INTRODUCTION The history of a nation can be learned in its constitution, its laws, and its political statements. But to know the history of a nation’s spirit, you must read its literature. For in literature you can discover how the people of a nation have reacted to the events around them. In the stories, essays, and poems contained in this volume, you will read the dreams, anxieties, joys, and problems of the Filipino in the past seventy-five years. By reading this development of Philippine Literature you will review what happened to the Filipino since 1990. But literature offers much more than a mere personalized history. For an important quality of art is to share with others the intense realization of a human experience. Through this sharing, you may recognize you own experiences. You may learn what you are or how you have become what you are. You may even learn what you might be in the future. Philippine literature shows you how the Filipino differs from others. Yet in a sense the Filipino writer is linked with all the other writers of the world. For in explaining of questioning human experience, writers are never alone. Philippine Literature in English is really a part of the literatures of the world. A further quality of literature is that the expressions used should memorable. The language should be clear and forceful so that the ideas strike the reader with almost the same force with which they struck the writer. The early Filipino writers had difficulty in expressing themselves since English was a language new to them. The marvel is that they learned this language so quickly and with such facility. 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. You may divide Philippine Literature in English into many types and numerous periods. But for our purposes, we shall consider three stages through which the literature has passed. These stages might be called: The Early Period, from 1990-1930 The Middle Period, from 1930-1960 The Modern Period, from 1960-1974 Why these titles and dates were chosen should become clearer in the following pages.
On August 13, 1898, the American forces occupied Manila . A few years later, in April of 1900, President William McKinley directed the Philippines Commission to make English the official medium of instruction for all public schools. The first teachers of English were members of the United States Army. In August of 1901 six hundred American teachers arrived on the transport Thomas. They replaced the soldiers as teachers. In that year, 1901, the Philippines Normal School was founded. Its purpose was to train Filipino in the art of teaching so that they could eventually take charge of elementary education.
The students and the people in general learned English quickly. Even in 1899 there were English newspapers such as The Courier, Insular Press, and Manila Freedom. In 1900 the Daily Bulletin was founded, while The Cablenews started in 1902. The Philippines Free Press began in 1905, edited by F. Theadore Rogers. At first it was a bilingual weekly in English and Spanish. In 1908 it published the first Filipino short stories in English.
In that same year, 1908, the University of the Philippines was founded. This school became the forerunner in the use of English for higher education. In October of 1910 the University of the Philippines ’ College Folio was published. This magazine printed the works of the first promising writers in English. These early selections were mostly ghost stories or folk tales explaining natural phenomena. Often the authors taught a moral message which was evident even at a first reading.
Among the famous early teachers of English might be mentioned professors Dean S. Fansier and his wife Harrlott Ely Fansler, George pope Shannon, Tom Inglis Moore, Harold p. Scott, and C. V. Wicker. In literature classes they taught the works of Chaucer, Milton, Bonne, Shakespeare, Irving, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, Longfellow, Bryant, Harte, Holmes, Lowell, Shelley, Keats, Colerighe, Lamb, Joyce, Tennyson, Thackeray, Macaulay, and other famous writers.
For composition themes they encouraged the students to write about folk tales and their own experiences. In one college class of 1913 the students were asked to write speeches for these topics: The Building of a modern Sanitary Market; A Speech at the First Banquet of the Philippine normal School; An Appeal to the moral Sense – Cockfighting; Primary Education in the Philippines; A Stump Speech before the People of a Certain Barrio; and The unveiling of a Monument Dedicated to Apolinario Mabini. The student themes were required to write the corrected and when a grammatical mistake was made students were required to write the corrected form five times. At the end of each theme the student wrote a statement of originality testifying that “. . . this is my own original work.” The skill and dedication for the early teachers was to produce rich results in the years to come.
At first Filipino writing in English was quite formal and imitative. Influences from the Spanish language could be seen in the use of Spanish expressions and in an ornate style. Grammatical expression was at times awkward and there was some difficulty in the use of prepositions and pronouns. But gradually the quality of writing improved. Between 1908 and 1914 some students at the University of the Philippines collected and retold, in English, old Filipino tales. These writings were gathered by Dean S. Fansler and published in Filipino Popular Tales in 1921 the graduates of the Manila.
Aside from student publication, newspaper and magazines provided an early outle for writers. In 1920 the Philippines Herald began publication. It was founded by Manuel L. Quezon and its magazine section was edited by Paz Marquez-Benitez. A distinguished writer herself, she helped to make familiar the names of Paz Latorena, Loreto Paras, Jose Garcia Villa, Casiano T. Calalang, and others. In 1924 A.V.H. Hartendorp became the editor of the Philippine Education Magazine. Some four years later, he widened its content and renamed it the Philippine Magazine. The high quality of this magazine made it so popular that it became the most influential literary magazine in the country. It published some of the best Filipino writing in English.
