Summary of Towards A Revised History of Philippine Literature

TOWARDS A REVISED HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

• The history of Philippine literature needs rewriting periodically due to societal changes.
• Revisions are necessary in interpreting past and contemporary political events and their impact on Filipino culture.
• Changes in reading political and economic history have led to works like "A History of the Filipino People" by Teodoro A. Agoncillo and "The Philippines: A Past Revisited" by Renato E. Constantino.
• Agoncillo (1960) interpreted Philippine history from the perspective of Filipinos emerging in the late 19th century, considering pre-1872 history as largely lost.
• Constantino (1970) advocated for a "people's history," focusing on the anonymous masses and social forces generated by their collective lives and struggles.

REVALUATION ON LITERATURE AND THEATER

• A re-examination of Philippine literature has revealed materials and insights awaiting synthesis into an updated history.
• During American colonialism, Filipino students were taught that a single language (English) was necessary to unify the multilingual country.
• The literatures of various regional groups (Tagalogs, Ilokos, Bisayans, etc.) should be treated as one literature of the Filipinos.
• This study integrates Tagalog, English, and Spanish literature, surveying key works regardless of language as parts of a single history.
• High points in Philippine literature resulted from the people's struggle to assert their native culture against colonizing powers.
• Instinctive assertion manifested as indigenous "touches," later evolving into a conscious struggle for cultural and political control.
• Philippine literature in Spanish and English are minor tributaries to the mainstream of native languages.
• Younger literary scholars since the 1970s have been studying regional literature within historical and sociological contexts.

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE BEFORE THE ADVENT OF COLONIALISM

• Filipinos used a native syllabary before the Spanish, but its disappearance after Spanish rule led to a scarcity of information on pre-Hispanic literature.
• Missionaries viewed indigenous culture as the work of the devil, hindering the collection and recording of pre-Hispanic literature.
• Literary historians rely on theoretical reconstruction, aided by the survival of ethnic groups with pre-Hispanic ancestry.

FOLK EPICS, LYRIC POETRY AND FOLKLORE

• Folk epics are significant pieces of pre-Hispanic Philippine Literature.
• E. Arsenio Manuel's survey identifies 13 epics among pagan people, two among Christians, and four among Muslims.
• Examples of folk epics:
  • Lam-ang (Ilokos, 1889): Adventures of Lam-ang, born with speech and superhuman strength, his quest for Ines Kannoyan, and his resurrection by his rooster and dog after being eaten by a monster fish.
  • Hudhud (Ifugaw, 1908): Songs about contests of strength between rivals for a woman's hand and wedding feasts, chanted exclusively by girls, featuring characters like Aliguyon and Bugan.
  • Hinilawod (Sulod of Panay): Two parts, one about Labaw Donggon and his sons, the second about Humadapnon's quest for Nagmalitung Yawa, notable for narration and fantasy.
  • Bantugan (Maranaw of Mindanao): Exploits of Prince Bantugan as a valiant warrior and lover in Muslim darangan epic songs.
• Filipinos had a wealth of lyric poetry, with Tagalogs having 16 song types for different occasions.
• Songs preserved traditions and genealogies, sung during work, feasts, and mourning.
• Short poems used monoriming heptasyllabic lines, like the ambahan of Hanunoo-Mangyans, using metaphorical language to comment on human situations.
• Tanaga, described in Vocabulario de la lengua tagala (1854), contains four monoriming heptasyllabic lines, possibly a Hispanized descendant of ambahan.
• Philippine poetry is performed in a sing-song rhythm, likely due to the chanting of ambahan without determined musical pitch.
• Prose narratives consisted of origin myths, hero tales, fables, and legends, collected by American collectors like Fay-Cooper Cole and Dean S. Fansler.

RITUAL AND DANCE AS DRAMA

• Drama as a literary form was not yet evolved during the Spanish conquest.

• Philippine theater consisted of mimetic dances imitating natural cycles and religious rituals presided over by priests/priestesses.

• Rituals like Ch'along (Ifugaw), Pag-Huaga (Bagobo), and Pagdiwata (Tagbanwa) have been described:

  • Ch'along: A wedding rite propitiating evil spirits, centering on Bugan's revenge for a family insult, involving dances with shields and building a hut for spirits.
  • Pag-Huaga: A propitiation rite offered to gods of life/death and streams/sickness, involving human sacrifice and a frenzied warrior dance.
  • Pagdiwata: Meant to secure protection against epidemics, priestess battle mime against disease-causing spirits.

• Missionaries stunted indigenous drama, seeing rituals as the devil's work.

• Europeanized stage elements (music, song, dance) were readily accepted, as primitive theater depended on these.

• Pre-colonial Filipinos had a culture linking them with Southeast Asian Malays, with Indian, Arabic, and Chinese influences.

• Folk epics, songs, poems, tales, dances, and rituals provided a native Asian perspective, filtering Western colonial culture.

PHILIPPINE WRITING UNDER SPANISH COLONIALISM

• Spanish established a permanent settlement in 1565, imposing political institutions and religion.
• Three centuries of Spanish colonialism did not fully Hispanize the Filipino, but its effect on culture was deep.

