I N T R O D U C T I O N T O P H I L I P P I N E  

L I T E R AT U R E
By Katrina Melissa Cruz

Philippine literature withstood time and periods and has evolved through generations.  For every period that passed,
different genres appeared, and these literary works rooted from all regions reflecting their culture, society and lifestyle.

The early stages of Filipino Literature consist of the Pre-Spanish period, the Spanish period and the Propaganda and
Revolutionary Periods. In the Pre-Spanish period, literature was in oral form as technology of printing wasn’t available
yet. Works such as epics, legends, folklore, salawikain, bugtong, sawikain, songs such as the Oyayi or Hele are passed on
from generations to generations and they are still well-known up to this day as they are being taught in schools. Philippine
Literature changed during the Spanish Period. It was centered on Christian faith. Pre-Spanish literary types continued to
develop; however, there was a gradual shift of interest from nature and natural phenomena to the lives of the saints,
hymns, miracles and invocations based on the teachings of the Catholic Church. The works during this time are imitative
of the Spanish theme, forms, and traditions. The corrido, awit, dalit, cenaculo, moro-moro, duplo and karagatan, and
zarzuela are reflective of the said characteristics. Religious matters were in prose as novenas and prayer books,
biographies of the saints, tales and novels. The Filipinos were able to retain their native traditions and poems in the field
of poetry reflected as lyrical folksongs and riddles. Some examples of songs are Bahay Kubo, kundiman, and
tapat. Francisco Baltazar also was popular during this time because of his “Florante at Laura”. Events such as the
exposure of the Filipinos to Europe’s liberal idealism, the opening of the Suez Canal, the Spanish Revolution in 1868, and
the martyrdom of Gomburza led to Filipino nationalism. This gave birth to two movements during this time – the
Propaganda movement and the Revolutionary movement. The Propaganda movement was reformatory in objective and its
members are college students mostly based in Spain. The primary propagandists were Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar,
and Graciano Lopez-Jaena. The exposure of the evils of the Spanish rule in the Philippines was because of Rizal’s Noli
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo and has paved the way to a revolution against Spain. Del Pilar’s essays and editorials
in Diariong Tagalogwhich he founded with Lopez-Jaena’s articles in La Solidaridad which he was an editor reflected
nationalism that was dominant at this time.

The Revolutionary movement took over as the propagandists failed to get much reforms. This was of course more violent,
and it demands complete independence from Spain. The Katipunan was founded by Andres Bonifacio who was inspired
by Rizal’s novels. The articles written in tagalog (which was a form of revolution) was published in the Kalayaan, the
newspaper of the society. The literature at that time was more propagandistic than literary as the situation and events at
that time needed such purpose for liberation.

The three periods mentioned are the core of our history and literature. History has a very important role in literature as
literature not only reflects facts with aesthetic language but more importantly, it displays the ideas and feelings of the
people living at that time. Not only does literature exhibit history but so as the hope that people have. It shows what they
hope for the nation, or for themselves, may it be about nationalism, love, or other aspects going on in life. As the
Philippines underwent a lot of history, as well as changes, literature also evolved. In the similar case as the first three
periods, literary genres also evolve depending on the influence, state and the condition that our country is in. From epics
to folksongs, to the cenaculo and Noli Me Tangere, to Tagalog and English short stories, essays, poetry, to the Palanca
Awards entries, drama and film, to Wattpad and blogs – these are all reflective of the history, evolution, and developments
or mishaps of the Filipino nation. Each period has its own distinct genre and unique artists that everyone remembers.

21st century literature per se, is anything that was written and published in the year 2000s. It is a bit too early to give
a definite and elaborate description of the 21st century literature in the Philippines and the world. It is possible, however,
to approach contemporary literature as a reaction to and dialogue with existing forms of expressive culture. As we engage
in technology more and more, we create and discover more existing forms of expressive culture as well. We have a wide
range of resources through the internet and this gave opportunities to people, especially the youth, to begin writing and
expressing their thoughts, ideas, and feelings. A perfect example would be WattPad.  It became popular to the Filipino
youth in 2006.

