and live with, enough to imbue our daily struggle with a steady sense of tragedy hanging around our necks like a noose.

SUPREME: First off, how did you become involved editing Manila edi- tion of Akashic’s ‘Noir Books’?

JESSICA HAGEDORN: I’m a fan of the Noir series and I think it’s kind of a brilliant concept. I was thinking ‘Why not do one on Manila?’ It’s the perfect setting for this kind of fiction. It’s not a city ev- erybody knows and it’s time they did and I could do it. I know the publisher and I went to them and pitched the idea. I said, ‘You know, I want to do Manila Noir and I’d have a great time having it showcase writers from the US and elsewhere and writers from Manila who really know the terrain.’

So it wasn’t exclusively for Filipino writers?

The series is about having writers who know the terrain. So, for example, I tried to get James Hamilton Patterson who used to live here. He now writes these beautiful crime fiction series. But he’s not well, his health isn’t good and he lives in Italy. I e-mailed him and I said, “You’d be the perfect writer for a noir story set in Manila because you really know it and it could be set back in the time you were living here.” He couldn’t do it. But if he had said yes, I would have included him. So it’s not just about Filipino writers writing about Manila. I think I could have opened it up even more, but I basically wanted to highlight the Filipino writers because they need to be known more around the world.

Is Manila Noir the first of the Noir books to have a graphic noir (Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo’s ‘Thirteen Stations’)?

It’s the first. It’s fantastic. I have Ichi Batacan to thank for that. I thought here’s someone who would know who the other young writers are so I wrote her an e-mail and I said, “Hey, you

write crime fiction, one of the few. Do you know anybody who I should look into and is writing something so differ- ent that has to do with the underworld but is doing it in a fresh and edgy way?” I mentioned something about graphic novels because I said I liked that stuff and she said, “There’s these guys...” so she gave me their names, I went online and looked it up and I said, “Oh, man. This is perfect!” Because what’s going to make this different? In the Philippines you have super sophisticated people, right? People who look like you, people who look like her. But you believe in aswangs. You go clubbing, you know what’s going on in the world. You believe in the Virgin Mary. You believe in kapres. That’s so quintessentially, specifically Filipino. I was sort of looking for something that would raise this book to another level. So the graphic noir, to me, did it. Everybody loved it. I’m very happy for Budjette and Kajo.

You mentioned in the introduction that you grew up reading Filipino komiks. Was that something that you also took into your work as you went along in your career?

I think so. I’m very visual when I write. I think I have a lot of visual images going on that I use. I think my style is that episodic/fragmented style even when I do my big novels and I think that has to do with the [serialized comics]; partially the influence of that in my creative process. It’s almost like you’re thinking in those boxes.

What’s your most memorable image of Manila?

One of my favorite images of Manila as a city is always the bay. Even when it’s old and battered, I love whole waterfront roadway. When I was in Havana, in the Malecón, which looks just like Roxas Boulevard: the seawall and the trees; that’s to die for. And when you’re watching the sunset there, oh man.

It’s corny, right? But it’s so beautiful. Don’t take it for granted.

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Manila Noir is available at National Book Store and Powerbooks for P395. Tweet the author @donutjaucian.