Module 1

Reading and revolution

Objectives:
To give knowledge about what happened in the past and how it affects the present.
Introduction: reading
Introduction to 21st century Philippine literature in English Philippine literature in English
In the 21st century has a short history; however, much has already been written about its writers.
Even though Jose Rizal's Noli me tangere casts a long shadow on Philippine literature, today's
literary scene is quite different from what it was in the past. In fact, it has developed in ways that
can surprise English language teachers and students alike as it has emerged to be a flexible,
innovative literature that has answered literary and educational debates about language.
According to Dr. Lily rose tope (2009), despite all linguistic debates about what is standard and
what is not, "creative writers have jumped the gun and used english,especially the non-standard
kind, in the creation of language." this is a huge shift, since there was once a belief that literature
should strictly adhere to standard english,which,in the opinion of many english teachers in the
philippines, happens to be General American English.
Dr. Gemino abad (2012) makes clear in the book, hoard of thunder, that philippine literature
has evolved over time, writing, "thus, at the turn of the last century, american english having
been established as the medium of instruction in our public school system,we began to write in
english, but sooner than later, we wrought from it... What is crucial,in other words,is the making,
with words and words from a give historical language, of an artifact which should have the
power to move its readers by what it represents of simulates. The poem's performance,as
wrought from english, shows how english has been nativized or indigenized in our own "scene
so fair."
This mean that in our usage of english in the philippines, we have now moved from being
beholden to general american english and its ideologies,toward being assured in the use of our
own variety of english, which is philippine english. Contrary to notions that the term "philippine
english" is derogatory in nature,it is in fact a badge of pride. It shows that the filipino has indeed
"colonized" the english language.
Abad (2012) also writes that,"... During the first phase, it is the struggle with language that
engrossed our writers,during the second phase,from the 1950s to the 1960s,the issue of alienation
and social commitment,which took root at the time of the commonwealth literary awards in
1940;during the third phase,from the 1970s to 1980s, a period of political activism that began as
early as the 1950s, the issueof nationalism and national identity; and during the fourth phase,
from the 1990s to the very present,the issue of universal human rights,globalisation, ecology, and
a changing moral order."
Today, filipino writers in english no longer struggle to write like the americans, as they did in the
beginning of philippine literature in english. Acceptance and awareness have made ourt writers
use the kind of english that is used in the philippine society. In the likhaan anthology of
philippine literature in english from 1900 to the present, Dr. Jose y. Dalisay describes the
new generation of filipino short story writer in english, thus:
Their politics will be bourgeois-liberal; very few will profess an active solidarity with the bare-
footed,bushwhacking marxism of old. Their locales and sensibilities are overwhelming urban,
even crosscontinental. They are generally well-schooled, well-read, and well-travelled, which
lends their work a certain consciousness of form...
Their chosen issues tend to be those of gender and sexuality,the environment,culturalidentity,and
individual freedom. They have material aplenty,but seemingly no single,defining experience,in
the way that the war or the first quarter storm was for their predecessors...
They possess a deftness of language that comes not only from reading,but also from speaking
and listening to the language all the time; it is an english inflected with the resonances and
accents of pop culture,the internet, the stock market,and yet also of the home in the province that
no one ever quite leaves behind (1998)
These observation can be broadened to describe today's philippine literature,whether
fiction,poetry,nonfiction or the drama. Dalisay (1998) notes the following:
1. Todays literature is derived from predominantly western ways of writing and is influenced by
western writers,but necessarily canonical writers.
2. It deals with uniquely filipino experiences, such as"ocws and the filipino diospora,the war in
the countryside,the alienation of the middle class, the chinese and the others among us,our
connections to the supernatural and to the afterlife,the tangled web of our personal
relationships,including our sexuality, and artmaking itself as subject."
3. Its form of stories are no longer limited to realism,but have "assumed the forms and mindsets
of magic realism,metafiction, minimalism,science fiction,parable,comic books, gothic horror,and
postmodern parody."
4. When it comes to language,"our young writers today use english unapologetically,refusing to
be burdened by colonial guilt,quite a number of them write bilingually. Indeed we are witnessing
the continuing de-americanization of english,its appropriation by filipino writers for filipino
subjects and purposes."
Abad has written prolifically on the matter for quite some time. In the likhaan book of philippine
criticism 1992-1997, abad (2000) writes that:
To create our own literature(poetry),english has to be naturalised,as it were,and become filipino--
nothing short of national language. We had to colonize english in and by our own turn of
phrase,as it were,for we had to find ourselves again and found a homeland that had been lost. We
had ourselves to inhabit a new language;our own way of looking,our own thinking and feeling in
our own historical circumstances, had to become the nerves and sinews of that language...
Our concern now is what we have made of english:at first indeed we wrote in english,and freely
borrowed and adopted,and then,we wrought from english,and forgex (in its double sense)
ourselves and our own scene where we worked out our own destiny... I think that with our
writers,the mastery of his medium can be assumed. It is now simply a matter of personal
choice,but i would add that,whether english or tagalog or some other native language,it would
still be the poet's task to reinvent the language. A poem isn't given by language,which is the
essence of poetry.
In english lessons:towards the aesthetics of the contemporary filipino novel in
english,
Rofel g. Brion (2000) writes about the use of english in the philippines. According to him,many
novels "incorporate myths,legends and other tales,including those from popular culture,told
originally,and more commonly,in tagalog,filipino, and other philippine languages." he also cites
the prolific use of filipino names that do not make much sense in english,but create another layer
of meaning in the novels,such as adrian banyaga in state of war,pucha gonzaga in dogeaters, and
so on.
Brion(2000) points out several uses of philippine english in the narration of the novels,as well as
their dialogue, and cites dalisay's use of "killed the lights" in the killing time in a warm place, as
a "glaring example of filipino english especially since the since the rest of his prose is almost
always in flawless american english." he also quotes jessica hagedorn, in her observation abou
her book dogeaters."it is a book i thoroughly enjoyed creating,something i set out to write on my
own term and in the english i reclaim as a postcolonial filipino."
Brion (2000) posits that"in calling attention to language,especially through the use on non-
american-nor-british-english and of filipino english--whether deliberate or accidental...the
contemporary filipino novelist in english,consciously or unconsciously,responds to a
postcolonial call." this means that even though our writers might not be aware of it,their use of
the language,of an english of their own,is already a push agains the colonial paradigms of old.
The english used in this textbook is the kind that should be recognised by the filipino reader. It is
the kind of english that teachers speak, the kind that is heard from the radio, and the kind that we
try to use in negotiating meaning in a language in the middle of american and filipino cultures.
This provides us with literature written in philippine english,with lexical items in filipino,and
with dialogue that tries to capture the filipino-ness of the english that is used in the philippines.
There is the hoe that in reading today's philippine literature in english,the reader will find a
reflection of oneself and a reflection of philippine society. It is composed of novel excerpts,short
stories,essays,and poems that are organised in a thematic mannerm
I would like the reader to enjoy reading this book. There is a certain pleasure in reading and
analysing literature that is slowly being forgotten,since this is slowly being replaced with the
instant gratification felt from the internet. This pleasure in analysing texts is something that the
teacher can help you understand and appreciate as there is a discipline that the reading of
literature involves. The questions and activities provided in this book aims to help the reader and
the teacher appreciate how this can be done. This is a skill which,when mastered,can be used to
study any other discipline that one may wish to pursue in the future.

