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Fish-Hair Woman single work   short story   fantasy  
Issue Details: First known date: 1997... 1997 Fish-Hair Woman
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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Language: English , Bikol
Alternative title: Mujer Pelo-Pez
Language: English , Spanish
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Kunapipi vol. 32 no. 1-2 2010 Z1774663 2010 periodical issue 2010 pg. 209-224
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Related Works

y separately published work icon Fish-Hair Woman Merlinda Bobis , North Melbourne : Spinifex Press , 2012 Z1828806 2012 single work novel fantasy

'1987. The Philippine government fights a total war against insurgency. The village of Iraya is militarised. The days are violent and the nights heavy with fireflies in the river where the dead are dumped.

'With her twelve-metre hair, Estrella, the Fish-Hair Woman, trawls corpses from the water that tastes of lemon grass. She falls in love with the Australian Tony McIntyre who disappears in the conflict. Ten years later, his son travels to Manilla to find his father.

'From the Philippines to Australia, Hawai'i, to evocations of colonial Spain, this transnational novel spins a dark, epic tale. Its storytelling is expansive, like the heart - How much can the heart accommodate? ... Only four chambers but with infinite space like memory, where there is room for those whom we do not love.' (From the publisher's website.)
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Works about this Work

Sensing and Sensibility : The Late Ripple of Colonisation? A Conversation between Author and Translator Merlinda Bobis , M. Dolores Herrero , 2010 single work criticism
— Appears in: Kunapipi , vol. 32 no. 1-2 2010; (p. 225-241) The Philippines was colonised by Spain for nearly four hundred years (1521-1898), then by America for forty years (1901-1945). As a writer primarily in English, Merlinda Bobis has always 'sensed' that her sensibility has greater affinity with literatures of Hispanic/Latin-American rather than of English/American origins. Is this literary affinity a late ripple of colonisation? On reading Bobis's short stories for the first time, Herrero sensed them as 'so familiar', evoking Spanish writers. This recognition may well reinforce that late ripple, now a liminal space for productive-subversive cultural production, where the creative arc is both disruptive and expansive. Bobis and Herrero explore this liminal space by collaboratively examining and translating (from English to Spanish) Bobis's short story 'Fish-Hair Woman', while referencing its writing as, in fact, the earlier process of 'translation' of a Philippine story of militarism into an English text. They argue that these processes not only employ decolonising strategies, but also extend beyond the postcolonial into a transnational enterprise. [from Kunapipi 32,1-2, Abstracts, pp. 245]
State of Engagement: Filipino and Singaporean Women Writers in English Engage the State Lily Rose Tope , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 1 no. 1 2007; Lily Rose Tope reads stories by Filipino and Singaporean women writers - Merlinda Bobis among these - whose work contests dominant national narratives and seeks to engage with states that are in other ways unresponsive or even destructive to their constituents (p. 12).
Border Lover Merlinda Bobis , 2003 single work essay autobiography
— Appears in: Not Home, But Here : Writing from the Filipino Diaspora 2003; (p. 118-137) Merlinda Bobis reflects upon her writing processes and her constant negotiation through borders of language, culture, and genre. The essay includes excerpts from many of Bobis' published works, along with autobiographical reflections.
Stranger's Visit Inspires First Novel Kerrie O'Connor , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury , 18 May 2002; (p. 21)
Uni Lecturer's $20,000 Literary Fellowship Anne Bransdon , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury , 23 October 2000; (p. 6)
Border Lover Merlinda Bobis , 2003 single work essay autobiography
— Appears in: Not Home, But Here : Writing from the Filipino Diaspora 2003; (p. 118-137) Merlinda Bobis reflects upon her writing processes and her constant negotiation through borders of language, culture, and genre. The essay includes excerpts from many of Bobis' published works, along with autobiographical reflections.
Stranger's Visit Inspires First Novel Kerrie O'Connor , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury , 18 May 2002; (p. 21)
Merlinda Faces Up to Burden of Writing Anthony J. Mason , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Monitor , 10 October vol. 10 no. 15 2000; (p. 4)
Uni Lecturer's $20,000 Literary Fellowship Anne Bransdon , 2000 single work criticism
— Appears in: Illawarra Mercury , 23 October 2000; (p. 6)
State of Engagement: Filipino and Singaporean Women Writers in English Engage the State Lily Rose Tope , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Asiatic , December vol. 1 no. 1 2007; Lily Rose Tope reads stories by Filipino and Singaporean women writers - Merlinda Bobis among these - whose work contests dominant national narratives and seeks to engage with states that are in other ways unresponsive or even destructive to their constituents (p. 12).
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (8)
Last amended 21 Apr 2011 14:06:53
Subjects:
  • Country towns,
  • c
    Philippines,
    c
    Southeast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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