Lesson 1

Introduction to Philippine
Literature

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

 Philippine Literature is a diverse and rich group of works that has
evolved side-by-side with the country’s history. Literature had started
with fables and legends made by the ancient Filipinos long before the
arrival of Spanish influence. The main themes of Philippine literature
focus on the country’s pre-colonial cultural traditions and the socio-
political histories of its colonial and contemporary traditions.
It is not a secret that many Filipinos are unfamiliar with much of
the country's literary heritage, especially those that were written long
before the Spaniards arrived in our country. This is due to the fact that
the stories of ancient time were not written, but rather passed on from
generation to generation through word of mouth. Only during 1521 did
the early Filipinos became acquainted with literature due to the
influence of the Spaniards on us. But the literature that the Filipinos
became acquainted with are not Philippine-made, rather, they were
works of Spanish authors.
 So successful were the efforts of colonists to blot out the
memory of the country's largely oral past that present-day
Filipino writers, artists and journalists are trying to correct this
inequity by recognizing the country's wealth of ethnic
traditions and disseminating them in schools through mass
media.
 The rise of nationalistic pride in the 1960s and 1970s also
helped bring about this change of attitude among a new breed
of Filipinos concerned about the "Filipino identity."
 Philippine literature is written in Spanish, English, Tagalog,
and/or other native Philippine Languages.

Why do we need to study Philippine Literature?

 Whatever nationality you are it is always very important to study
the literature of your country. In doing so you are not only learning
about the historical aspects of your land, but you are also keeping
 alive the thoughts, beliefs and cultural variations of your ancestors
that differentiate your country from the rest of the world.
 A country's literature also tells us about its civilization in a form
other than straight fact. Literature is usually one person's
description of a situation told through their own personal feelings;
eyewitness testimony to historical events that we were not present
at. Writers have a talent for bringing the past back to life with
emotive language and metaphor, helping us to imagine scenarios
that may have happened decades, or even centuries, ago.

Philippine Literature in English

 A new set of colonizers brought about new changes in Philippine
literature. American influence was deeply entrenched with the firm
establishment of English as the medium of instruction in all
schools and with literary modernism that highlighted the writer's
individuality and cultivated consciousness of craft, sometimes at
the expense of social consciousness. New literary forms were
introduced, chiefly, free verse, the modern short story, and the
critical essay. On the university level, young writers were exposed
to literary modernism, which highlighted the individuality of the
writer and cultivated craft consciousness, sometimes at the expense
of social consciousness.

LITERARY GENRES
 Genres of literature are important to learn about. The two main
categories separating the different genres of literature are fiction
and nonfiction.

Types of Nonfiction:
 Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact that is
presented in a format which tells a story.
  Essays are a short literary composition that reflects the author’s
outlook or point. A short literary composition on a particular theme
or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or
interpretative.
 A Biography is a written account of another person’s life.
 An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or
told by that person. Often written in Narrative form of their
person’s life.
 Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication;
ability to express one’s thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds,
and gesture. Generally delivered in the form of an address or
discourse.

Types of Fiction
 Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is
dramatic art in the way it is represented. This genre is stories
composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance,
where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and
action.
 Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an
emotional response from the reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical
in composition, written or spoken. This genre of literature is for
exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
 Fantasy is the forming of mental images with strange or other
worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of
reality.
 Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical.
Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement which meant to entertain.
This genre of literature can actually be seen and contained within
all genres.
 A Fable is a story about supernatural or extraordinary people
Usually in the form of narration that demonstrates a useful truth. In
 Fables, animals often speak as humans that are legendary and
supernatural tales.
 Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable.
Sometimes the stories are about fairies or other magical creatures,
usually for children
 Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential science,
either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of the genres of
literature that is set in the future or on other planets.
 Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not able to support
any subplots.
 Realistic Fiction is a story that can actually happen and is true to
real life.
 Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of
“folk” that was handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is a
genre of literature that is widely held, but false and based on
unsubstantiated beliefs.
 Historical Fiction is a story with fictional characters and events in
a historical setting.
 Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by
literature that is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting.
Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the
characters and the reader.
 A Tall Tale is a humorous story with blatant exaggerations,
swaggering heroes who do the impossible with an here of
nonchalance.
 Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend
is based on fact but also includes imaginative material.
 Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of a crime
or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept secret or remains
unexplained or unknown.
 Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often
based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and
natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the
 actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a particular people
or that relating to a particular person.
 Fiction in Verse is full-length novels with plot, subplots, themes,
with major and minor characters. Fiction of verse is one of the
genres of literature in which the narrative is usually presented in
blank verse form.

Elements of Fiction
 Characterization is a means by which writers present and reveal
characters – by direct description, by showing the character in
action, or by the presentation of other characters who help to define
each other.
 Characters in fiction can be conveniently classified as major and
minor, static and dynamic. A major character is an important
figure at the center of the story’s action or theme. The major
character is sometimes called a protagonist whose conflict with an
antagonist may spark the story’s conflict. Supporting the major
character are one or more secondary or minor characters whose
function is partly to illuminate the major characters. Minor
characters are often static or unchanging: they remain the same
from the beginning of a work to the end. Dynamic characters, on
the other hand, exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose,
behavior, as the story progresses. Irony is not so much an element
of fiction as a pervasive quality in it. It may appear in fiction in
three ways: in a work’s language, in its incidents, or in its point of
view. But in whatever form it emerges, irony always involves a
contrast or discrepancy between one thing and another. The
contrast may be between what is said and what is meant (verbal
irony), what is expected to happen and what actually happens
(situational irony) or between what a character believes or says
and what the reader understands to be true (dramatic irony).
 Plot, the action element in fiction, is the arrangement of events that
make up a story. Many fictional plots turn on a conflict, or struggle
 between opposing forces, that is usually resolved by the end of the
story. Typical fictional plots begin with an exposition, that
provides background information needed to make sense of the
action, describes the setting, and introduces the major characters;
these plots develop a series of complications or intensifications of
the conflict that lead to a crisis or moment of great tension. The
conflict may reach a climax or turning point, a moment of greatest
tension that fixes the outcome; then, the action falls off as the
plot’s complications are sorted out and resolved (the resolution or
dénouement). Be aware, however, that much of twentieth-century
fiction does not exhibit such strict formality of design.
 Point of view refers to who tells the story and how it is told. The
possible ways of telling a story are many, and more than one point
of view can be worked into a single story.
 Setting is the physical and social context in which the action of a
story occurs. The major elements of setting are the time, the place,
and the social environment that frames the characters.
 Style is the way a writer chooses words (diction), arranges them in
sentences and longer units of discourse (syntax) and exploits their
significance. Style is the verbal identity of a writer, as
unmistakable as his or her face or voice. Reflecting their
individuality, writers’ styles convey their unique ways of seeing
the world.
 A symbol is a person, object, image, word, ore vent that evokes a
range of additional meanings beyond and usually more abstract
than its literal significance. Symbols are devices for evoking
complex ideas without having to resort to painstaking explanations.
 Theme is the central idea or meaning of a story. Theme in fiction is
rarely presented at all; it is abstracted from the details of character
and action that compose the story.