Philippine Literature

in English
Historical Background Overview
 What is Philippine Literature in English?

• composed of the works in poetry and prose

written by Filipinos in the English language.
• certainly the most visible one because of its
exposure in the educational system and its
accessibility through publications
 The Beginning
• began in the first decade of the 20th century, soon
after the establishment and institutionalization of the
educational system
• English served as the medium of instruction in
classroom. Teachers were Americans.
• PNU- 1901 (established)
• UP- 1908 (established)
 Overview
• During Spanish regime, none of the vernaculars
(Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilongo, Ilocano, Waray, Pampango,
Pangasinan, Bicolano) had been used in formal education,
and Spanish had not been formally taught.
• When the Americans came, English appeared the only
logical tongue to use for writing. It became the language
of learning.
 Overview

• English was the language of:

• Learning
• Books read by Filipinos
• publications
 Periods of Development

• 1900-1930, the Period of Apprenticeship- learning time

• 1930-1944, the Period of Emergence- voices matured and
spoke on their own
• the succeeding years the Period of Awareness or simply the
Modern Period
 Overview

• Birthed newspapers, magazines and school publication groups

(OUTLETS for WRITING)
• Philippines Free Press (1905)
• College Folio (1910) - Varsity News (1917) - The Philippine Collegian (1922)

• Philippines Herald (1920)

• Philippine Magazine (1924)
• UP Writers’ Club (1927)
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime

• Others ―fell in love with the sound of the

language‖ eventually learning and progressing in
their writings
• From sound, appreciation progressed to meaning,
and by the second decade a number of writers had
started trying their hand at writing verse
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime

• Some were chose to go to America where they met authors who

used English. Through their exposure, they improved their use
of the language.
• Writing in Filipino became viewed as ―low brow,‖ and only
writing in English would be respected by the Americanized elite.
• If one wants to be published, he or she had to write in English.
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
• Others were awarded US government travel and writing
grants and scholarships, all of which show the strong and
continuing American influence on Filipino writing in English.
• Granted with Commonwealth Awards (recognition plus
cash incentives)
 Authors to Remember
1915
• the first Filipino play in English had been written
(“A Modern Filipina” by Lino Araullo and Jesus
Castillejo)
• it had taken some time for the Filipino to learn how to
handle the nuances of English dialogue, making the
drama develop later than poetry and fiction.
 Authors to Remember
1921
• The first novel, A Child of
Sorrow, in English was
written by Zoilo M.
Galang
 Authors to Remember
1925
• Paz Marquez-Benitez’s ―Dead Stars,‖
the first short story as such in craft and
structure, as differentiated from earlier
sketches and short narratives
• the speed with which Filipino writers
had learned to handle the language and
in it render Philippine experience
Authors to Remember
1930s
• Angela Manalang-Gloria
and Jose Garcia Villa
attested to the maturity of
both tradition and the
individual talent in writing
poems.
 Authors to Remember
1930s
• “Manuel Arguilla was the
meticulous painter of the
country scenes in his best-
loved stories How My
Brother Leon Brought Home
a Wife and Other Stories…”
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
The scholars
• Writers went to the US also for postgraduate studies
• The Pensionado Act of 1903 (or Act 854) refers to the law
which allowed qualified Filipino students to study in the
United States.
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
The scholars
• Pensionados were scholars studying at the
expense of the colonial government. They
mainly earned degrees in government and
administration since the idea of the
program was to educate the students the
U.S. Government system, so that upon
their return in the Philippines, they would
administer the government in the same https://www.geni.com/photo/view?album_type=pr
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 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
The scholars
• Upon completion, the Pensionados go back to
the Philippines where they were entitled to occupy
important roles and positions in the government and
its sectors – agriculture, business, education, etc.
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
The scholars
• By the time of the Commonwealth Awards,
writing in English had developed a world, a
readership, and support structures.
 Take for example
• More successful than the first novel written in
English was Juan C. Laya’s His Native Soil
• won the first prize in the 1940 Commonwealth Literary
Awards (as hero a Filipino intellectual who returns from
study in the United States to confront and modernize his
hometown and its traditions, politicians, ignorance, and
superstitions.
 Authors to Remember
1960s
• greatest writer in English—
poet, short story writer,
novelist, playwright, journalist,
historian
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime
Finally, the gradual Awakening
• The upsurge of nationalism in the late 1960s came about
• The consciousness brought about what has been called
―the language problem.‖
• Suddenly English did not seem the only logical language
for writers of Philippine literature
 Francisco Arcellana
(1967)
• “There is something uncommon in the
not enviable situation of the Filipino writer
in English, and this is the insuperable
problem of language. The life from
which he draws substance is lived in a
language different from the language he
uses. He is therefore twice removed: by
language and by the work of art.”
 NVM Gonzalez (1995
interview)
• “The life I described quite literally
spoke a different language—and
became a different life. Rendered in an
alien tongue, that life attained the
distinction of a translation even before
it had been made into a representation
of reality, and then even before
becoming a reality of its own.”
 A past realization that became relevant during the “Langugae
Problem” period…

Casiano T. Calalang
(in an essay in 1927)
• pointed out the characteristics of Tagalog:
floridity, sentimentalism, and preachiness.
Although these may seem undesirable from a
Western perspective, Tagalog “is able to
encage and express our characteristics.”
Since American English is rooted in a different
culture, how is the Filipino writer to use it to
“reflect our characteristics as a people?”
Tama ang kanilang naging mga pananaw. Mga mga
salitang (Tagalog, Ilocano, Waray, etc.) mula sa atin na
hindi kailanman ay hindi maipahahayag gamit ang
Ingles.
 Conditions of Writers
during the American Regime

• 1960s onward, the ―language problem‖ has been

discussed
• As a result, choices were consciously made, some writers
abandoning English for Filipino, others staying
militantly—sometimes apologetically—with English.
Philippine Literature
in English
Historical Background Overview