PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH:

TRADITION AND CHANGE

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH REVEALS THE SPIRIT OF

THE FILIPINO.
GRADUALLY THIS LITERATURE HAS LEARNED TO EXPRESS THE
DEEPEST OF HUMAN EXPERIENCES IN WORDS THAT CREATE
MEMORABLE IMAGES.
 With the influx of American influence into the Philippine soil, primarily
on the account of the Spanish American War and the ceding of the
Philippines to America in 1898, writers began to use English as their
medium of expression since it became the medium of instruction in all
schools and was preferred tongue among intellectual elite, who were
challenged into adopting a foreign tongue with a measure of adeptness.
Understandably, Philippine literature, from the opening of the twentieth
century until the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941, was patterned after
the Anglo-American models. Romantic readings of the 19th century vintage
saturated the literary scene. English became the primary tool for
communication, not only in education but also in literature.
 Almost four centuries of foreign domination had made Filipinos
proficient in several tongues. By learning English and Spanish, educated
Filipinos came in contact with the humanistic and scientific works of the most
advanced countries of the world. On the other hand, some scholars claim that the
development of this Western cultural orientation resulted in the submergence of
those Asian values which are the bases of a national culture in evolution. With
American textbooks, instructors and writers as models, Filipinos started to learn
not only a new language but also a new way of life alien to their tradition. Thus
began their Western education, or mis-education, the onset of colonial
orientation or disorientation depending on how one looks at it.
 Even before the World War II, nationalism had seeped into the country’s
literature because of political movements which demanded that writers
begin weaning themselves from American influence and shaping their
own national identity or psyche, that they become more aware of social
realities beyond subjects of a romantic flavour such as moonlight and
roses, the birds, bees, flowers and trees, that they stop flaunting their
bleeding hearts-products of a febrile imagination, so anti-romanticists
claimed. This was triggered by the establishment of a commonwealth
kind of government in 1935, the first step toward a semblance of self-
rule with the promise of independence in 1946.
 Generally, part of the literary ferment that appeared before World War II as
it affected Philippine shores was fostered by the dynamic tension in the
history of the literary evolution and the brush with Western culture and
politics. The granting of political independence did not in fact end American
domination. On the contrary, many features of the colonialism remain even
today: greater confusions with language situation, for examples as better
writers down to the present day continue to write in English. For many
years after the “independence” the educational system was still American-
oriented. But somehow. The more important writers of this period tried to
prove that even while they wrote in English, they essentially remained as
Filipinos in their hearts.
 Still, the critic Petronilo Daroy observed another aspect of Philippine
Literature being written after war: “Indeed, the national sensibility
after the world War II is characterized by indignant perceptions which
often manifests themselves in stories which base their claim to realism
on the mere fact of their brutal treatment of the evil”. At any rate, this
attention to the unsmiling aspects of the Philippine life liberated our
literature from maudlin emotionalizing and excessive sentimentalism.
 After the war, in 1945, writers in Philippines began to be discernibly more
westernized, in the name of cultural advancement. American professors and authors
visited the country and conducted seminars, and Filipino writers started their exodus
to the United States to drink in the wisdom of the literary masters. They became
seriously modernized in the process. And after decades of the so called “cultural
time-lag”, they had now started to keep pace with trends abroad and, from 1950s
onwards, were already truly westernized, in the sense of being predominantly
formalistic and craft conscious. This was largely courtesy of the New Criticism, a
tendency which has continued to the present day in the form of an emphasis on craft,
on certain set standards and formula for both poetry and prose, although other
approaches and ideologies have begun to seep in and to rock from the boat of
modernism, this so-called “call to form”.
 Because of the socio-political upheavals during the 1970s, the infamous
dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos and the upsurge of unrest and
activism even in universities, resulting in the so-called “Parliament of
the streets”, writers began to deviate from pre-artistic occupations and
wrote protest or committed literature. This frenzied, restive and agitated
atmosphere led to the famous EDSA revolution in 1986, a four-day
phenomenon aptly called “People Power”, a bloodless revolution fought
with songs, prayers, and flower, climaxing in the Cory Aquino miracle.
Writers are now back to honing their craft in the service
of excellence, aware that before being political, they
must first write well. The great divide lies in the schism
of the writers writing in English and those whose brand
of nationalism demanded that they write in their own
tongue, Filipino.
Today, it seems that is not so much of a writer’s personal sense of
artistic commitment that is questioned as his choice of literary
medium. The big issue for so-called nationalists who doubt the
validity and viability of English as a medium in the wake of a
significant surge of good writers working in Filipino: will the
Filipino writing in English continue to survive and for how many
decades? The fact remains that the language in which they are more
comfortable and one that has become part of their cultural history,
which cannot just be rejected and ignored as if it never happened.
 Early Philippine poetry in English was used as a vehicle for self-expression
—often very personal, romantic outbursts and later on, before the outbreak
of the Pacific War, became an expression of a dawning nationalistic favor
based on growing social commitment , reminding poets to get out of his
ivory tower and open his eyes to social realities and begin writing as
Filipino for Filipino readers and not for Western Audience. Recognized
poets then were Angela Manalang Gloria for her exquisite verses on love
and very female experiences, R. Zulueta da Costa, who at that point in time
had already begun to temper romanticism with poetry which celebrated
national destiny eloquently affirming the need for Filipinism.
 Jose Garcia Villa started to write the new kind of poetry but it was not until
after the war that he was recognized and hailed in his own country. As an
exponent of arts for art’s sake, he produced works dazzled with intensity,
lyricism, luminosity of language, virtuosity and originality of style.
 Modernism in poetry started in the 1950s and continued onward. The 50s
saw the strong influence of modernism on most Filipino poets specially those
who had gone abroad to study their masters. The influences of several
modernist movements are: the metaphysical school, imagism,
impressionism (suggestiveness, musicality, subjective description,
symbolism) and the New Criticism.
 Carlos Angeles and Emmanuel Torres
 Importance of technical precision particularly in handling of poetic
imagery that they were called “poet’s poets”
Edith Tiempo
 combined cerebral and emotional qualities of poetry, vision and
controlled passion in perfect poetic tension
 Cirilo Bautista
 Combined epical, historical, impressionistic, surrealistic, lyrical and
narrative characteristics of literature.
 THE NEW BREED OF FEMALE POETS
 Majorie Evasco
 Rowena Torrevillas
 Merle Wenceslao
 Maria Luis Carino
They continue the romantic tradition in poetry with an effective use of temporary
imagery and rhythm strengthened with the sense of regionalism and feminism. It
is at the same time attuned with the quality, depth and breadth of poetry’s vital
concerns
Prior to the 1920s, Philippine short stories are
better classified as tales rather than stories,
mostly ghost tales or folktales explaining natural
phenomena with a theme in which a moral was
brought home to a reader .
Plot structure became easy and chronological.
 By 1930s the market for
Philippine short stories in
English was no longer confined
solely to the home front but
started to break into print abroad
as well.
 Amador Daguio
 Prominent writers during this
period were:  Loreto Paras Sulit

