Literature Prelims

Litera

Latin root noun of literature

“an alphabetic letter” or “handwriting”

Literatura

Latin root word of literature

Literally means “an acquaintance w/ letters”

Literature

its definition changes from time to time

even scholars have diff opinions on its definition

Plato

“literature is a reflection of life”

Aristotle

“the truth is higher than history”

“Poetry takes us closer to reality, teaches and warns us and shows us the result and the consequences of bad deeds”

Virginia Woolf

“Literature fosters empathy and understanding between people”

Essence and Significance of Literature

• The best way to understand human nature fully and to know a nation completely is to study literature.

• Through literature, we learn the innermost feelings and thoughts of people.

• Literature is a faithful production of life... In a sense, it is a product and commentary on life processes.

• Literature offers us an experience in which we should participate as we read and test what we read through our own experience.

• Literature does not yield much unless we bring something of ourselves to it.

• Literature illuminates’ life.

Hallmarks of Literature

Distinguishes great literature

• Artistry

• Intellectual Value

• Suggestiveness

• Spiritual Value

• Permanence

• Universality

Pre-Colonial Period

• ancestors’ daily observations about life, explanations for natural phenomena, and beginnings of rituals

• passed on through oral tradition

• written in Baybayin

• written on perishable materials (dried leaves, bark of trees, etc)

Baybayin

used in Doctrina Christiana

Pre-Colonial Literature

Doctrina Christiana

PROVERBS / SALAWIKAIN

RIDDLES / BUGTONG

MYTHS & LEGENDS / ALAMAT

EPICS / EPIKO

POEMS / TANAGA

FOLK SONGS

PROVERBS / SALAWIKAIN

practical observations and philosophy of everyday life usually expressed with a rhyming scheme

RIDDLES / BUGTONG

observations, but phrased to demand answers to test the wits of those who are listening

MYTHS & LEGENDS / ALAMAT

stories of the origin of places, fruits, and animals explain certain events or phenomena in our ancestors’ lives that cannot be explained by limited science back then.

EPICS / EPIKO

long-winded poems about a hero and his adventures and misadventures based on the traditions and superstitions of the region.

Heroes usually have superhuman capabilities that had to undergo certain trials and challenges to achieve their goals.

ex: Biag ni Lam-Ang (Ilocos Region), Hinilawod (Panay Island), Indarapatra at Sulayman (Maguindanao)

POEMS / TANAGA

Quatrain (one stanza of 4 lines)

7 syllables per line

Expresses lessons in life

FOLK SONGS

beautiful songs that are informal expressions of ancestors’ experiences in life.

sonorous (loud), didactic (has lessons) like children’s songs.

ranges from courtship, lullabies, harvest, funerals

SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD

Took on a religious character

Christianization of the Philippines

Introduce the first printing press

Doctrina Christiana (first published book in 1593)

Poems written by “Ladinos”

Ladinos

Filipinos who were well-versed in both Filipino and Spanish.

SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD 2 FORMS OF LITERATURE

RELIGIOUS PROSE AND POETRY

SECULAR PROSE AND POETRY

RELIGIOUS PROSE AND POETRY

teaching catechism(medium of the teaching of religion) and the Spanish language

• Dalit

• Novena

Dalit

traditional Filipino devotional song or hymn that praises God, the Virgin Mary, saints, or other religious figures

Novena

series of prayers recited for 9 consecutive days to ask for a special favor

SECULAR PROSE AND POETRY

Non-religious

• Awit

• Korido

Awit

metrical romance or chivalric narrative abt heroes, lovers, knights, princes, and noble characters

dodecasyllabic - 12 syllables per line

ex: Florante at Laura

korido

narrative poem that tells stories of adventure, heroism, romance, and supernatural events

octosyllabic verse - 8 syllables per line

SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD LITERATURE

pasyon

KOMEDYA / MORO-MORO

cenaculo

carillo

duplo / karagatan

tibag

zarzuela

pasyon

most popular form of religious literature.

A long-time narrative poem about the passion and death of Christ.

“Ang Mahal Na Pasyon Ni Jesu Cristong Panginoon natin” by Gaspar Aquino De Belen is a well-known book of Pasyon

KOMEDYA / MORO-MORO

Melodrama

Talks about the conflict between Christians and Muslims (like the crusades)

cenaculo

A dramatization of the Pasyon

A play on the passion and death of Christ

Performed during the Holy Week

carillo

shadow play using cut-out figures projected on a screen

performed during fiestas or dark nights after harvest

Duplo

poetical debate in the ninth night, the last night of the mourning period (wake) for the dead.

Karagatan

native play less formal than a duplo

In Visayas, it is a kind of parlor game

a girl drops a ring and the guy that picks it up debates her poetically on why he should marry her

Tibag

dramatic recreation of Saint Helena's quest for the Holy Cross.

