THE DEVIL FLOWER

by Emigdio Enriquez ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A first novel by a young Filipino writer, this is an intense story of frustrated passion. Although in most contexts, the smouldering desire and guilt of the heroine, Ercelia, would seem absurdly trite and artificial, set in the curious melange of deeply Catholic, remotely oriental Mindanao, it emerges with poignant clarity. Ordained by her contemporary villagers as a paragon of purity, the sensual flowering of the attractive heroine is met with self flagellation. Her simultaneous death and consummation are filled with dark and passionate overtones of medieval Catholicism and Eastern eroticism. Emigdio Enriquez summons all the powers of the blood in his handling of this essentially simple story, revealing his climate,in all the complexities of its hybrid vigor, with a sure poetic touch. For those who are emotionally still agitated by the death of W.H. Hudson's Rima, a banquet of melancholy and desire.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hill and Wang

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1959

Categories: FICTION