Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn porta una prospettiva unica alla performance e alla letteratura asiatica americana, attingendo dal suo ricco patrimonio culturale. Il suo lavoro è caratterizzato da uno stile dinamico multimediale che intreccia canzone, poesia, immagini e dialogo parlato. Hagedorn esplora magistralmente le complessità dell'esperienza filippina, in particolare la profonda influenza dell'America e la sfumata relazione di amore-odio che molti nella diaspora provano verso il loro passato. Attraverso la sua versatile arte, offre profonde intuizioni sull'identità culturale e sulla narrativa dell'immigrazione.
The narrative features a diverse cast, from movie stars to a young junkie, caught in a whirlwind of dramatic events that lead to a beauty pageant, a film festival, and an assassination. Central to the story is Rio, a spirited schoolgirl whose journey takes her to America, where she reflects nostalgically on her childhood in the Philippines. The interplay of these characters against a backdrop of chaos highlights themes of ambition, identity, and the complexities of youth.
Rocky Rivera arrives in the U.S. from the Philippines the day that Jimi Hendrix dies. So begins a blazing coming-of-age story suffused with the tensions of immigration which finds Rocky moving from the counter-culture in 1960s San Francisco to the extravagant music scene in Manhattan of the 1980s. The Gangster of Love tells the story of the Rivera family as they make their new life in the States, all the while haunted by the memory of the father and the homeland they left behind. Among its members are Rocky's haughty mother, who has impulsively left her father; Voltaire, her brother, prone to heavy depression and odd friendships with strangers; and Rocky herself, unsure about sex and worshipful of her boyfriend, the guitar-playing Elvis Chang, who must learn to accept reality amidst the myths and lures of American success and idolatry.
Jessica Hagedorn's first novel, Dogeaters, was nominated for the National Book Award and hailed by Robert Stone as" the definitive novel of the encounter between the Philippines and America." Hagedorn's long-awaited second novel, The Gangster of Love, is equally compelling as she continues to illuminate flamboyantly that intersection where American pop culture and local Filipino tradition commingle. Alternating between the Philippines and the United States, The Gangster of Love is the story of Rocky Rivera, who plays in a dissolute rock band with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Elvis Chang. Rocky's spirited and deeply traditional mother, Milagros, her troubled and bedeviled brother, Voltaire, her wonderfully eccentric uncle, Marlon, and her best friend, the wildly unpredictable and enigmatic Keiko, along with other characters real and imagined, create a story that spans generations and cultures. Together they acquire spouses, lovers, companions, children, and in-laws, making a plac