Filipino writers received further encouragement in 1925. In that year the Free Press began paying for original manuscripts and offered P1,000 for the best stories. The Manila Tribune was founded and, along with the Graphic, the Woman’s Outlook, the Woman’s Home Journal, and the Philippine Collegian, offered further incentives to promising writers. Also in 1925 the Philippine Writers Association was organized with Rizal G. Adorable as president. Among the early members were: Paz Latorena, Loreto Paras, Jose Garcia Villa, Jose Panganiban, Remedios Mijares, Mercedes Grau, Celemencia Joven, Casiano Calalang, Jose Dayrit, Sol H. Gwekoh, Arturo B. Rotor, D.H. Soriano and Augusto C, Catanjal.
Perhaps an even more influential group was the Writer’s Club founded in1927 at the University of the
The first thirty years of Philippine Literature in English produced little in the fields of drama and he novel. Drama was hardly written because vernacular plays and the zarzuela still dominated the stage. The first Filipino novel in English was A Child of Sorrow, written by Zoilo M. Galang in 1921. He later wrote Visions of a Sower in 1924 and Nadia in 1929. Another novelist of this period was Ernest Lopez who published His Awakening in 1929.
From 1900 to 1930 there was some significant writing of essays, short stories and poems. In the following paragraphs the development of these forms will be treated in more details.
Essays. The essays was a popular form of expression for the early writers. Some essays were light or humorous, while others dealt with more serious subjects such as education, history, politics, and social problems. As early as 1926 essayists expressed the need for a literature that was native and national. Many essays first appeared as Galang published Life and Success, the first volume of essays in English. Another collection of Filipino essays appeared 1924, entitled Thinking for Ourselves, edited by Vicente M. Hilario and Eliseo Quirino. In that year Zoilo M. Galang also published another book of essays, Master of Destiny. Among the early essay writers might be mentioned F.M. Africa, Francisco Benitez, Jorge Bocobo, Amador Daguio, Leandro Fernandez, Zoilo M. Galang, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, M.M. Kalaw, Pedro de la Llama, I.V. Mallari, Ignacio Manlapaz, Fernando Maramag, Camilo Osias, Claro M. Recto, Carlos P. Romulo, and Eulogio B. Rodriguez.
Short Stories. Virginia R. Moreno has described the literary years 1910-1924 as “…a period of novices with their experiences both in fiction-making and the use of the new language; 1925 to 1931 was the period of phenomenal growth among the practitioners in the art. It is true that the early short stories were the works of novices.The tales were often romantic and the adventures, themes, and plots were sometimes imitated. There were difficulties in grammar and times there was a tendency toward sentimentalism. But gradually, certain writers appeared who showed that the novitiate period was ending. Jorge Bocobo’s “Horrible Adventure” in the Philippine Review for May 1916, and Paz Marquez Benitez’s “The Siren of 34 Real” in the Philippine Review for July, 1917 were praised by critics for their high literary quality. On September 20, 1925 The Philippines Herald Published “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez Benitez. This story was quickly recognized as one of the best short stories yet written by a Filipino.
By 1930 original and significant stories were being written. “ Zita,” written by Arturo B. Rotor around 1930, has been called “…one of the finest love stories in Filipino literature in English.” Among the early short story writers were: Paz Marquez Benitez, Jorge Bocobo, Amador T. Daguio, Pilar Hidalgo Lim, Paz Latorena, Tarcila Malabanan, Jose Villa Panganiban, Arturo B. Rotor, Loreto Paras Sulit, L.B. Uichangco, and Jose Garcia Villa.
Poems The first known Filipino poem in English is “Sursum Corda,” by Justo Juliano. It appeared in the Philippines Free Press in 1907. This poem, along with others of that period, has been criticized as being too artificial and overwritten in order to achieve intensity. The early poems of ten borrowed images and similes from English or American poets. The first collection of poems in book form was Reminiscences, by Lorenzo Paredes, in 1921. In 1922 Procopio Solidum published Never Mind, a collection of Filipino poetry in English. Rodolfo Dato edited an anthology of Filipino poems in 1924 under the title Filipino Poetry. In 1926 he published his own poems in Manila.
Most critics agree that Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion was a leading poet of the early period. His Azucena was published in New York in 1925. His poems reveal simple images with deep sensitivity and original thought. Some poets who belonged to the early period of Philippine Literature were: Aurelio S. Alvero, Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion, Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Luis Dato, Vicente L. del Fierro, Virgilio Floresca, Angela Manalang Gloria, Jose M. Hernandez, A.E.Litiatco, Fernando M. Maramag, Natividad Marquez, Conrado B. Rigor, Juan F. Salazar, Abelardo Subido, Trinidad Tarrosa Subido, Francisco G. Tonogbanua, L.B. Uichangco, and Jose Garcia Villa.
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