Who is Paz Márquez-Benítez and why is she one of the most remarkable Filipino women to exist?
Writer Paz Márquez-Benítez celebrates her 129th birthday today, as Google enthusiastically reminds us on their home page. Being featured in a Google Doodle, one must think about what such a woman did in her life to end up in one of the most used search engines in the world. Deserving attention and recognition, Benitez is one of the first Filipino women to write literary works in English. According to the book Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, she is considered a pivotal literary figure.
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Márquez Benítez was a visionary. Born to a prominent family in Quezon province, she is one of the first generations of Filipinos trained under the American educational system. After graduating, she pursued teaching at her alma mater, the University of the Philippines. She was a beloved and outstanding mentor in the English department, with a tenure that lasted from 1916 to 1951. Above all, she is a staunch advocate for women's rights and education.
Dead Stars is one of her most sought-after works. It is the first modern Filipino English-language short story that helped her make a mark in Philippine literature. It revolves around a man named Alfredo Salazar who experiences the intricacies of falling in and out of love.
An excerpt from the Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society deems the story impactful. "The impact was so great that, for decades after its publication, 1925 was almost universally regarded as the year that Filipino short fiction in English moved from its 'Age of Imitation' to 'Age of Adaptation and Experimentation'."
Among her other works are Woman's Home Journal, A Night In The Hills, and Filipino Love Stories.