N. V. M. González
Encyclopedia
Néstor Vicente Madali González (September 8, 1915-November 28, 1999) was a Filipino writer.
, Philippines
. González, however, was raised in Mansalay, a southern town of the Philippine province of Oriental Mindoro
. González was a son of a school supervisor and a teacher. As a teenager, he helped his father by delivering meat door-to-door across provincial villages and municipalities. González was also a musician. He played the violin and even made four guitars by hand. He earned his first peso by playing the violin during a Chinese funeral in Romblon
. González attended Mindoro High School (now Jose J. Leido Jr. Memorial National High School
) from 1927 to 1930. González attended college at National University
(Manila) but he was unable to finish his undergraduate degree. While in Manila
, González wrote for the Philippine Graphic and later edited for the Evening News Magazine and Manila Chronicle. His first published essay appeared in the Philippine Graphic and his first poem in Poetry in 1934. González made his mark in the Philippine writing community as a member of the Board of Advisers of Likhaan: the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center, founding editor of The Diliman Review and as the first president of the Philippine Writers' Association.
González attended creative writing classes under Wallace Stegner
and Katherine Anne Porter
at Stanford University
. In 1950, González returned to the Philippines
and taught at the University of Santo Tomas
, the Philippine Women's University
and the University of the Philippines
(U.P.). At U.P., González was only one of two faculty members accepted to teach in the university without holding a degree. On the basis of his literary publications and distinctions, González later taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara
, California State University, Hayward, the University of Washington
, the University of California, Los Angeles
, and the University of California, Berkeley
.
On 14 April 1987, the University of the Philippines
conferred on N.V.M. González the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, "For his creative genius in shaping the Philippine short story and novel, and making a new clearing within the English idiom and tradition on which he established an authentic vocabulary, ...For his insightful criticism by which he advanced the literary tradition of the Filipino and enriched the vocation for all writers of the present generation...For his visions and auguries by which he gave the Filipino sense and sensibility a profound and unmistakable script read and reread throughout the international community of letters..."
N.V.M. González was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in 1997. He died on 28 November 1999 in Quezon City, Philippines at the age of 84. As a National Artist, Gonzalez was honored with a state funeral at the Libingan ng mga Bayani
.
.
Biography
He was born on 8 September 1915 in RomblonRomblon
Romblon is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region. It lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, and west of Masbate. Its capital is also named Romblon....
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. González, however, was raised in Mansalay, a southern town of the Philippine province of Oriental Mindoro
Oriental Mindoro
Oriental Mindoro is a province of the Philippines located in the island of Mindoro under MIMAROPA region in Luzon, about 140 km southwest of Manila...
. González was a son of a school supervisor and a teacher. As a teenager, he helped his father by delivering meat door-to-door across provincial villages and municipalities. González was also a musician. He played the violin and even made four guitars by hand. He earned his first peso by playing the violin during a Chinese funeral in Romblon
Romblon
Romblon is an island province of the Philippines located in the MIMAROPA region. It lies south of Marinduque and Quezon, east of Mindoro, north of Aklan and Capiz, and west of Masbate. Its capital is also named Romblon....
. González attended Mindoro High School (now Jose J. Leido Jr. Memorial National High School
Jose J. Leido Jr. Memorial National High School
The Jose J. Leido, Jr. Memorial National High School, or Lemnahis , and formerly Oriental Mindoro High School, is the flagship campus and the largest Public High School in Oriental Mindoro. It was established in 1921 and is located in San Vicente East, Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro...
) from 1927 to 1930. González attended college at National University
National University (Philippines)
National University is a university in Manila, Philippines.It is a founding member of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines and is a pioneer of the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities...
(Manila) but he was unable to finish his undergraduate degree. While in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
, González wrote for the Philippine Graphic and later edited for the Evening News Magazine and Manila Chronicle. His first published essay appeared in the Philippine Graphic and his first poem in Poetry in 1934. González made his mark in the Philippine writing community as a member of the Board of Advisers of Likhaan: the University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center, founding editor of The Diliman Review and as the first president of the Philippine Writers' Association.
González attended creative writing classes under Wallace Stegner
Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
and Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter
Katherine Anne Porter was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in America that year, but her short stories received much more critical acclaim...
at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. In 1950, González returned to the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and taught at the University of Santo Tomas
University of Santo Tomas
The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines , is a private Roman Catholic university run by the Order of Preachers in Manila. Founded on April 28, 1611 by archbishop of Manila Miguel de Benavides, it has the oldest extant university charter in the...
, the Philippine Women's University
Philippine Women's University
The Philippine Women's University is a non-sectarian academic institution for men and women in the Philippines, founded in 1919 as the Philippine Women's College by Filipino women who envisioned a school that would prepare young women for leadership and service...
and the University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
(U.P.). At U.P., González was only one of two faculty members accepted to teach in the university without holding a degree. On the basis of his literary publications and distinctions, González later taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, California State University, Hayward, the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
, the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
, and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
conferred on N.V.M. González the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, "For his creative genius in shaping the Philippine short story and novel, and making a new clearing within the English idiom and tradition on which he established an authentic vocabulary, ...For his insightful criticism by which he advanced the literary tradition of the Filipino and enriched the vocation for all writers of the present generation...For his visions and auguries by which he gave the Filipino sense and sensibility a profound and unmistakable script read and reread throughout the international community of letters..."
N.V.M. González was proclaimed National Artist of the Philippines in 1997. He died on 28 November 1999 in Quezon City, Philippines at the age of 84. As a National Artist, Gonzalez was honored with a state funeral at the Libingan ng mga Bayani
Libingan ng mga Bayani
is a national cemetery within Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, Metro Manila in the Philippines. It was established as a fitting resting place for Filipino military personnel from privates to generals, as well as heroes and martyrs...
