BICOL COLLEGE, INC.

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

Cor. J. P. Rizal & R.F. Tabuena Sts. Sagpon, Daraga, Albay, Philippines 4501

GRADE 12

Prepared by:
AILENE M. POSILLO
LOREN C. MESA
JAY R. CERVANTES

Subject Teachers
Module 3
Introduction
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World Module aims to engage
students in appreciation and critical study of 21 st Century Literature from the Philippines and the
World, encompassing their various dimensions, genres, elements, structures, contexts and
traditions.

This module is a self- learning material to guide you in developing a target competency in the
course, 21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World.

Learning Competency:
Value the contributions of local writers to the development of regional literary traditions. (EN12Lit-
Ic-23)

This module contains your expected learning outcomes, activities and tasks that are meant to
ensure your learning and enjoyment in exploring the world of Philippine Literature and beyond.
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
regional literary traditions

writers to the development

of literary tradition

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 2

 Pre-Test
Direction: Using the given answer sheet, darken the circle corresponding to the
letter of the best answer for each item.
1. It simply means such an accumulative process of handing down textsfor future
generations.
A. Literary tradition
B. Literary Symbol
C. Literary Genre
D. Literary Criticism

2. It refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing deemed to have
artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary
usage.
A. Literature
B. Poetry
C. Technical Writing
D. Reading and Writing

3. This is often defined as a short piece of writing on a particular subject, also defined as
a short piece of an account of historical, personal and academic events.
A. Literature
B. Essay
C. Poetry
D. Fiction

4. It is an important component of writing for it shows the essay’s personality as much as

you would if you were the one telling the story to someone else.
A. Writer’s Language
B. Writer’s Style
C. Writer’s Viewpoints
D. Writer’s Voice

5. An award-winning Filipina fictionist who has written 5 short fiction, 2 novels, 11 essays,
4 literary criticisms and won numerous awards. The author of the excerpt from New York City
Post 9/11.
A. Fe Hidalgo
B. Maria Fe Hidalgo
C. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
D. Amanda Pantoja-Hidalgo

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 3

Read the essay and answer the questions that are asked regarding writer’s voice.

Excerpt from “New York City, Post 9/11”

By: Cristina Pantoja-Hidlago

At the NAIA, I was reminded yet again that my friend Preachy Legasto like to travel heavy.
More than a decade ago, she had come to visit me in our house in Westchester Country and had
left two large suitcases in one corner of our living room, which she picked up some days later, on
her way to JFK Airport.
Preachy and Fe Mangahas were travelling together to attend a conference. And because,
Preachy had apparently managed to fill a third suitcase with stuff to bring home to Manila,
including bed linen and crockery, and would have been charged a fortune in overweight luggage.
Fe had to pretend that one of his suitcases was hers. Few herself was actually travelling with just
one small bag. This time around, Preachy had two large suit cases and two carry-on bags. She
informed me that they contained mainly her “costumes” ------ beaded ensembles, a beaded shawl,
chunky ethnic jewelry (“performing ethnicity nga, diba?”) and pasalubong for relatives living both
the east and west coasts.
I, on the other hand, had checked in just one medium-sized bag that could be dragged
about on wheels, and was hand-carrying a small duffel bag and a soft of leather hand bag. All
those years of living like a gypsy had taught me to never bring anything I couldn’t lift myself.
Nonetheless, since I had also brought along my woolen overcoat, I felt like I was travelling heavy.
It was mid-October and my daughter Anna had warned me to expect around 65 F, which for e
definitely translated into overcoat weather.
It was October 20014, and we were on our way to New York City for an international
conference and festival called “Performing Ethnicity”,” organized by the Ma-yi Theater Company;
the City College of New York; and a Fil-am group called Philippine Forum. Joi Barrios and Preachy
were co-conveners at the Manila end. The conference and festival were meant to mark the 100th
anniversary of the St. Louis World’s Fair, during thousands of ethnic tribes from the new “empire”
(including Igorots and Moros) had been display put on display for the American audiences.
I knew a little about Ma-yi because Joi was part of it. The company had been founded in
the late 80’s, mainly to present plays by Filipino Americans; but had now expanded to provide a
venue for other Asian American writers.
What had convinced me to take up Preachy’s invitation to read a paper in a conference
was that it was to be held in New York, which meant that I could make a detour on the way back,
and visit Anna, who was doing her M.A. in Washington D.C.
This was my first trip to the U.S. after 9/11. Security checks were tighter and the lines were
miles long. But, as usual, the difficulties had been exaggerated.
Running true to form, I barely got any sleep on the long flight to L.A., and tried to entertain
myself by reading fitfully from a collection of Latin American stories (edited by Carlos Fuentes and
Julio Ortega) and stuffing my face. If there’s one thing you get from flying PAL (besides taking off
and landing at the Centennial Airport) it’s a full stomach.
The immigration officer of L.A. was young, Latino-looking, and very pleasant. When I told
him that I had lived in the U.S. for a while some years back, he became even friendlier. And when

