POSTWAR AND

CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE

GROUP 2
CONTEMPORARY AND
POSTWAR WRITERS
 STEVAN F. SIONIL
JAVELLANA JOSE

ALEJANDRO
HORACIO ROCES
DE LA COSTA
EDITH L. N.V.M
TIEMPO GONZALEZ

NICK ROLANDO
JOAQUIN TINIO
FRANCISCO BIENVENIDO
ARCELLANA LUMBERA

JOSE F. AMADO V.
LACABA HERNANDEZ
 POSTWAR AND CONTEMPORARY
LITERATURE
• Postwar and Contemporary literature include all literary works
written and published in the Philippines from 1946.

• After World War II, the Philippines had to deal with the economy and
the need of rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructures.
There was political, economic, and social confusion, as well as great
poverty, and these issues found their way into the short stories and
novels during that time.
 During the postwar period, Filipino writers got their inspiration
from American teachers and were able to learn their techniques,
which also helped in mastering the English language.
 Writers wrote fiction that focused on courageous deeds as well
as the sacrifices and suffering in the lives of filipinos. It was also
common for writers to write about the experiences of the Filipino
people under the Spanish and American rule and the Japanese
Occupation. Other subjects and themes include:
• Religious faith • Proverty
• Superstitions • Politics
• Fantasy • Nationalism
• Social Problems • Morality
 LITERARY WORKS
Philippine literature flourished even more during the postwar and
contemporary period. Writers were able to produce short stories,
novels, essays, and poems that continue to be read by Filipinos
today
EXAMPLES:
Some works written in the postwar and contemporary period are:
• May Day Eve by Nick Joaquin, 1947
• Waywaya by F. Sionil Jose, 1983
• We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers by Alejandro Roces, 1948
• The Return by Edith L. Tiempo
• HIstory and Philippine Culture by Horacio de la Costa, 1965
• Without Seeing the Dawn by Stevan Javellana, 1947
 EXPLANATION:
 Nick Joaquin, a National Artist for Literature awardee, wrote articles under
the name of Quijano de Manila. His short story “May Day Eve,” published in
1947, is about love in a patriarchal society. It also made use of magic realism.
 F. Sionil Jose, one of the most widely read Filipino writers in English wrote
the short story “Waywaya,” which is about pre-Hispanic society and the
people's struggle for moral order.
 Alejandro Roces, a Filipino author, essayist, and dramatist, wrote the short
story “We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers.” This story focuses on the drinking
habits and culture of Filipinos and Americans.
 Edith L. Tiempo's poem “The Return” is a sentimental piece that talks
about life in old age.
 Horacio de la Costa wrote the essay “History and Philippine Culture,”
which emphasizes the importance of understanding and presenting a
nation's culture.
 Stevan Javellana wrote the first postwar Filipino novel in English,
“Without Seeing the Dawn.” This novel narrates what people experienced
during World War II under the Japanese rule in the Philippines.
POETRY DURING CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
Publication of young poets to campus journals emerged.
The 'Bagay' movement also took the scene - A kind of poetry which uses
colloquial language and is built on concrete images which tend to
describe experiences.
POETS like; Jose F. Lacaba, Rolando Tino, Bienvenido Lumbera, Antonio
Samson, and Edmund Martinez started the Bagay movement.
An example of bagay poetry is the Valediction sa Hillcrest written by
Rolando Tinio, which employs Taglish.
 Amado V. Hernandez introduced another form of poetry
through his work “Ang Bayang Malaya”.
 “Bayang Malaya”- It is a long narrative piece about a peasant
leader. Oppression and fighting for human rights are the main
themes of the said peice.
 The influence of Amado V. Hernandez was evident through
poems.
 Social protest and social realism became the theme of the
poems.
During the contemporary period, the works of American and British
poets influenced the English poems in the Philippines.
Poets like Edith Tiempo, Emmanuel Torres, and Dominador Ilio were
among those who were influenced by Western poets.
Their works revolved on subjects like the search for love and identity,
oppression, and those subjects concerning the poet's private worlds.
Followed by the rise of the nationalistic poetry discussing poverty, in-
equality, political turmoil, and other social problems started during the
Marcos Era.
 SHORT STORY WRITING AFTER WORLD WAR II

 Short stories focused on the self consciousness and self-expression of

the writer.
 Some of the known English short story writers during those times are
N.V.M. Gonzales, Nick Joaquin, Alejandro Roces, Francisco Arcellana,
Gregorio Brillantes, Bienvenido Santos, Edith Tiempo, etc.
 During the contemporary period, there are also short stories produced
which use vernacular language.
 Short story writers produced more social conscious fiction
during the 1970's.
 Short stories depicting the lives of the working class emerged.
 Social protest fiction was produced during the Marcos Era.
 IN THE AREA OF NOVELS
 The production of novels with sociopolitical themes
continued after the World War II.

