But for the Lovers: A NovelIn the 25 years since its original publication, But for the Lovers has acquired an underground reputation as one of the most remarkable novels about World War II, doing for the Pacific war theater what Joseph Heller's Catch-22 did for the European one. Set in the Philippines, But for the Lovers depicts the survival of a cross-section of Filipinos during the Japanese Occupation and the American Liberation. The cast is enormous, including an old man who used to wander the countryside entertaining children, a young girl raped by Japanese soldiers, guerrilla messengers bringing word of the coming of the American army, and a Japanese major who views the war as the first step of the liberation of the Asian people from Western civilization. This extraordinary novel is no less remarkable for the power and the beauty of its language than for the exotic and magical world it creates. Ranging from hallucinatory lyricism to documentary realism, from black humor sketches to scenes of horror and degradation, But for the Lovers is a rich and complex exploration of language, history, and mythology. The hardcover edition (Dutton, 1970) was praised by the New York Times Book Review as "stunning"; this is the first paperback edition, for which novelist Robert Coover has written an appreciative foreword. |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 33 |
Section 3 | 42 |
Section 4 | 48 |
Section 5 | 59 |
Section 6 | 67 |
Section 7 | 73 |
Section 8 | 86 |
Section 16 | 165 |
Section 17 | 170 |
Section 18 | 175 |
Section 19 | 184 |
Section 20 | 191 |
Section 21 | 195 |
Section 22 | 202 |
Section 23 | 211 |
Section 9 | 97 |
Section 10 | 103 |
Section 11 | 120 |
Section 12 | 127 |
Section 13 | 133 |
Section 14 | 139 |
Section 15 | 148 |
Section 24 | 220 |
Section 25 | 231 |
Section 26 | 240 |
Section 27 | 255 |
Section 28 | 263 |
Section 29 | 275 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alma American Amoran arms army asked boardinghouse body bombs Captain Johnny Captain Jonas Winters Corporal Ito Dark Glasses dead Deogracias door dream Eraston everything eyes face Filipino fingers fire floor Fort Santiago girl guitar haiku hair hand head heard Hidalgo Hidalgo de Anuncio Ifugao Intramuros Japa Japanese katana Kempetai Kenji kissed knew landlady laughed lips look lover Maddalena Major Shigura Makapili male Mang Isagani Manila Bay Martha Micaela mind moon mouth never night Ojos Verdes old Spaniard once Pasig River perhaps Philippines Placido Rey pulled Quasimoto rice room thirteen Rosario Santiago Santo Tomás scream seemed Sergeant Yato shot sisid sleep smiled soldier somehow Spaniard Spy Smasher stood street Tagalog tell tion Tira Colombo Tomodachi Toni took tree Vanoye Vanoye's vaudeville waited white horse wounded Zerrado Susi