Course Title: Literary genres in the 21st century Philippine literature

Week No. 005 / Module 004

Lesson 4 – Literary genres in the 21st century Philippine literature

Content of the Module

1. Creative nonfiction
2. Hyper poetry
3. Mobile phone text
4. Chick it
5. Speculative fiction
6. Flash fiction
7. Blog
8. Graphics novel

Introduction to Philippine literature

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,

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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

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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 Watt
Pad. 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:
A. 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:

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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

B. 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.

C. Mobile phone text

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

D. 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:

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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

E. 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

F. 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

G. Blog
A blog (shortening of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational website
displaying information in the reverse chronological order, with latest posts appearing

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first. It is a platform where a writer or even a group of writers share their views on an
individual subject.

H. 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

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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

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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.

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