 English Novelists, on the other hand, like the English

poets and short story writer, focused on the search for
identity.
 IN THE AREA OF ESSAY AND CRITICISM

 Literary criticism was produced after the World War II aiming to analyze
the Philippine writings.
 Informal essay, on the other hand, also took the scene which was
developed by women writers.
 The Contemporary Philippine Literature was a mixture of a variety of
subjects.
 It is also a product of different innovative techniques of writers.
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN
DIFFERENT REGIONS
 REGION 1: Ilocos
Region

Earliest known written Iloko poems:

Romances translated from Spanish by Francisco Lopez, who
published his own Iloko
translation of the
Doctrina Cristiana by Cardinal Bellarmine, the first book to be printed
in Iloko.
Study of Iloko poetry:
Gramatica Ilokana, published in 1895, based on Lopez's Arte de la
Lengua Iloca,
earlier published in 1627, but was probably written before 1606.
 Pedro Bucaneg
collaborated with Lopez in the translation of the Doctrina into Iloko
the first known Ilokano poet
the "Father of Ilokano Poetry and Literature."
blind since childhood
authored the popular epic known as Biag ni Lam-ang, who published it in El Ilocano from
December 1889 to February 1890, with Spanish translation in prose, and also reprinted it in
his El Folklore Filipino, under the title Vida de Lam-ang.
Leona Florentino
considered by some as the "National Poetess of the Philippines"
her poems however, appear to the modern reader as being too syrupy for comfort,too
sentimental to the point of mawkishness, and utterly devoid of form.
Fr. Justo Claudio Fojas
Ilokano secular priest who wrote
Leona Florentino's contemporary.
novenas, prayerbooks, catechism, metrical romances, dramas,
biographies, a Spanish grammar and an Iloko-Spanish dictionary.
Comedia (moro-moro)
a highly picturesque presentation of the wars between Christians and
Muslims
 Zarzuela
an equally picturesque depiction of what is at once melodrama, comic-opera,
and the skit interminably preoccupied with the eternal theme of boy-meets girl-
who-always-live-happily-ever-after-seemingly-impossible-odds
presented for the first time in the Ilocos in the 19th century.
Comedia – scripted from corridos
Prince Don Juan
Ari Esteban ken Reyna Hipolita
Doce Paris
Bernardo Carpio
Jaime Del Prado
Marcelino Mena Crisologo - helped popularize Zarzuela based
on culture & traditions
of the Iocos Norte
“Matilde de Sinapangan”- first Iloko novel printed on 1892
and written by Rufino
Redondo
 REGION 2:
Cagayan Valley

WRITERS AND LITERARY WORKS:

Fernando Maramag
Edith L. Tiempo
Florentino Hornedo
• Born on October 16, 1938 in Batanes.
• He was born to Leon Hornedo and Bienvenida Hontomin.
• Hailing from Savidug, Sabtang, Batanes, Hornedo obtained his BSE from
the University of Santo Tomas in 1961. He received his Master’s in English
and Philosophy from St. Louis University in 1966 and 1972 respectively and
his Ph.D. in Literature from UST in 1977.
IMPORTANT LITERARY PIECES:

NU NUNUK DU TUKUN or in English

Translation THE NUNUK ON THE HILL
WHAT CAUSES EARTHQUAKES (Y Paggafuanan
na Lunig)
 REGION 3: Central
Luzon
Pampanga Literature
A showcase of unique and diverse words of art shaped by rich and colorful traditions.
Highlights of the local traditions
Giant Lantern Festival – San Fernando Pampanga
Lubenas Angeles City
Lenten Ritual
Self flagellation
Putting up puni
Singing of pasyon
Riddles
aeta riddles
Kapampangan riddles
 Francisco Arcellana

 Francisco Arcellana is a Filipino teacher and a contemporary writer. He is one of

the prominent Filipino fictionists in English.
 He is known for innovating and exploring new literary forms and experimenting
with different techniques in short story writing.
 Some of his well-known literary works are the short stories “The Man Who
Would Be Poe,” ”Death in a Factory,” ”A Clown Remembers,” “The Mats,” and
“Lina.”
 His short stories “Flowers of May,” “Christmas Gift,” and “The Mats,” were
adapted s screenplays.
Francisco Arcellana is a Filipino fictionist who demonstrated his
craftsmanship in writing great literary pieces such as “The Mats,” a
story that highlights Filipino family and pictures an interesting
character coping with the death of loved ones. In this short story, he
uses writing techniques such as emphasizing the characters' actions
and dialogues to reveal their inner motives and emotions.
 N.V.M. Gonzalez

 Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez is an award-winning Filipino poet, essayist,

fictionist, journalist, editor and teacher of creative writing.
 Some of his published works are “Seven Hills Away”(1947), “Children of the Ash-
Covered Loam and Other Stories”(1954), and “The Bamboo Dancers”(1949), wich
appeared in Russian translation in 1965 and 1974.
 “Seven Hills Away” is a collection of short stories that sketch the daily lives of the
Filipino kaingeros in his hometown province, Mindoro.
 “The Bamboo Dancers” is a diasporic novel that features the challenges faced by
Filipinos in America.
The use of words such as kaingin, hilot, Nanay, and Tatay is part of
N.V.M. Gonzale's writing style, as even his other works showcase terms
that are unique to the setting of the story.
N.V.M. Gonzalez is known as a local colorist writer. Local color is a
literary technique that features the unique regional traditions of people
and emphasizes the ordinary events in their lives. This is used by N.V.M.
Gonzalez to present the sociocultural dimensons of Filipino families and
farmers in the provinces.
In “Children of the Ash-Covered Loam,” words that show local color
include kaingin, hilot, Nanay, and Tatay.
 Edith L. Tiempo

 Edith L. Tiempo was a Filipino writer in English. She was a poet, fiction writer,
and literary critic.
 She was known for using intricate and witty representations to portray
significant human experiences.
 Some of her well known poems are “The Return,” a poem that describes the
characteristics of old age, “Lament for the Littlest Fellow,” a poem that presents
a metaphor to describe the plight of submissive wife under her domineering
husband, and “Bonsai,” a poem that gives a look at how tangible objects could
be keepers of memories and emotions
 GROUP 1

SHENA MAE ACOT

CHARISSE MABILOG
ERICA RAMIREZ
JOSH LIGTAS
JAIME TOLOSA