Classroom Tools Series:
English 1 – Philippine Literature
Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to define literature, may it be through heated debates, classroom discussions, or published books. For this article, we’ll be using a few chosen definitions from different resources online. In Wikipedia, they have cited the Oxford English Dictionary’s literal meaning of the word which is “acquaintance with letters.” It comes from the Latin word literra which means “an individual written character” or letter.1
As for its terminology, it “can refer to any form of writing” such as poetry, essays, short stories, and drama, if used as a common noun. When taken as a proper noun, it normally “refers to a whole body of literary work, often relating to a specific culture,” language, people, or period of time, as in American or Russian literature.2
Philippine Literature
Jose Rizal,5 Marcelo del Pilar, 6 and Graciano Lopez Jaena7
Highlights of our literature include the establishment of the Propaganda Movement (1872-1896) when the Filipino intellectuals – Jose Rizal, Marcelo del Pilar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, etc – “implanted the Enlightenment principles of rationality, civic humanism, and autonomy (sovereignty of all citizens) in the program of the revolutionary forces of the Katipunan and the first Philippine Republic.” It was during this period that Rizal’s famous novels, Noli Me Tangere (1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891), were written with the aim of “conscientization.” To appeal to their target audience which were both the local and Europeans and to demand reforms as well, most of their works were written in Spanish.3
Another highlight happened in the thirties which is considered a breakthrough. This was when Salvador P. Lopez, Teodoro Agoncillo, and others established the Philippine Writers League (1939-1941) in response to “U.S. hegemonic authority and the threat of fascism.” It was when the 1986 legacy was rediscovered and used to empower the people – the nation.4
Philippine Literature, according to Christine F. Godinez-Ortega, “evolved side by side with the country’s history.” In her article The Literary Forms in Philippine Literature, she discussed how its development from pre-colonial times to the contemporary period, citing folk speeches, native proverbs, folk songs, lullabies, folk narratives like epics and folk tales, poetry, to vernacular writings.
A Collection of National Heritage
Below are selected links that feature a compilation of known short stories, poetry, essays, folk tales, and masterpieces of all times.
- Philippine Literature in English - short stories, metrical tales, and poetry including Jose Rizal’s, Jose Garcia Villa’s, and other selected poems
- A Critical Survey of the Philippine Literature – features short fictions, poems, novel excerpts, dramas, films, essays, and creative non-fiction by Filipino writers both in the Philippines and abroad, as well as critical perspectives tackling the many facets of this growing national literature. Also includes list of books, authors, photos, themes for study, news, magazines, FAQs, and links to other useful sites
- The Best Philippine Short Stories - an index of short stories, poems, images, and articles and essays
- Philippine Literature - examples of ethno-epics popularized by the different ethnic groups in the country
- Cerritos College Philippine Literature Resource – a collection of poetry, fictions, essays, films, and general collections
- Mga Awit ng Nakaraan - Myths, Legends, Folktales, and Stories of the Supernatural
- Kanin-baboy Episode - Interesting and fun-to-read contemporary poems and stories by Reynaldo F. Tamayo
- Alamat - A Philippine Folktales, Myths and Legends Page
- Philippine Poetry
Philippine Literary figures
After reading through the works of our own writers, try to get to know a couple of them by clicking on the links below.
- Ilang Pangunahing Manunulat na Pilipino – includes Jose Rizal, Francisco Baltazar, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo del Pilar, Jose Palma, Lope K. Santos, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Amando V. Hernandez, Severino Reyes, Nick Joaquin, Jose Garcia Villa, and N.V.M. Gonzalez.
- About Francisco Sionil Jose - brief biography and his works
- N.V.M. Gonzalez: An Affair With Letters - biography, awards, pictures, works, and workshops
- A Philippine Literature Page – a list of Filipino writers with brief information on some of them
- Reading Agoncillo - posted in inq7’s site, Jose Victor Z. Torres makes a review about a book entitled "History and Culture. Languages and Literature. Selected Essays of Teodoro A. Agoncillo"
- Butch Dalisay's Home Page - “Odds and ends from a writer, teacher, and Mac addict from the Philippines.”
- Searching for the Heart of America: Reintroducing Carlos Bulosan
Sources:
1 Literature, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature
2 Terminology, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literature#Terminology
3, 4 From Postcolonial to Alter/Native National Allegory: Dialectics of Nation/People and
World-System in Philippine Writing, http://www.boondocksnet.com/centennial/sctexts/esj_96b.html
5 http://www.buenosairespe.com.ar/images/rizal.jpg
6 http://www.seasite.niu.edu/trans/tagalog/modules_in_Tagalog/lahing_pilipino_files/
marcelo_del_pillar.jpg
7 http://www.globalpinoy.com/ch/images/ch_heroes/gracianolopezjaena.jpg
