21st Century Literature

• Periods of Philippine literature

  • Precolonial Period
  • Spanish Colonial Period
  • American Occupation
  • Japanese Occupation
  • Postwar Period
  • Contemporary Period
• Precolonial literature


  • Included chants, proverbs, songs, spells, and different folk narratives like folk tales, fables, legends, myths, and epics that were all passed down from generation to generation through the word of mouth
  • Described how people earn their livelihood like farming, fishing, pottery and a lot more
• Literature during Spanish Colonization

  • Mostly influenced by Christianity as well as the European ideals of liberty and freedom through trade
  • Writers changed the subject of their writings from nature and natural phenomena to the lives of the saints, hymns, miracles and invocations based on the teachings of the Catholic faith
• Literature during American period

  • Filipino writers follow the forms and style of the American writers thus spurred the writing of Filipinos in English
• Literature during Japanese Occupation

  • Censored literary works yet contributed to the maturity of the Tagalog short story because English language was not allowed to use
  • Tagalog was declared an official language (together with Nihonggo)
• Literature during Postwar period

  • Filipino writers got their inspiration from American teachers and were able to learn their techniques, which also helped in mastering the English language
  • Writers wrote fiction that focused on courageous deeds as well as the sacrifices and suffering in the lives of Filipinos
  • Common for writers to write about the experiences of the Filipino people under the Spanish and American rule and the Japanese Occupation
• Literature during Postwar and Contemporary period

  • Writers were able to produce short stories, novels, essays, and poems that continue to be read by Filipinos today
• Folktale


  Characteristically anonymous, timeless, and placeless tale circulated orally among people
• Folktales


  • Juan Gathers Guavas (Tagalog)
  • Juan Pusong and His Father's Cows (Visayan)
• Fable


  Features animal characters or inanimate objects that behave like people
• Fables


  • The Monkey and the Crocodile (Tagalog)
• Legend


  Presented as history but is unlikely to be true
• Legends


  • The Flood Story (A Legend of Bukidnon)
  • The Flood Story (A Legend of the Igorot)
• Myth


  Told to explain a belief, a practice, or a natural phenomenon
• Myths


  • The Creation (An Igorot Myth)
  • The Creation (A Tagalog Myth)
• Epic


  Narrative poem that celebrates the adventures and achievements of a hero
• Epics


  • Biag ni Lam-ang (Iloco)
  • Hinilawod (Panay)
• Literature during Spanish Colonial Period


  • Works were imitative of the Spanish theme, forms, and traditions
  • Included corrido, awit, dalit, cenaculo, moro-moro, duplo and karagatan, and zarzuela
  • Religious matters were in prose as novenas and prayer books, biographies of the saints, tales and novels
  • Filipinos were able to retain their native traditions and poems in the field of poetry reflected as lyrical folksongs and riddles
• Ladinos


  Natives who became fluent in Spanish and wrote devotional poetry
• Ladinos


  • Fernando Bagongbanta
  • Gaspar Aquino de Belen
• Komedya or moro-moro


  Native drama that depicted the war between Christians and Muslims, wherein the former always wins
• Notable writers


  • Francisco Baltazar (Florante at Laura)
  • Pedro Paterno (Sampaguitas y poesias varias, Ninay)
  • Jose Rizal (Noli Me Tangere, El Filibusterismo)
• Ernas


  Appeared in Memorial de la vida cristiana en lengua tagala (1605), a book containing basic Catholic doctrines
• Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon natin na tola


  The earliest version of pasyon, written by de Belen in 1704
• Jose de la Cruz


  Master of the komedya or moro-moro art form
• Francisco Baltazar


  Master of traditional Tagalog poetry, known for his work Florante at Laura (1838–1861)
• Pedro Paterno


  Wrote Sampaguitas y poesias varias (1880), the first poetry collection in Spanish by a Filipino, and the novel in Spanish Ninay (1885), considered to be the first Filipino novel
• Jose Rizal


  Prominent ilustrado and the country's national hero, famous for the novels Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo which portray the corruption and abuse of the Spanish officials and the clergy
• Andres Bonifacio


  Founder of the Katipunan, wrote the poem "Pagibig sa Tinubuang Lupa" which appeared in the Kalayaan, the official newspaper of the Katipunan, in March 1896
• Leona Florentino


  Known as the "mother of Philippine women's literature", a poet in both Ilocano and Spanish, with 20 of her poems preserved and exhibited in Europe
• The US established a civil government in 1901, introduced free public education, and made English the medium of instruction
• The production of literary works in English is the direct result of the American colonization of the Philippines
• Filipino Poetry (1924)


  The first collection of poetry in English, edited by Rodolfo Dato
• "Dead Stars" (1925)


  Considered the first Filipino modern short story in English, written by Paz Marquez Benitez
• A Child of Sorrow (1921)


  The first Filipino novel in English, written by Zoilo M. Galang
• His Native Soil (1940)


  Novel by Juan C. Laya that won first prize in the First Commonwealth Literary Awards in 1940
• Filipino writers in English during the apprenticeship period (1900–1930) imitated American writing
• Fernando Maramag


  Wrote in the Romantic tradition in his sonnet "Moonlight on Manila Bay" (1912)
• Jose Garcia Villa


  Used the Anderson pattern in his writings
• Manuel Arguilla and N. V. M. Gonzalez


  Influenced by Anderson and Hemingway