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 4

I said I’d be in D.C. a few days after New York to visit my daughter who was in graduate school,
his smiled broadly and said, “Ah, one of the smart ones.”
I had a window seat at the American Airlines connecting flight to New York, and was able
to catch the dawn breaking. Layers of colors above the banked clouds-mauve, rose, gold, lemon
yellow, powder blue, turquoise, all shade so f blue darkening to almost violet, grayish violet… a
splendid sight! And a good beginning to this brief sojourn into a land for which I have the most
ambiguous feeling.
New York City is Mecca to any number of Pinoys. But oi must admit that I too once
dreamed-not just of visiting there- but of someday living there. And yet, when we did, in fact live
there briefly… ah but what can I possibly say that won’t be caliche? Best to let that be.
New York City was wrapped in gray rain. But Ma-yi had sent people to meet our party,
which consisted of Bien Lumbera, Rio Almario, Rio’s daughter Ani, Preachy and myself. So, we
were whisked off to the Hotel Belleclaire Park on West 77th St., an interesting part of the city, not
far from Lincoln Center and Central Park. Its brochure described it as a “grand-style hotel, offering
old world charm at affordable prices,” built in 1903, but renovated in 2002. Mark Twain and Maxi
Gorky were listed among its illustrious guests in the past.
Before we had time to unpack, Ora Kapunan (Preachy’s sister’s sister-in-law) arrived, and
announced that she was taking us all to brunch at the Manhattan Diner next door. This
announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by all, since we had been served only crackers and
cheese by American Airlines on the L.A.-New York leg. In fact, I was lightheaded from both sleep
deprivation and hunger.
After lunch, Ora asked us where we wanted to go- she was at our disposal, she said (I
began to understand why Preachy was carrying so many pasalubong.) we didn’t even have to
consult each other. Where would a bunch of writers and academics want to go in New York City?
The Strand Bookstore, the museum of Modern Art and the TKT on Times Square, where else?
“Don’t you want to see Ground Zero?” Ora asked, sounding not disappointed to mush as
surprised.
“Oh .. yes, of course,” we murmured obediently.
So first we went to the Ground Zero, which though converted into a subway station,
brought up images of incredible collapse of those towers, played so often on international TV that
they had become indelibly imprinted on the imagination. (I had a sudden sharp recollection of
BBC anchor woman, saying, in a tone which combined shock and sadness:” And now we return
you to New York and its broken heart.”) One of my favorite books about New York is Gone to New
York, by Ian Frazier, a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. A short chapter in it is called “The
Mornings After.”
From the suburb where I lived in New Jersey, you can see the skyline of Manhattan. When
it appears through the trees or beyond the edge of a hill, I find myself checking it and checking it
again to see of the World Trade Towers still aren’t there. What happened to them and to the
people in them is unacceptable to the mind, and we must use a lot of effort to get it straight. To
accommodate ourselves to the facts is to feel a weight that gets no lighter no matter how we
adjust it. The weight has a particular heaviness in the early morning. After a troubled but forgetful
sleep. I wake up at five forty-five, before the first light. For a moment, I don’t remember what
happened; in the next moment, I fully awake, I do.