RELIGION AND LITERATURE

• The parish priest embodied Spanish authority and culture.
• Religion exerted a profound influence, reflected vividly in literature.
• Printing presses were owned and run by religious orders until the 19th century.
• Published works promoted religious proselytizing.
• Secular literature existed in oral tradition or manuscripts.
• Gaspar Aquino de Belen's "Ang Passion ni Jesuchristong Panginoon Natin" (1704) was the first Filipino literary piece, relating the crucifixion in Tagalog octosyllabic verse.
• Aquino's Passion was meant to replace pagan epics, sung to a fixed melody and intended to edify the audience.
• Passion plays (sinakulo) and Passion poems (pasyon) became popular during Lent.
• Missionaries were the literary patrons, using vernacular works for their work.
• Bilingual natives like Aquino gained status in colonial society, acting as language informants, interpreters, and translators.

THE RISE OF SECULAR LITERATURE

• In the 18th century, Spanish culture penetrated Philippine life, with Hispanization seen as urbanity.

• Native poetic theater (komedya) reached full development, drawing plots from medieval Spanish ballads (moro-moro).

• Jose de la Cruz (1746-1829) was a foremost exponent of komedya.

• His language moved away from the language of farmfolk found in Aquino's pasyon.

• Komedya merged poetry with music, dance, and song to create a visual and aural spectacle.

• Native writers produced voluminous works (awit and korido) that were orally transmitted.

• Awit had four monoriming dodecasyllabic lines, while korido had four monoriming octosyllabic lines.

• Francisco Baltazar (Balagtas, 1788-1862) was a master of awit, with works like "Florante at Laura."

• Commercial printing presses emerged in Manila, catering to a rising middle class.

• Florante at Laura reflects pressures on native men of letters:

  • Awareness of reaching audiences through oral performance.
  • Drive to display urbanity and reflect colonial culture.

• The poem is in the form of awit, sung like ancient epics.

• It bears marks of classical learning in its allusions to Greek and Roman mythology.

• It relates the story of lovers parted by political intrigues in Albania: Florante and Laura, Adolfo, Aleadin and Flerida.

• The poem is a compendium of precepts about bad rulers, deceitfulness, upbringing of children, ephemerality of love, and brotherhood.

• Jose Rizal and his generation read foreshadowings of nationalism in Florante at Laura, solidifying its status as a classic.

• Balagtas' skill in manipulating Tagalog language and metaphors established him as a top artist.

• Modern Tagalog poetry's emergence was a revolt against the Balagtas tradition.

• The recovery of Orosman at Zafira (ca. 1857-60) confirms Balagtas' talent and expression in theater.

• Orosman at Zafira features political intrigue: family struggle over assassination of Sultan Mahamud, the moral disintegration of family of the usurper Boulasem and conflict between lovers.

• Three love plots woven into the story.

  • Abdalap and Orosman rivals for Zafira's love.
  • Abdalap abandons Zelima for Zafira.
  • Aldervesin in love with Gulnara.

• Balagtas rises above religious war, focusing on human motives amid social disorder.

• Character portraits have depth and dimension, revealing a more mature artist.

• The verse surpasses the poetry of Florante at Laura in grandeur and sinew.

• Balagtas created a drama that stands analysis even today, not as a historical curiosity but an absorbing study of power and passion.

PROSE AND THE BEGINNING OF REALISM

• Prose by Filipinos appeared in print in the 19th century.

• Modesto de Castro's "Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at si Feliza" (1864) was a popular book of manners that influenced social behavior.

• It established stereotypes of Filipino characters in Tagalog dramas and novels.

• Its baroque prose style remained in vogue among playwrights, fictionists, and public speakers.

• Writing in Spanish developed among the rich middle class after 1863.

• Pedro Paterno (1857-1911) signaled a new spirit, for example, with Sampaguitas (1880) marking the beginning of national consciousness among intellectuals.

• Ninay (1885) was the first Filipino novel, focusing on Philippine customs, particularly death practices.

• Filipino novels during the Spanish period were published in Europe due to censorship and cost.

• Novels were written in Spanish, intended for a Spanish audience in Spain.

• National consciousness became militantly political in the writings of Jose P. Rizal (1861-1896), a guiding spirit in the Propaganda Movement (1882-1896).

• He wrote two Spanish novels regarded as historical milestones, serving as the matrix of Philippine literary tradition.

• Noli Me Tangere (1887) tells about Ibarra, who returns to the Philippines with reformist ideals but faces obstruction from friars Fray Damaso and Fray Salvi.

• An uprising implicates Ibarra, but Elias helps him escape, sacrificing his own life.

• Rizal's searing indictment of the Spanish colonial regime and portrayal of colonialists and their tools.

• He points out the weaknesses of Filipino victims of colonial misrule.

• The book is studied as a literary classic and a document shedding light on current political and religious conditions.

• It marks the first time realism enters Philippine writing, drawing material from contemporary life and suggesting solutions.

• El Filibusterismo (1889) narrates Simoun's (Ibarra in disguise) attempts to hasten the downfall of the Spanish colonial regime.

