FIFTEEN FINEST FILIPINO SHORT STORIES, 1925-1936 T: celebrate the tenth year of my critical work on the Philippine short story, I have here endeavoured to select what I consider the fifteen finest Filipino shore stories written during the period between 1925 and 1936, In 1932 I made my first such selection, but since much has been achieved in the Philippine short story since that date, it becomes clear that this new list is warranted and justifiable of itself In thus making up this new list, some earlier choices have naturally been displaced. This is not to mean that these dislodged stories are not fine; yet it would be foolish not to admit that they have been excelled, if only by so little. This is the best reason for this new list; superior work has been achieved. I am proud of these new stories, and proud to present them. The stories here assembled are those that I consider to have the best claim to permanent literature. Having passed the tests of form and substance essential to any good short story, these stories possess an even greater distinc tion in that they partake of one or more of the qualities of great literature. These superior qualities, in my belief, are three: first, essentiality; second, seren- ity; and third, nobility. I. By essentiality is meant the presence of life’s inner essence. A great story is a profound reading of life, a discovery and interpretation of its moral reali- ties. It means, besides profundity of theme and significance, the quality of taking life as a serious passion: a search, a secking for ultimate values. It denotes spiritual concentration fevered by spiritual aspiration. It predicates This essay only slightly varies from “15 Literary Landmarks” (q.x.). Villa substitutes “essentiality” for “high seriousness,” but the meaning of the concept is the same, He also clavfies the remarks he made in "Form, Plot, Ete.” about Anguilla and Daguio. The significant addition to Villa’s pantheon of literary masters is Francisco Arcellana, who has two stories in the list. Meanwhile, the stories of Casiano Calalang, whom Villa had named one of the best fictionists in “Our Intellectuals and Artists” (q.¥.), are eased out of the list, 276FIFTEEN FINEST FILIPINO SHORT STORIES, 1925-1936 soul and its movements, the s SoG a dstee . : : fm moral brilliance, Inmy 1 Sea ’ ie predicates, in seriousness, for it is seriousness of spiritual sight, seri is quality by the term high ser ousness high and lofty, not mere exteri . ‘ tiousness of living purpose, Let me bring up instances of stories ponendontie hi ‘5 essentiality, and contrast them with stories that 8 this high See yest,” by Loreto Paras, and “Zita,” by Arturo B, Rote as f the story of high seriousness, In th gto), fine examples of the story 1 In them we find life at its very highest, for here is life lived as a serious passion, life lived inevi ee eed vies like Manuel E. Arguilla’ head itably, life lived essentially. Inst ane rguilla’s “All in a Summer Day,” “The Courting of Manong Undong,” “Midsummer,” etc., we find th Le ie Cours and yet they possess no} high serious * e sul jects treated seriously, one of Mr. Arguilla’s stories po: si ee sees sone: Det s t possesses this quality: in none does he give us a profound reading of life. Most of his stories are purely descriptive in es- sence—they are descriptive passages and excellent of thei! kind but inn does he touch the core, the essence, of life. Mr. Arguilla’s stories are free from spiritual passion, free from spiritual struggle, free from drama, free from the inevitable. He has no sense of the eternal, and it is because of this that his stories cannot align with the great. (In my “The Best Filipino Short Stories of 1935,” I had the occasion to compare Manuel E. Arguall and Amador T. Daguio, and pronounced Mr. Arguilla the better writer, Let me correct the impression I have made, in justice to Mr. Daguio. Mr. Arguilla is the better writer in the external and technical sense only, in the command and discipline of his craft—but there is no question that Mr. Daguio is his human superior, and therefore, in the end, the better writer. It is only in Mr. Daguio’s lack of discipline, his disorder of material, in much of his work, that I object; but in his finer work, as in the stories on my Roll of Honor, he proves himself very superior indeed to Mr. Arguilla. Compared thus, a wealth of human values and the sense of the eternal pervade Mr. Daguio’s work, beside which Mr. Arguilla appears all gloss and enamel. I trust that I have cleared the matter.) Il. Serenity. There is in every masterpiece all the absorption and strong silence of spiritual concentration—a silence and a mystery infinitely beyond definition. All that one can say is that, in the midst of the thematic tumult, this quiet exists—a peace cool and patrician in the very heart of, and in spite of, the spiritual revolt. Though there be exceeding sorrow, yet these passion and sorrow unfold in exceeding quiet. This is the divine antithesis in an [artist’s] work, and this is pethaps the most difficult literary quality to achieve: this quiet is not in the artist’s basic material—he infuses it into his work by the power and discipline of his art. There is superb serenity in Miss Paras’s “Harvest,” but it is not found in her story “The Call.” It is likewise present in N. V. M. Gonzalez’s “Pioneer,” 277FIFTEEN FINEST FILIPINO SHORT STORIES, 1925-1936 in Sinai Hamada’s “Tanabata’s Wife,” in Solito Borje’s “To Be a Man,” and in practically all of Paz Latorena’s stories. IIL. Finally, although nobility is not the quality most difficult of achieve. ment, it is the quality rarest to find. It is also the highest quality of all. “God has a few of us whom He whispers in the ear,” wrote Browning—and these are the greatest artists, they whose works possess this treasure. Nobility is not morality, and nobility is not preaching. Nobility is mag. nificence of spirit, a silverness of being. Nobility is sublimity: the god in man magnificent in revealment. This quality of nobility is, as I have said, the most difficult to find. Not all of the stories I have listed possess it, nor do all of them possess all three qualities of great literature. Still, possessing one or more of the three, they are entitled to the distinction of being qualified as Very Fine. A story possessing all three qualities would be a great story—and I would not be wrong in saying that on my list I have some truly great stories. It is my belief that “Harvest,” “Zita,” “Wanderlust,” “The Woman Who Looked Out of the Window,” “Tanabata’s Wife,” “I the Father,” “Yesterday's Tomorrow,” “Pioneer,” “Sun- set,” and “A Marriage Was Made” are truly great stories. They belong to all time. They are stories of spiritual grandeur, of spiritual grace and dignity, They ate more than stories—they are acts of faith—they have the divine testamental accent. First published in Graphic, 4 February 1937 278VILLA’S CHOICE OF THE FIFTEEN FINEST SHO RT STORIES Interlude, Francisco Arcellana ‘A Mattiage Was Made, Apprentice To Be A Man, Solito Borje (193 3), Graphic The Woman Who Looked Out of the Window, Amador Daguio,(1933), Philippine Magazine Wanderlust, Fausto Dugenio (1930), Graphic Pioneer, N. V. M. Gonzalez (1934), Philippine Magazine ‘Tanabata’s Wife, Sinai C. Hamada (1933), Graphic The Small Key, Paz M. Latorena (1927), Herald Sunset, Paz M. Latorena (1929), Graphic Little Girl, Milagros Mijares (1929), Philippine Magazine Balthazar, Loreto Paras (1929), Graphic Harvest, Loreto Paras (1930), Herald Yesterday's Tomorrow, Cornelio S. Reyes (1935), Story Manuscripts I the Father, Narciso G. Reyes (1935), Story Manuscripts Zita, Arturo B, Rotor (1930), Herald (1935), Literary Apprentice Francisco Atcellana (1936), Literary The stories are arranged alphabetically by author. The dates in parentheses refer to the year of publication. The periodical of appearance comes after the date of publication. 279