The idea is to create an e-book reading application, as e-books are becoming in demand during that time, however, the
founders thought that it would be time consuming to maintain their own catalog, so they decided to let the community
decide what they want to read, and they can also upload their works and content into the application. This had made it
possible for the youth to read more and to start creating their own compositions.

It has become a network.

 Here are more examples of literary genres in the 21st century Philippine literature:

Creative nonfiction

It’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques, some of which are newly invented and others as old as writing itself.
Creative nonfiction can be an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a memoir, or a poem; it can be personal or not, or it
can be all of these.

Some of the creative nonfiction in the Philippines are:

1. The Cardinal’s Sins, the General’s Cross, the Martyr’s Testimony, and Other Affirmations” by
Gregorio C. Brillantes
2. “Manananggal Terrorizes Manila and Other Stories” by Jessica Zafra
3. “Sapay Koma” by Jhoanna Lynn Cruz

Hyper poetry

Hypertext poetry and hypertext fiction are new genres of literature that use the computer screen as medium, rather than
the printed page. The literary works rely on the qualities unique to a digital environment, such as linked World Wide Web
pages or effects such as sound and movement. Hypertext “poetry” can consist of words, although not necessarily
organized into lines and stanzas, as well as, sounds, visual images, movement or other special effects. Although the poem
may be dazzling with sounds, perhaps of a lawnmower, while the words “mowing,” “stop,” “Sunday,” and “morning”
float across your computer screen in pseudo-three-dimensional letters, one will have been hard pressed to identify the use
of any formal poetics.

Mobile phone text tula

A cell phone novel, or mobile phone novel is a literary work originally written on a cellular phone via text messaging.
This type of literature originated in Japan, where it has become a popular literary genre. However, its popularity has also
spread to other countries internationally, especially to China, United States, Germany, and South Africa. Chapters usually
consist of about 70-100 words each due to character limitations on cell phones.

Chick lit

This is genre fiction, which “consists of heroin-centered narratives that focus on the trials and tribulations of their
individual protagonists”. The genre often addresses issues of modern womanhood – from romantic relationships to female
friendships to matters in the workplace – in humorous and lighthearted ways.

Some of the chick lit in the Philippines are:

1. Spotlight New Adult by Mina V. Esguerra

2. Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
3. All’s Fair in Blog and War by Chrissie Peria

Speculative fiction

It covers all stories from fantasy to science fiction to slipstream to magic realism to urban fantasy — so on and so forth. In
other words (or in other worlds), it encompasses all the stories that are removed from the reality that we are currently
living in. As the introduction states, “speculative fiction is a type of story that deals with observations of the human
condition but offers the experience through a different lens…and challenges us to see what tomorrow could be like or
what the mythic past of our imagination actually is.”

Some of the speculative fiction in the Philippines are:

1. Smaller and Smaller Circles by FH Batacan

2. Sink by Isabel Yap
3. The Secret Origin of Spin-Man by Andrew Drilon

Flash fiction
 Flash fiction goes by many names, including microfiction, microstories, short-shorts, short short stories, very short stories,
sudden fiction, postcard fiction and nanofiction. While it can be difficult to pinpoint an exact definition of flash fiction
based on word count, consideration of several of its features can help provide clarity, like its brevity, length, background
and purpose.

Some of the flash fiction in the Philippines are:

1. 100 Kislap, by Abdon M. Balde Jr.

2. Karapote: Antolohia Dagiti 13 a Nasuerte A Sarita, by Ariel S. Tabag

Blog

A blog (shortening of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website displaying information in the reverse
chronological order, with latest posts appearing first. It is a platform where a writer or even a group of writers share their
views on an individual subject.