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 5

 He writes with the same incredulity which I’ve found in many other Americans. And then,
there’s Doris Lessing: “The judgement ‘they had it coming’, so angrily resented is perhaps
misunderstood,” Lessing wrote. “What people felt was that Ameriacans had at last learned that
they were like everyone else, vulnerable to the snakes of Envy and Revenge, to bombs exploding
on a street corner (as in Belfast), or in a hotel using a government (as in Brighton). They say
themselves that they have been expelled from their Eden. How strange they should ever thought
they had a right to one.”
I wondered what Ora would think about that. Ora figured we wouldn’t have time to do both
the Strand and the MOMA, so we chose the former (which was just as well, because the MOMA
was under renovation, we later learned). And she drove us to the other end of town, pointing out
the usual landmarks—Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Square, Times Square, Washington Square,
NYU, the New School … while chatting with Preachy cheerfully the whole time, about relatives,
about a product which she and her husband were pushing. ,a “chocolate fountain”, apparently a
real hit in parties, even if quite expensive about how much clearer and safer New York was these
days; about how she approved of George W. Bush’s foreign policy. None of us contributed much
to the conversation, not even Preachy.
As usual, I went a little crazy at the Strand, spending much more than I mean to, on travel
literature mainly, and feeling deprived by having only a couple of hours for browsing. Then we
lined up for Broadway I alight drizzle. And thought the wait was a kind of long, entertainment was
provided by two black men with dreadlocks, beating reggae tunes on what looked like a basins.
In the meantime, the afternoon had turned sunny and crisp, lovely fall weather. We had
early supper at Strumm’s. And then, with about two hours to kill, Preachy and Ani simply put their
heads on the table which had been cleared of dishes, and went to sleep. I was feeling pretty
woozy myself.
But if I couldn’t sleep on a soft reclining seat in a darkened airplane cabin, I certainly
couldn’t on a cold plastic chair in a brightly lit diner. I amused myself by listening to a group of
black teenagers singing at a nearby table. One of the girls as so good that I came to the conclusion
that Fantasia (the latest “American Idol”) was really not all that special out here.
Preachy and Bien had chosen Fiddler on the Roof. But Rio, Ani and I opted for Bombay
Dreams, an Andrew Lloyd Wenbber production based on an idea of Webber’s and Shekkar
Khapur’s.
Funny how Bollywood should be a hit with American audiences, a long time before Slumg
Dog Millionaire was t sweep the Oscars. The music was by A.R. Rahman, and the lyrics by Don
Black Manu Narayan played Akash, the slum boy who dreams of becoming a Ollywood movie
star and actually becomes one, it allows to go to hid head and turns his back on his hometown;
but repents and returns and promises to make up and help improve life in his old neighborhood.
All the sound of bright, bouncy music and rhythm of lively dances, with a lot of joking and tumbling
about.
It reminds me of old Filipino films, the Nida Blanca- Nestor de Villa sort. (We could do this.
Actually, we’d be better at it!) and some of the ensemble did, in fact, look not Indian but Pinoy.
Then we took the subway back, stopped at Westside Supermarket for fruits and other stuff we
could have for breakfast; and hen, still high, Preachy and I stayed up to chat with Joi in Preachy’s
room. There’s no denying it: New York does throb and glow!

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 6

 Activity 1

 What is Hidalgo’s essay all about? Who is the target audience? How does an author‘s
voice affect the essay? How can an author establish his or her voice in writing an essay?

(Write your answers on separate answer sheet)

ESSAY
ry genre. It is also known to be
immensely popular, because newspapers nowadays still bear essays in the form of editorials,
columns and bylines. Some of the most popular newspaper columnist who are known to write in
the essay form are Conrado de Quiros of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Jessica Zafra of the
Philippine Star and Business World, and more recently, Patricia Evangelista and Shakira Sison
of the online news portal Rappler.
America in the Heart has always been a staple for creative
nonfiction. In this work, he writes about his migration to the United States and the painful life he
has lived there, and yet, ends the whole memoir with a declaration that America will always be
in the “heart”.

