what is Philippine literature?
The literature of the Philippines may be roughly periodized according to the great lines of the archipelago's history: pre-colonial, Spanish colonial (16th to 19th c.), American colonial (early 20th c.), and the post-war/contemporary period.
Before Spanish colonization, the Philippines had a rich tradition of oral literature, including epics, legends, and folk narratives. Notable examples include the "Hinilawod" epic of the Visayas and the "Biag ni Lam-ang" of the Ilocano people.
After the discovery and colonization of the archipelago, Spanish friars and scholars documented some texts of the indigenous Philippine literature using Latin script. European literary models were also sinking into the local culture. The most famous novel from this period is Noli Me Tangere (1887) together with its sequel El Filibusterismo, by Jose Rizal. It is regarded as the foundational text of Philippine literature and a contribution to the fight for Philippine independence from Spanish rule.
The American period, on the other hand, saw the emergence of modern Philippine literature in English. Writers like Carlos Bulosan, Manuel Arguilla, and Jose Garcia Villa explored themes of colonialism, social justice, and national identity.
After the ww2, authors like F. Sionil Jose, Nick Joaquin, and Bienvenido Santos explored the complexities of Filipino identity and society. In the contemporary era, authors like Jessica Hagedorn, Miguel Syjuco, and Lualhati Bautista have made significant contributions. The dominant language of literary expression is English, yet there is also a thriving body of work in regional languages (the vernaculars of the Philippines are: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo, and at least half a dozen other tongues). Authors like Francisco Balagtas, Amado Hernandez, and Virgilio Almario have made significant contributions to this literature.
Since Spanish times, theater has played a significant role in the Philippine culture. Renowned playwrights like Nick Joaquin and Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero has made substantial contributions to Philippine theater.
Poetry has also a strong tradition in Philippine literature, with such poets as Jose Garcia Villa, Francisco Balagtas, and Carlos Bulosan. On the other hand, there is also a tradition of essay and non-fiction writing, with such authors as Carlos P. Romulo, Jose Dalisay Jr., and Soledad Reyes.
To suggest a single recent Philippine book that might appeal to international reader, one might think about the criminal thriller Smaller and Smaller Circles published in 2002 by F.H. Batacan. The novel's central characters, two Jesuit priests, investigate a series of gruesome murders of young boys in the slum of Manila. As a background to crime mystery, the novel comments on Philippine problems such as misery, inequality, and the inefficiency of local institutions.
Before Spanish colonization, the Philippines had a rich tradition of oral literature, including epics, legends, and folk narratives. Notable examples include the "Hinilawod" epic of the Visayas and the "Biag ni Lam-ang" of the Ilocano people.
After the discovery and colonization of the archipelago, Spanish friars and scholars documented some texts of the indigenous Philippine literature using Latin script. European literary models were also sinking into the local culture. The most famous novel from this period is Noli Me Tangere (1887) together with its sequel El Filibusterismo, by Jose Rizal. It is regarded as the foundational text of Philippine literature and a contribution to the fight for Philippine independence from Spanish rule.
The American period, on the other hand, saw the emergence of modern Philippine literature in English. Writers like Carlos Bulosan, Manuel Arguilla, and Jose Garcia Villa explored themes of colonialism, social justice, and national identity.
After the ww2, authors like F. Sionil Jose, Nick Joaquin, and Bienvenido Santos explored the complexities of Filipino identity and society. In the contemporary era, authors like Jessica Hagedorn, Miguel Syjuco, and Lualhati Bautista have made significant contributions. The dominant language of literary expression is English, yet there is also a thriving body of work in regional languages (the vernaculars of the Philippines are: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Ilonggo, and at least half a dozen other tongues). Authors like Francisco Balagtas, Amado Hernandez, and Virgilio Almario have made significant contributions to this literature.
Since Spanish times, theater has played a significant role in the Philippine culture. Renowned playwrights like Nick Joaquin and Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero has made substantial contributions to Philippine theater.
Poetry has also a strong tradition in Philippine literature, with such poets as Jose Garcia Villa, Francisco Balagtas, and Carlos Bulosan. On the other hand, there is also a tradition of essay and non-fiction writing, with such authors as Carlos P. Romulo, Jose Dalisay Jr., and Soledad Reyes.
To suggest a single recent Philippine book that might appeal to international reader, one might think about the criminal thriller Smaller and Smaller Circles published in 2002 by F.H. Batacan. The novel's central characters, two Jesuit priests, investigate a series of gruesome murders of young boys in the slum of Manila. As a background to crime mystery, the novel comments on Philippine problems such as misery, inequality, and the inefficiency of local institutions.
I have readF. H. Batacan, Smaller and Smaller Circles (2002)
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I have written... nothing ...
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to another parish
A small, thin, pale hand protrudes from beneath the garbage. “Mother of God, ” he mutters under his breath. He turns to the children. “Quick, get me a long stick.” Three children immediately come forward, offering him the digging sticks they use to poke through the garbage. He takes one and walks grimly toward their discovery.