 Paz Marquez Benitez  Carlos Bulosan

 Paz Latorena  Manuel Arguilla

 Arturo Rotor
 Bienvinido Santos and N.V.M Gonzales although writing that time did not gain
wider attention and larger audience until after World War II. Those years before the
war were characterized by a desire to create a “national literature” not by writing about
a simple and rustic life, flora and fauna or Philippine national heroes but by attempting
to define the national psyche or identity however it might be.
 By the end of 1930s, the Philippine short stories had improved in quality, offering
plausible characterization, stricter control of language and interesting situations and
themes. The “modern short story” was not written after the war.
 Manuel Arguilla, who died before the war, wrote the most significant pre-war
collection, “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife”. This exemplifies a
dynamic tension between social commitment and artistic excellence—the objective of
pre and post war literature.
Various social notes was pursued by Carlo Bulosan’s “America
is in the Heart”, in the choice of the subject matter and
characters like the peasants, laborers, portrayal of the effects of
politics on the private lives of people, interrelation between
economic conditions and political power.
N. V. M Gonzales began writing in 1930s bit his first short story
collection was nut published until 1947.
 The 1960s was a period when writers seriously grappled with the problems of art. The
early 70s saw the proliferatuion of politically motivated or committed writing and protest
literature. Short-story writers became more conscious of the political milieu and of social
issues in the wake of increased activism all over the world and right in their country
specially during the troubled days of dictatorial government.
 Some of the famous fiction writers during this time are:
Paulino Lim
Alfred Yuson
Jose Dalisay
Mario Gamalinda
Cristina Hidalgo
 Contemporary novelists in English emerged in the 80st and utilized various
techniques ranging from traditional realism to magic realism or post-modernism.
 It was also during this time that the emerging voices of the expatriate writers started
to penetrate the mainstream in United States. This is due to the ethnic American
studies leading to a measure of importance given to Asian writers in America or
Asian-Americans.
 Philippine contemporary drama in the age of mass media culture has been
encountering ups and downs in literary SCENE. The art of playing is still alive but
has been enticed by the high-paying TVs and movie industy.
 National Artist Nick Joaquin was one of those who contributed to Philippine drama in
the new century.
The influence of literature in the country is imperiled by the
impact of modern technology in life and culture of writers
and feel it as their responsibility to put literature back on
track and in the center oof life. There is a need to upgrade and
transform it into a meaningful social and yet artistically
forward-moving activity, opening to a large interdependent
world.