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 7

Archipelagic Nonfiction
Creative nonfiction or essay is all about life. When you read an essay you read the
thoughts, feelings, and experiences of a writer about an important time in his or her life. Thus, you
also connect with the writer in his or her life. Thus, you also connect with the writer and his or her
experiences and may get insights on how to handle your own current situations or issues.
Basically, a majority of writers will write on their past history or what happened to them in
common a while. Events in a society are highly associated with the culture of that place. By writing
on those traditions they help grow those literary traditions both locally and regionally. They also
remind people of those cultures that were long forgotten.
Local writers will also help to explain events in details hence people locally or regionally
depending on the popularity of the writers is in a position to understand the literary traditions.
Philippine literature are written works made in the Philippines, such as books and poems. These
type of literature are produced by writers. Writers express their ideas by creating various literature,
which is contributed to the Philippine literature.

Activity 2
DIRECTIONS: Complete the word being described in each statement by filling in the letters
inside the box.

1. Simply means such an accumulative process of handing down texts for future generations.
L T R T A T O N

2. This is often defined as a short piece of writing on a particular subject, also defined as a short
piece of an account of historical, personal and academic events.
E S Y

3. It refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.
L T R T R

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 8

Directions: Read the short biography of these two local writers and write a short essay on the
question “How could we value their contribution to the development of literary tradition? Write
your answer on the space provided.

He is the author of numerous poetry collections and works in literary and cultural criticism,
including Our Lady of the Carnival (1996), The Sorrows of Water (2000), Kaluluwa (2001)
Philippine Gay Culture: The Last Thirty Years (1996), Slip/pages: Essays in Philippine Gay
Criticism (1998), Performing the Self: occasional Prose (2003), The Garden of Worldlessness
(2005), The Mysterios and Other Poems (2005). He recently edited the anthology: Aura: The Gay
themed Philippine Fiction in English.
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21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 9

 She was one of those who conceptualized and created the Batibot, the acclaimed
children’s educational TV show. Abstract/editor for US based electronic database publisher;
Managing Editor and columnist of Filipinas- the only monthly glossy magazine for the Fil-Am
community in the US.
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21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 10

Post Test
Direction: Using the given answer sheet, darken the circle corresponding to the letter of the
best answer for each item.
1. It simply means such an accumulative process of handing down texts for future generations.
A. Literary tradition
B. Literary Symbol
C. Literary Genre
D. Literary Criticism
2. It refers to writing considered to be an art form or any single writing deemed to have artistic or
intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.
A. Literature
B. Poetry
C. Technical Writing
D. Reading and Writing
3. This is often defined as a short piece of writing on a particular subject, also defined as a short
piece of an account of historical, personal and academic events.
A. Literature
B. Essay
C. Poetry
D. Fiction
4. It is an important component of writing for it shows the essay’s personality as much as you
would if you were the one telling the story to someone else.
A. Writer’s Language
B. Writer’s Style
C. Writer’s Viewpoints
D. Writer’s Voice
5. An award-winning Filipina fictionist who has written 5 short fiction, 2 novels, 11 essays, 4
literary criticisms and won numerous awards. The author of the excerpt from New York City
Post 9/11.
A. Fe Hidalgo
B. Maria Fe Hidalgo
C. Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo
D. Amanda Pantoja-Hidalgo
21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 11
. Photo Source
https://www.rappler.com/previous-articles?filterMeta=shakira%20sison
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/portraits/id/35/
https://teamarkongbato.wordpress.com/conrade-de-quiros/
http://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/literature/2018/11/16/jessica-zafrainterview.html
https://www.rappler.com/about-rappler/staff-profiles/2519-patriciaevangelista
http://www.readersandwritersfestival.com/panelist-info.php?panelist=J%
20Neil%20Garcia&img=up-press
http://upbsi.org/upbsfnorcalchapter/12upaasv/upaasv.html

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD 12