.
Works
The works of Gonzalez have been published in Filipino, English, Chinese, German, Russian and Indonesian languageIndonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
.
Novels
- The Winds of April (1941)
- A Season of Grace (1956)
- The Bamboo Dancers (1988)
Short fiction
- A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories. University of the Philippines Press, 1997
- The Bread of Salt and Other Stories. Seattle: University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
Press, 1993; University of the Philippines Press, 1993 - Mindoro and Beyond: Twenty-one Stories. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1981; New Day, 1989
- Selected Stories. Denver, ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
: Alan Swallow, 1964 - Look, Stranger, on this Island Now. Manila: Benipayo, 1963
- Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and Other Stories. Manila: Benipayo, 1954; Bookmark Filipino Literary Classic, 1992
- Seven Hills Away. Denver, ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
: Alan Swallow, 1947
Essays
- A Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994. Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Anvil (popular edition), 1996
- Work on the Mountain (Includes The Father and the Maid, Essays on Filipino Life and Letters and Kalutang: A Filipino in the World), University of the Philippines Press, 1996
Awards and prizes
- Regents Professor at the University of CaliforniaUniversity of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
at Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 1998-1999 - Philippines Centennial Award for Literature, 1998
- National Artist Award for Literature, 1997
- Oriental Mindoro Sangguniang Panlalawigan Resolution "extending due recognition to Nestor V. M. González... the commendation he well deserves..." 1996
- City of Manila Diwa ng Lahi award "for his service and contribution to Philippine national Literature," 1996
- City of Los Angeles resolution declaring October 11, 1996 "N.V.M. González Day, 1996
- The Asian Catholic Publishers Award, 1993
- The Filipino Community of California Proclamation "honoring N.V.M. González for seventy-eight years of achievements," 1993
- Ninoy Aquino Movement for Social and Economic Reconstruction through Volunteer Service award, 1991
- City and County of San Francisco proclamation of March 7, 1990 "Professor N.V.M. González Day in San Francisco," 1990
- Cultural Center of the PhilippinesCultural Center of the PhilippinesThe Cultural Center of the Philippines is a government-owned and controlled corporation established to preserve, develop and promote arts and culture in the Philippines. The CCP was established through Executive Order No. 30 s. 1966 by President Ferdinand Marcos...
award, Gawad Para sa Sining, 1990 - Writers Union of the Philippines award, Gawad Pambansang Alagad ni Balagtás, 1989
- University of the Philippines International Writer-in-Residence, 1988
- Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) from the University of the Philippines, 1987
- Djerassi Foundation Artist-in-Residence, 1986
- Philippine Foreign Service Certificate of Appreciation for Work in the International Academic and Literary Community, at San Francisco, 1983
- Emeritus Professor of English, California State UniversityCalifornia State UniversityThe California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
, 1982 - Carlos PalancaPalancaPalanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
Memorial Award (Short Story), First Prize for 'The Tomato Game,' 1971 - City of ManilaManilaManila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
Medal of Honor, 1971. - Awarded Leverhulme Fellowship, University of Hong Kong, 1969.
- Visiting Associate Professorship in English, University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa BarbaraThe University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
, 1968. - British CouncilBritish CouncilThe British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
award for Travel to England, 1965. - Intemaciones Award for Travel in the Federal German Republic, 1965.
- Philippines Free Press First Prize Award winner for Serenade (short story), 1964.
- Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Writing Grant and Travel in Europe, 1964 - Jose Rizal Pro-Patria Award for The Bamboo Dancers, 1961
- Republic Cultural Heritage Award for The Bamboo Dancers, 1960
- Carlos PalancaPalancaPalanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
Memorial Award (Short Story), Third Prize winner for On the Ferry, 1959 - Philippine Free Press Third Prize winner for On the Ferry, 1959
- Republic Award of Merit for "the advancement of Filipino culture in the field of English Literature," 1954.
- Carlos PalancaPalancaPalanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
Memorial Award (Short Story), Second Prize winner for Lupo and the River, 1953 - Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Study and Travel fellowship to India and the Far East, 1952 - Carlos PalancaPalancaPalanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
Memorial Award (Short Story), Second Prize winner for Children of the Ash-covered Loam, 1952 - Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Writing Fellowship to Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Kenyon CollegeKenyon CollegeKenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
School of English, and Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, 1949-1950 - Liwayway Short Story Contest, Third Prize winner for Lunsod, Nayon at Dagat-dagatan, 1943
- First Commonwealth Literary Contest honorable mention for The Winds of April, 1940
External links
- On NVM, Peso Books, Publishing and Writing by Alberto Florentino
- Books of N.V.M. González
- N.V.M. Gonzalez: An Affair With Letters
- N.V.M. Gonzalez: Filipino Writer by Isagani R. Cruz
- Literary giant’s legacy survives fire by Lakambini A. Sitoy
- N.V.M. Gonzalez, A Tribute by Allan G. Aquino
- N.V.M. Gonzalez (1915 - 1999) A guide to literary criticism on the internet for N.V.M. Gonzalez
- On N.V.M. Gonzalez
- N.V.M. Gonzalez Awards
- National Artists: N.V.M. Gonzalez
- NVM Gonzalez A writer's inspiration: UP bestows 5th NVM Awards on Saturday
- THE SYNTAX OF NIGHTMARES: A Review of N.V.M. Gonzalez's A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories by Maureen Gaddi dela Cruz
- BLOWIN' IN THE WIND: A review of The Winds of April by NVM Gonzalez by Nina Somea