The Woman Who Had Two Navels

The Woman Who Had Two Navels
Name	The Woman Who Had Two Navels
Author	Nick Joaquin
Country	Philippines
Language	English language
Genre	Novella
Publisher	Ateneo de Manila University Press
Pub date	1961
Media type	Print

The Woman Who Had Two Navels is a novella by Nick Joaquin first published in 1961 that became a landmark work in Philippine literature and English-language literature. Set in mid-20th-century Manila, the narrative intertwines personal psychodrama with national memory, engaging figures and places such as Intramuros, Rizal Park, Malacañang Palace, Spanish Philippines, and American colonialism. Joaquin’s prose synthesizes influences from José Rizal, William Shakespeare, James Joyce, Gustave Flaubert, and Marcel Proust, while invoking institutions and events like the Katipunan, Philippine Revolution, World War II, Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and postwar Philippine Republic politics.

Plot

The story follows Amada, a mestiza woman who believes she has two navels, through encounters with urban settings such as Quiapo, Binondo, Ermita and characters linked to colonial legacies including references to Spanish friars, American missionaries, Jesuits, and civic sites like University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University. Themes of memory and displacement emerge as Amada’s fixation on bodily anomaly is mirrored by flashbacks to the Philippine Revolution and familial ties to figures resembling colonial administrators, criollo elites, and expatriates from Spain, United States, and China. The plot interweaves courtroom-like confrontations recalling Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo-era denunciations, while sequences evoke theatricality akin to King Lear and psychological interiority reminiscent of Ulysses. The climax connects personal revelation to broader questions about identity in settings including Manila Cathedral, Casa Manila, and neighborhoods shaped by the Galleon Trade.

Characters

Major and minor figures populate the tale, drawing links to historical personages and institutions: Amada (protagonist) is paralleled by archetypes from María Clara and Sisa; her husband and visitors evoke Spanish colonial officials, American administrators, and intellectuals from University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle University. Supporting characters include a physician suggestive of practitioners trained at Philippine General Hospital and St. Luke's Medical Center, lawyers recalling cases in the Supreme Court of the Philippines, journalists from papers like The Manila Times, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and The Philippine Star, and clergy echoing orders such as the Dominican Order and Augustinian Order. Secondary roles intersect with merchants from Binondo’s Chinese community, military veterans of World War II and the Philippine Commonwealth, and expatriates linked to enclaves like Chinatown, Manila and institutions such as Embassy of Spain, Manila and American Club (Manila).

Themes and motifs

Joaquin explores colonial memory, mestizaje, and Filipino identity through motifs tied to places and figures: the hauntings of José Rizal’s novels, the specter of Andrés Bonifacio and the Katipunan, and resonances with Spanish colonial architecture in Intramuros. The novella interrogates religion via references to Roman Catholicism, friars, processions at Quiapo Church, and devotional icons like the Black Nazarene. Psychoanalytic and literary allusions cite Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Frederick Nietzsche, and dramatists such as Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen while linking to narrative structures from Gothic fiction and magic realism exemplified by Gabriel García Márquez. Motifs include doubled bodies, echoed by historical dualities between Spain and the United States, urban palimpsests like Manila Bay and Pasig River, and rituals from fiestas to national commemorations like Independence Day.

Publication history

First released in 1961 by Ateneo de Manila University Press as part of Joaquin’s collected works, the novella appeared alongside essays and plays that tied Joaquin to literary movements connected to Philippine literature in English and to contemporaries such as F. Sionil José, Carlos P. Romulo, José Garcia Villa, Manuel Viray and Edith Tiempo. Subsequent editions were published by Philippine academic presses and anthologized in collections for college curricula at Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines Diliman, University of Santo Tomas, and De La Salle University. Translations and critical editions circulated in scholarly venues associated with institutions such as the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (Philippines), ASEAN cultural programs, and international publishers that introduced Joaquin to readers in United Kingdom, United States, Spain, and Japan.

Reception and critical analysis

Critics positioned Joaquin alongside national canon-makers like José Rizal and Nick Joaquin (as authorial persona) was compared with William Somerset Maugham and Evelyn Waugh in stylistic surveys published in journals like Philippine Studies, Southeast Asian Review, and international periodicals tied to Cambridge University Press and Routledge. Reviews referenced the work’s engagement with postcolonial theory, identities debated by scholars linked to Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, and University of Oxford. Academic critiques examined intertextuality with Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, psychoanalytic readings invoking Freud, and postcolonial readings that discussed American imperialism and Spanish colonialism. The novella has appeared on reading lists for awards and institutions including the Palanca Awards and has been central to debates at conferences hosted by Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines.

Adaptations

The story has inspired stage adaptations at venues like Philippine Educational Theater Association and productions directed by artists affiliated with Repertory Philippines and Cultural Center of the Philippines. Filmic and radio dramatizations drew on performers from ABS-CBN, GMA Network, and independent cinema linked to festivals such as the Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and the Metro Manila Film Festival. Internationally, academic theatrical companies and translators in Spain, United States, and Japan have staged or adapted the work, often pairing it with programs about José Rizal and Philippine history at cultural institutes including the Smithsonian Institution and British Council.

Category:Philippine literature Category:Novellas Category:Works by Nick Joaquin