Graphic novels

The ‘graphic novel’ has existed as an art form arguably from the time our species learned how to paint. However, the term
has only been in use since the 1960’s, and though it’s often a hotly debated issue, it’s generally accepted that a graphic
novel is a longer work or collection of works presented in ‘comics’ style.

Some of the graphic novels in the Philippines are:

1. The Mythology Class (Nautilus comics) by Arnold Arre

2. Light (Anino comics) by Rob Cham
3. Sixty Six (Anino comics) by Russell Molina
4. Maktan 1521 by Tepai Pascual

Contemporary writers often consciously draw inspiration and ideas from the writers who have come before them. As an
outcome, many works of 21st literature deal with the events, movements and literature of the past in order to make sense
of the current times. In addition, the technological developments of the 21st century have directed other writers to
theoretically write about the future, usually to comment on the present and suggest introspection.

There are various themes and topics that the contemporary literature addresses. One of which is Identity. With increasing
globalization, intersections of cultures and more vocal discussions of women’s rights and LGBT rights, identity has
become a common theme in 21st century literature. In a world that is now able to exchange ideas more quickly than ever
before via the Internet and other technological advancements, people have relatively more freedom to draw from multiple
cultures and philosophies and question the concept of the self and its relation to the body, brain and “soul.” Another theme
is history and memory. Often contemporary literature explores the notion of multiplicities of truth and acknowledges that
history is filtered through human perspective and experience. Another main theme is technology. Today, technology is
more integrated into people’s lives than ever before. Dreams of what technology could potentially help people become
and anxieties regarding the demise of humanity because of technology can be seen in 21st century literature. Additionally,
many 21st century works of literature explore what it means when all of humanity’s experiences are filtered through
technology. These are just among many themes that 21st century literature covers. Among these are of course, love, sex,
family, religion, but approached in a different way. They are more liberal and unfiltered in a sense, just like the world we
live in. For this reason, the language and tone that are commonly used doesn’t really follow a rule just like the traditional
and classical works, as long as it is able to express and convey the authenticity and the essence of the meaning of the work
and the identity of the characters. Examples of this would be the works of Bob Ong, Ricky Lee, and Bebang Siy. The
poems of Maria Cecilia dela Rosa are perfect examples of 21st century literature as she conveys a different flavor and turn
to her works.

The previous periods had already established canon writers and their works which, until now, are being studied in schools
and universities. As times change, people need to innovate and become more aware of the present time and condition, as
well as the events that recently directed us to be at the current circumstances that we stand. Modernization, invention,
expression and a wider point of view are results of the arising awareness people have. Modern day Filipinos, as well as the
youth of today become more conscious of what’s happening, primarily because of easier access to education and
technology. Print, we might say, is gradually dying but our appetite for information continues to grow and of course
literature, along with technology still thrives.  All of this paved the way to the 21st  century Literature, with various
genres, themes and voices.  The Philippines continues to develop in many aspects and as a liberal and democratic country,
we are part of the worldwide innovation of ways on how to exchange and share ideas about the present events which have
much similarities in each country.
Since we are in the age of technology, we use them to impart and experience literature to make it more interesting
especially to the young ones. They grew up using technology as a primary learning tool and for them to be more engaged
in literature, technology such as the internet and gadgets play a huge role for them in acquiring knowledge and
information.

Literature continues to change with society and although we are in the 21st century and are binded with technology,
authors are still trying to address absolute human questions in new ways and therefore, reconcile them with the ever-
changing technology that surrounds us; hence, the birth of the different 21st century literary genres.

In the new educational system that the Philippines is currently under which is the K+12 program, students are also entitled
to learn the new literary genres that we have in the 21st century. In this guide, we will find the different characteristics of
the 21st century literature in the Philippines and their genres, along with their representative texts that tackles their
relevance to our current situation.

https://21stcenturylitph.wordpress.com/introduction-to-philippine-literature/