Dead Stars

“Dead Stars” (a very popular text in the archipelago, where is part of the school canon) is the first Filipino short story written in English. It was written by Paz Márquez Benítez, a writer and educator who pioneered in several areas. She was one of the first women to graduate from the University of the Philippines in 1912, where she began teaching creative writing to illustrious students such as Bienvenido N. Santos and Jose Garcia Villa. She belonged to what has been called the first generation of Filipino writers in English. Márquez Benítez also compiled the first anthology of Filipino short stories in English titled Filipino Love Stories in 1928. Her short stories were published, besides the Philippines Herald, in Woman's Home Journal and the Herald Midweek Magazine.

“Dead Stars” is considered a meditation on the impact of American colonization on Filipino culture (McMahon 2011: 79) in the form of allegory. It addresses very popular themes at the time, present in Spanish-language narrative as well, such as the change of era between Spanish and American colonization, and the existing role models of women at the time: from the pure, submissive, kind and dreamy Maria Clara with a great faith in God, to the Americanized flapper, pragmatic, positive, cheerful and with a great faith in the institutions. Although Márquez Benítez was educated during the American colony, Jennifer M. McMahon states that the story does not reflect American colonization as a triumph, but as a system whose institutions oppress and condition (McMahon 2011: 96).

Lucero, Rosario C. & L. Cuesta. 1994. “Marquez-Benitez, Paz”. CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art. Vol. IX. Philippine Literature. Manila: Cultural Center of the Philippines. 

McMahon Jennifer M. 2011. Dead Stars : American and Philippine Literary Perspectives on the American Colonization of the Philippines. Diliman Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.