F.H. Batacan, Smaller and Smaller Circles (2002)
Smaller and Smaller Circles is a universal book. At such a distance from home, it speaks of such a familiar reality: a priest molesting children, to whom the hierarchy turns a blind eye. Father Ramirez is merely transferred to another parish. A Polish story, I would say. A Philippine story, "In his new parish, Ramirez—a charismatic speaker who could keep a crowd enthralled and whose charming, easygoing, even gossipy manner endeared him to people—quickly found wealthy backers to help him set up what was supposed to be a charity shelter for orphans and street children in the area. Kanlungan ni Kristo—“Refuge of Christ”—had twenty beds initially, but soon expanded to thirty, to forty, and now seventy beds."
Only that it's more than just molesting; the boys' bodies are found in the dumping grounds of the slum gruesomely mutilated, their faces removed, and their genitals cut. And the hearts... Is the heart for something, too?
The mystery is to be solved in the narrow circle of priests, in some institution of teaching and reasoning that appears to be a Jesuit university. I guess there must be several such colleges and universities in the Philippines. The symbols of decay, a rotten tooth, a palm tree infected with fungus, should be alert to the danger. Perhaps also the Church might rot from within?
Contrary to the paradigms of the whodunit genre, we know who has done it very early into the narration. The question is what to do about it, how to be efficient while the structure, be it Church hierarchy or the local police sees no interest in doing anything at all. Those people from the slum are nothing at all, and the miserable children dwarfed by starvation are even less than people: "Take Jon-jon, for example. He was young and small, just the perfect weight for foraging in the unstable mounds of rubbish. He would have been light on his feet and fast, able to quickly pick through a load of freshly dumped garbage, in constant competition with other trash pickers for the most valuable finds. His life and health would have been in perpetual jeopardy: from rival scavengers, from disease, from infection by medical waste or poisoning by industrial waste, from the toxins produced by the ceaseless ferment of the landfill." In a better society, this thirteen-year-old would be at school, and were he murdered, there would be a serious inquiry about it. But at least, there is the Jesuit, and a qualified one, with vast forensic experience gained when he helped to identify the victims of Marcos' regime. Saenz, accompanied by his younger acolyte Jerome, must move from politics&vilence into sexuality&violence.
Overall, the book is a perfect exemplification of global literature and globalization as such, with its depiction of the Church, and the Jesuits, early-modern globalizers, in particular. There is a network of global aid, as the forensic laboratory of Father Saenz depends on external founding and overseas donations. Finally, there is global Mozart in the episode when the two priests are invited to the opera and meet the socialites of Manila. Also formally, the book strikes as a perfect example of the genre, with very few modifications as to its structure, with only a few patches of local color, mostly introduced as realia, such as Filippino dishes the two fathers bring to their office on plastic trays. And it rains in the novel - the abundant, tropical rainfalls are mentioned.
Kraków, October 11th, 2023.
Only that it's more than just molesting; the boys' bodies are found in the dumping grounds of the slum gruesomely mutilated, their faces removed, and their genitals cut. And the hearts... Is the heart for something, too?
The mystery is to be solved in the narrow circle of priests, in some institution of teaching and reasoning that appears to be a Jesuit university. I guess there must be several such colleges and universities in the Philippines. The symbols of decay, a rotten tooth, a palm tree infected with fungus, should be alert to the danger. Perhaps also the Church might rot from within?
Contrary to the paradigms of the whodunit genre, we know who has done it very early into the narration. The question is what to do about it, how to be efficient while the structure, be it Church hierarchy or the local police sees no interest in doing anything at all. Those people from the slum are nothing at all, and the miserable children dwarfed by starvation are even less than people: "Take Jon-jon, for example. He was young and small, just the perfect weight for foraging in the unstable mounds of rubbish. He would have been light on his feet and fast, able to quickly pick through a load of freshly dumped garbage, in constant competition with other trash pickers for the most valuable finds. His life and health would have been in perpetual jeopardy: from rival scavengers, from disease, from infection by medical waste or poisoning by industrial waste, from the toxins produced by the ceaseless ferment of the landfill." In a better society, this thirteen-year-old would be at school, and were he murdered, there would be a serious inquiry about it. But at least, there is the Jesuit, and a qualified one, with vast forensic experience gained when he helped to identify the victims of Marcos' regime. Saenz, accompanied by his younger acolyte Jerome, must move from politics&vilence into sexuality&violence.
Overall, the book is a perfect exemplification of global literature and globalization as such, with its depiction of the Church, and the Jesuits, early-modern globalizers, in particular. There is a network of global aid, as the forensic laboratory of Father Saenz depends on external founding and overseas donations. Finally, there is global Mozart in the episode when the two priests are invited to the opera and meet the socialites of Manila. Also formally, the book strikes as a perfect example of the genre, with very few modifications as to its structure, with only a few patches of local color, mostly introduced as realia, such as Filippino dishes the two fathers bring to their office on plastic trays. And it rains in the novel - the abundant, tropical rainfalls are mentioned.
Kraków, October 11th, 2023.