Zarzuela

form of musical theater that combines spoken dialogue, songs, dances, and dramatic scenes

one of the most famous forms of entertainment of the Spanish era

musical comedy or melodrama dealing with basic human passions

follows a particular plot that presents either a satirical view of society or an unacknowledged life

NATIONALISTIC PERIOD

The last of the 19th century saw a new breed of writers.

a strong feeling of nationalism was the main agenda of this literary period

divided into the Propaganda and the Revolution.

shift from language (Spanish to Tagalog) and readers (“intelligentsia” to masses)

Bonifacio, Jacinto, and Mabini were the prominent revolutionary writers.

truly significant period since it produced literature that was realistic and truly Filipino

NATIONALISTIC PERIOD LITERATURE

Dyaryong Tagalog by Marcelo H. Del Pilar

El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal (Written to expose the deeds of the Spanish)

La Solidaridad by Graciano Lopez Jaena

AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

Literature in three languages flourished (Spanish, English, Filipino)

divided into two periods: Apprenticeship and Emergence

rise of english

persistence of Spanish and vernaculars

strong emphasis on nationalism, cultural identity, and social commentary

period of apprenticeship

Period of “Imitating” American Authors

Literature: Dead Stars by Paz Benitez, Footnote to Youth by Jose Garcia Villa, and Child of Sorrow by Ziolo Galang

Subperiods: Period of Re-orientation (1898-1910) and Period of Imitation (1910-1924)

period of emergence

Highly influenced by western literary trends such as Romanticism, Emotion, Imagination, Nature, and Social Class

Could also be about Realism, Truthfulness, and Relatableness

subperiod: Period of self-discovery (1925-1941)

JAPANESE COLONIAL PERIOD

Writing activities halted

Movements are limited and attacked ALL (soldiers and civilians).

From PENS to GUNS.

Instead of the Balagtas tradition (rhetorical, verbose, figurative), poets used simple language and free verse.

severe hardship and censorship

Literary output in english largely ceased

writers turned from English to their native languages (Tagalog, Cebuano, etc.)

“golden age” for Tagalog

strict censorship → allegories were used or works focused on “safe” themes

despite censorship, love for the country and longing for freedom stayed strong

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

Martial Law years

Upheavals in Nation’s History

“Bagay” movement

merging of three traditions: Oral lore, Spanish, and American Colonial

gave responses to historical and political forces

focused on self-expression and social commentary

“Bagay” movement

significant poetic movement in the 1960s and 1970s pioneered by poets like Rolando Tinio, Jose F. Lacaba, and Bienvenido Lumbera

sought to distance itself from the overly romantic, abstract, and highly formal traditions of older Tagalog poetry

writers used Taglish and focused on concrete, everyday objects “bagay” and mundane urban experiences to ground poetry in authenticity

21st Century Period

This century is YOUR CENTURY

all literary works written and published in the latter part of the 21st century (2001 onwards)

gender-sensitive, technologically alluding, culturally pluralistic, operates on the extreme reality or extreme fiction, and questions conventions and supposedly absolute norms

characterized by openness to new forms and technologies

deeply engaged w/ pressing social issues

less bound by traditional literary rules

mixing languages, genres, and media

Fil and Eng: both laguages remain strong, often blended (Taglish)

21ST CENTURY LITERATURE

textula

wattpad

translated works

graphic novels

textula

text + tula (such as “hugots”)

poems are written and read on mobile phones

Traces its origins to traditional tagalog form of poetry called Tanaga

wattpad

Stories uploaded via Wattpad

not only dematerialize into books but are also adapted into movies

translated works

works are translated into other languages

graphic novels

comics, manga

importance of literature

literature and society

literature and science

literature and nature

literature and society

lit mirrors society (values, struggles, dreams)

lit allows us to: examine ourselves, understand others, explore multiple realities

STEM prioritized over lit → reduced funding, fewer courses, closure of lit programs

lit has sparked revolutions

gives perspective, wisdom, understanding

lit is the question minus the answer (Roland Barthes)

literature and science

submarine was inspired by "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne

Looking Backward (1888) by Edward Bellamy inspired the concept of credit cards

fiction can imagine tech b4 it exists

“There is a co-dependency between science and science fiction. Many scientists and engineers acknowledge that science fiction helped to spark their imagination of what was possible in science... And science fiction authors are inspired by future science possibilities.”

literature and nation

lit connects history to activism (critically engage w/ politics + advocate for reform)

Noli reminds us of the power of stories to unite and empower. It remains timely (themes: injustice, corruption, resistance). Banned b4. yet now it’s required to be read and learned from

revisiting the past helps us make sense of today’s challenges

Metafiction

story inside a story (Character narrates the story)

“fiction abt fiction” or “writing abt writing”

the story knows it’s a story, and often lets the reader know too

common techniques: narrator addresses reader, story w/in a story, characters aware they’re fictional, author appears as a character, commentary on writing process

Historiographical metafiction

metafiction + historical fiction

doesn’t deny that the past happened, but profoundly questions how we know the past ans whose stories get told

Raymundo Mata

HS student from Ateneo

half-blind bookworm

read noli his friend (Father Gaspar) gave him