WRITING TO LIVE, LIVING TO WRITE: THE SELF IN PHILIPPINE MARTIAL LAW AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

Abstract

This study examines the production of full-length autobiographies set during the Marcos dictatorship. Particularly, it focuses on the self that writes and the self that is written. Mostly published from the year 2000 onwards, these texts reveal sensitive and highly contested topics not only about the dictatorship, but also about the splintered Left, which was revitalized and led the opposition during this period. Thus, one’s life story circulates in a highly contested discursive field, which affects how the self is projected in autobiography. For instance, these autobiographies were written to counter character assassination, and to assert the truthfulness of one’s experiences that may fall outside official history. Writing autobiographies was also for catharsis and commemoration. Hence, political repression complicates and shapes Philippine autobiography: the past is viewed and rewritten from the vantage point of the present, which is marred by multiple and contested narratives.