What Light It Can Hold: The Philippine Short Story in the Twenty-First Century

What Light It Can Hold is a gathering of Philippine fiction published in the 21st century. It represents the concerns of Filipinos in the 21st century, showing mainly contemporary phenomena but also casting a new light on situations from past decades.

A Filipina is enticed to pursue her art abroad, an expat re-assimilates in a Manila that has changed from the one he grew up in, provincial folk find their simple way of life and beliefs shaken by new technology and mores, and family members express their hidden hurts towards each other through secret attacks. Many find daily life hard to grapple and retreat from it, while others surge forth with the courage of their pop culture heroes.

The stories show some constants, no matter how unique the situations: the close familial and community ties Filipinos are known for, our deference to those above us in age and class, our openness to the existence of the supernatural, our struggles in transitioning from one point to another, literally and figuratively, in a land splintered into multiple little islands, communities, and sub-cultures. Ideas, whether old or new, are challenged by contemporary values as we open ourselves to the world encroaching on us and the future trends of our literature.