Philippine literature in English started in the farm.
That's not an underestimation; perhaps a summation of what are the primary settings of the first short stories written by Philippine authors in English. Works such as "Footnote to Youth" by Jose Garcia Villa, "How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife" by Manuel Arguilla, Jr., and "Desire" by Paz Latorena are, among many short stories and poems during the 1950's, brought light to what we can call the "Philippine experience" in literature.
When the Thomasites landed in Manila in 1901, the English language began to take hold of the country. It wasn't long when it became a language used in commerce and other daily business transactions. The academe, then predominantly Spanish, began to switch languages, especially with the establishment of the University of the Philippines in the same decade. The first Filipino writer in English to achieve a distinction akin to a literary icon was the teacher Paz-Marquez Benitez. Her most famous work is "Dead Stars".
In the coming days, we'll try to read some of these short stories in this blog. Please keep posted!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Basically, this is how you read a story
Many college students are surely having problems with their Literature subjects. One time, I was with my PE groupmates, who came from different courses, and they were discussing how hard their course was. I didn't join their conversation, but I have thought of a reply.
But then again, they find their minor Literature courses as a burden. They discard it as something they wouldn't use for their future careers, anyway. You may have the same dilemma. I'm not bragging about how hard Literature is. Just keep your prejudices away before saying that your Literature courses are a burden. Steering your mind off biases is the first step to read a story. You have Phil. Lit as a course, and you must pass it.
There is, in literary criticism, what we call the Formalist approach. This was how all of us, regardless of curriculum and teacher, were taught literature. We dissect a story's plot, characters, theme, point of view, etc. Basically, this is how you should read a story.
Considering that most of you aren't that much attuned to reading lengthy blog posts in paragraph form like this, I just wrote the questions that you should ask yourself when reading a literary text.
THEME
CHARACTER
PLOT
Sure, my course (AB Literature) is very easy. It's not that hard, I mean you'll just be reading texts, right? For sure you're also passing that subject as easy, noh?
But then again, they find their minor Literature courses as a burden. They discard it as something they wouldn't use for their future careers, anyway. You may have the same dilemma. I'm not bragging about how hard Literature is. Just keep your prejudices away before saying that your Literature courses are a burden. Steering your mind off biases is the first step to read a story. You have Phil. Lit as a course, and you must pass it.
There is, in literary criticism, what we call the Formalist approach. This was how all of us, regardless of curriculum and teacher, were taught literature. We dissect a story's plot, characters, theme, point of view, etc. Basically, this is how you should read a story.
Considering that most of you aren't that much attuned to reading lengthy blog posts in paragraph form like this, I just wrote the questions that you should ask yourself when reading a literary text.
THEME
- What is the main idea that is being expressed in the text?
- Are there any other ideas that are expressed?
CHARACTER
- Who are the main characters?
- Who opposes these main characters?
- Who are the supporting characters?
- What roles do these characters play in the story?
PLOT
- What are the main events in the story? (Sequence them logically according to their sequence in the story)
- CONFLICT. A story's plot has many parts, but at least, you must detect where the conflict lies. Determine where the interests of the main characters and opposing characters clash and what that event is.
Why Philippine Literature
During times when we look for information about Filipino literary works in the internet, they can be found in scattered blogs of personal interests, if not in WikiAnswers. In fact, once I found the whole transcript of Maternity Leave by Ligaya Victorio-Reyes on WikiAnswers only! I also tried searching, but there wasn't any single blog dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of information about Philippine literature.
Hence are the rationale for this blogsite. In time, I plan to put details about several important works of Philippine literature, both in English and in Filipino. Hopefully, we could also import here poems written by Filipinos in Spanish and other Philippine dialects. This is one of my personal advocacies: to promote Philippine literature not only to the Filipinos and the college students that are having a hard time in their Phil. Lit course, but to the whole blogging world as well. Take this as my share of my pie in supporting my country's small art scene.
Before I became an English major, I was first a Literature major. I was affected with the love for the written word by most of my professors, my classmates, and by myself, when I learned to love reading all over again in the halls of the UST Library. Regretful as I am that I'm no longer there, but in a humbler university in Bulacan, I'm still an aspiring literateur, and hopefully, I can still continue on living that spirit that I had. Please keep posted for new posts in here!
Hence are the rationale for this blogsite. In time, I plan to put details about several important works of Philippine literature, both in English and in Filipino. Hopefully, we could also import here poems written by Filipinos in Spanish and other Philippine dialects. This is one of my personal advocacies: to promote Philippine literature not only to the Filipinos and the college students that are having a hard time in their Phil. Lit course, but to the whole blogging world as well. Take this as my share of my pie in supporting my country's small art scene.
Before I became an English major, I was first a Literature major. I was affected with the love for the written word by most of my professors, my classmates, and by myself, when I learned to love reading all over again in the halls of the UST Library. Regretful as I am that I'm no longer there, but in a humbler university in Bulacan, I'm still an aspiring literateur, and hopefully, I can still continue on living that spirit that I had. Please keep posted for new posts in here!
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