• Simoun uses corruption and instigates rebellion.

• It is a bitter book, attesting to Rizal's darkening vision.

• Rizal's poetry openly infused nationalist sentiments.

• "Mi Ultimo Adios" is his most famous poem, written before his execution on December 30, 1896.

• Patriotic verse looked back to Rizal's example.

• The shift from Spanish to Tagalog as the language of the nationalist movement climaxed with the Philippine Revolution on August 26, 1896.

• This meant addressing the Filipino masses rather than Spanish liberals and native intellectuals.

• The Katipunan used Tagalog as its official language, associating it with nationalism.

• Literary works played up the theme of patriotism.

• Important pieces were written by Andres Bonifacio (1863-1890) and Emilio Jacinto (1875-1899).

• Bonifacio's "Katapusang Hibik ng Filipinas" (Filipinas' Final Plea) is the most effective.

• Jacinto's essays, "Liwanag at Dilim" (Light and Dark), use simple and lucid prose.

• At the close of the 19th century, Philippine literature was largely religious, with secular literature in oral tradition or manuscripts.

• Philippine literature came of age, aware of its distinctness as the product of a colonized people struggling against foreign rule.

PHILIPPINE WRITING UNDER U.S. COLONIALISM (1898-1946)

• After Spain ceded the Philippines to the U.S. (Treaty of Paris, 1898), Filipinos fought against the new invader.
• Americanization through education brought new cultural adjustments reflected in literature.
• The U.S. imposed English to win over Filipinos, facilitating cultural influence and toning down resistance.
• Newspapers and magazines disseminated ideas, informing the public.
• Labor and agrarian unrest were openly aired, and injustice and resistance were dramatized by socially conscious writers.

THE BALAGTAS AND RIZAL TRADITIONS

• Philippine literary tradition was fed by two streams: Balagtas' Florante at Laura and Rizal's Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

• Both emphasized social comment through art.

• Balagtas tradition used concealment through allegory/symbolism during repression.

• Rizal tradition used exposure through documentation of current history during a period of ferment.

• The difference is between the romantic and realistic temper.

• The best literature continued the Propaganda Movement and the Revolution.

• The influence of Rizal's political ideas and literary works fueled resistance to foreign rule.

• Poets writing in Spanish showed nostalgia for the Spanish past, alongside themes of Rizal, the Revolution, and American perfidy.

• Fernando Ma. Guerrero's Crisalidas (1914) and Cecilio Apostol's Pentelicas (1941) represented Spanish writing by Filipinos.

• Jesus Balmori's Mi Casa de Nipa (1938) represents Spanish poetry withdrawing from public issues.

• The Balagtas and Rizal traditions converge in Lope K. Santos' poetry.

• Ang Pangginggera (1912), a novel in verse, studies a woman's degeneration under societal pressures.

• Santos' plot is redeemed by humor and satire.

• Realism in character delineation makes the poem stand out.

• Ang Pangginggera successfully brings anti-poetic elements into the Tagalog narrative poem.

• Elder poets protested against American rule and oppression.

• Younger poets preferred the themes of Love and Country.

• Jose Corazon de Jesus (Batute, 1896-1932) was acclaimed as the complete poet, combining the bard and lover.

• His poems reveal a new temper, preoccupied with Romantic themes.

• As a journalist, Batute wrote satirical verse in a newspaper column called Buhay Manila.

• English writing began to attain stature by the mid-1920s.

• Jose Garcia Villa (1906-1997) published short stories and poems reflecting Anglo-American influence.

• His volume Many Voices (1939) reflected espousal of art freed from societal ties.

• Villa's artistic credo was a radical break from tradition.

• Alejandro G. Abadilla (1904-1969) published the poem Ako Ang Daigdig as a protest against conventionality.

• Abadilla stripped poetry of rime and meter, emphasizing "sincerity."

• Amado V. Hernandez (1903-1970) won a literary contest in 1941 with Kayumanggi (1941).

• It contained patriotic and socially conscious poems.

PATRIOTIC THEATER

• Drama had a colorful history due to plays in the resistance movement.

• The prohibition against independence advocacy was circumvented on stage.

• The komedya retained its pre-eminence as popular entertainment.

• The Spanish zarzuela was Filipinized, developing into drama with music and songs about Filipinos and their historical experience.

• Aurelio Tolentino (1868-1915) fought in the Revolution and dedicated himself to independence.

• The play Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (1903) caused his arrest for sedition.

• It is an allegorical presentation of the past, present, and future of the Filipinos, depicting invasions by the Chinese, Spanish, and Americans.

• Tagailog and Ynangbayan (Filipino and Motherland) are at the center.

• The daring of Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas led to its violent suppression.

• Tolentino set high standards for Filipino political drama.

• Juan Abad (1872-1932), author of Tanikalang Guinto (1902), used allegory in the Balagtas tradition.

• In Tanikalang Guinto, a love story serves as a base on which Abad builds diatribe against American colonialists, in favor of independence. Represents K'Ulayaw who is ultimately betrayed.

• The title of the play refers to a golden chain that becomes a tie.

• Tanikalang Guinto was blatantly anti-American and