Literature

• Essay


  A short piece of writing that is not necessarily literary, can be pragmatic or expressive
• The essay can be considered literary if it tries to elevate its form beyond just being "a short piece of writing"</b>
• Regional literature in the Philippines

  Contends with the forces of the cultural "center" of the Philippines or Manila
• John Jack Wigley's essay


  • Uses a distinctive style and tone to relate his memories
  • Turns the experiences of so many into a singular written work
• Writers like Wigley are very clear about their origins, and these origins are easily seen in their works
• Regional pieces must contend with a more dominant, Manila-centered national culture


  Finding the room to be accepted by Manila while also preserving the uniqueness of their own origins becomes the challenge every writer, who is not from Manila, faces
• Pampango literature


  • Heavily influenced by Spain and the arrival of the Americans
  • Used the traditional pasyon and vernacular to discuss the injustices suffered by the working class farmers
  • Had the poetic joust called "crissotan" and the Kapampangan balagtasan
• The initial flourishing of Kapampangan literature in the early twentieth century would fade as publications dedicated to this literature never took hold
• Lourdes Vidal expressed pessimism that the region would be able to produce new work unless it sees new writers steep in with a clear notion of their own regionality and are able to speak with clear voices to contribute to the country
• This is the context from which Wigley is writing - a context of a regional literature that is seen to be struggling and is in need of new writing to revitalize it
• Marikina house


  Unfinished house that the family had to move into
• Moving into the unfinished Marikina house

  1. No electricity

  2. No window screens

  3. Mosquitoes

  4. Sister slept in the upstairs hall
• Work on the house continued for 8 years but the exterior remained unpainted
• Marikina house


  • Attempt to return to the successful Greenmeados plan, but with more modest means
  • Smaller house on a smaller lot
• Living room of the Cinco Hermanos house


  Similar furniture to the Greenmeados house, with the addition of the mother's growing collection of art figurines
• Kitchen in the Marikina house

  Carefully planned, with cooking and eating areas clearly demarcated
• Formal dining room in the Marikina house

  Designed for the long narra dining table, a lovely Designs Ligna item, perhaps the one most beautiful piece of furniture
• Upstairs bedrooms in the Marikina house

  • Beds were the same custom-made ones from the Greenmeados house
  • Loft or attic with two big bedrooms and a wide hall
  • No bathroom upstairs, had to go down the stairs to use the toilet