The revolution according to raymundo mata (excerpt) by gina apostol

It was a bolt – a thunder bolt. A rain of bricks, a lightning zap. A pummeling of mountains, a
heaving violent storm at sea – a whiplash. A typhoon. An earthquake. The end of the world. And
i was in ruins. It struck me dumb. It changed my life and the world was new when i was done.
And when i raised myself from bed two days later, i thought: it’s only a novel. If i ever met him,
what would my life be? I lay back in bed. But what a novel! And i cursed him, the writer – what
was his name – for doing what i hadn’t done, for putting my worlds into words before i even had
the sense to know what the world was. That was his triumph – he’d laid out a trail, and all we
had to do is follow his wake. Even then, i already felt the bitter envy, the acid retch of a
latecomer artist, the one who will always be under the influence, by mere chronology always
slightly suspect, a borrower, never lender be. After him, all filipinos are tardy ingrates. What is
the definition of art? Art is reproach to those who receive it. That was his curse upon all of us. I
was weak, as if drugged. I realized: i hadn’t eaten in two days. Then i got out of bed and boiled
barako for me. Later it was all the rage in the coffee shops, in the bazaars of binondo. People did
not even hide it – crowds of men, and not just students, not just boys, some women even, with
their violent fans – gesticulating in public, throwing up their hands, putting up fists in debate. Put
your knuckle where your mouth is. We were loud, obstreperous, heedless. We were literary
critics. We were cantankerous: rude raving. And no matter which side you were, with the crown
or with the infidels, spain or spolarium, all of us, each one, seemed revitalized by spleen, hatched
by the woods of long, venomous silence. And yes, suddenly the world opened up to me, after the
novel, to which before i had been blind. *** still i rushed into other debates, for instance with
benigno and agapito, who had now moved into my rooms. Remembering father gaspar’s cryptic
injunction - “throw it away to someone else,” so that in this manner the book traveled rapidly in
those dark days of its printing, now so nostalgically glorious, though then i had no clue that these
were historic acts, the act of reading, or that the book would be such a collector’s item, or
otherwise i would have wrapped it in parchment and sealed it for the highest bidder, what the
hell, i only knew holding the book could very likely constitute a glorious crime – in short, i lent
it to benigno
Questions:
 What do you know about the publication of noli me tangere and how it affected the
philippines?
Noli me tangere is the first novel written by filipino patriot and national hero dr. José p. Rizal
in 1887 and published in germany. With over 3000 copies printed. The story line goes
detailed with the society of the philippines during spanish colonial period and features
aristocracy behind poverty and abuse of colonialists.
It affect the philippines thru filipino-locals from the philippines as they read the novel they
were awake their slumbering souls. How the spaniards mistreated the filipinos and
discriminated them. Indeed it helps the philippines to achieve her liberation against the
spaniards.
 Do you think that novels in the philippines are as important as they used to be when the
noli was published in 1887? Are people still inspired by novels?
Yes, because as you read them they allow us to escape our own lives for a little while and
you really feel like you're living another life.
Yes, some people are still inspired by novels. Those people wants to know more about what
happened in the past. And those who are not, they just know the basic idea of a novel.
 What is it about reading long texts, such as short stories or novels that makes it different
from reading tweets and facebook status posts? What is importance of literarture for the
facebook generation?
Millennials are more inclined in reading tweets and facebook statuses because they give
more interest on it and they are into trend.
To remind them and keeping them alive the thoughts, beliefs and cultural variation of our
ancestors. There are lots of things they should know rather than reading status and stuffs