Where it all started for the Philippine Literature in English.

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!