Philippine literature in Spanish

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Philippine literature in Spanish (

According to Mariñas (1974) Philippine Literature in Spanish can be divided into 5 stages of development[1] namely:

1. Works of Spanish Religious About the Philippines (1593–1800)
2. Formative Stage (1800–1900)
3. Nationalist Stage (1883–1903)
4. The Golden Age (1903–1966)
5. Modern Works (1966–present)

Spanish religious works about the Philippines (1593–1800)

The arrival of the

In 1810, a year later the publication of the said work, Fernández de Folgueras, Governor General to the Philippines was granted by the 'Office of the Censor' to publish three books. The books were entitled: "Elogio a las Provincias de los Reynos de la España Europea", "Elogio a la mujer" and "El Parnaso Filipino". The last book, a collection of poems written by various Filipino poets at that time, is still now one of the most important works in the entire corpus of Philippine Literature in Spanish. And although it was severely criticized during its heyday (in 1814), it bears the merit of being the first book about the Philippines in Castilian that is purely literary and not didactic or religious.

This era also saw the publication of works by José Vergara, one of the Filipino representatives to the

But since most of the people who are knowledgeable in Spanish are those that belong to the Catholic hierarchy, religious works still make up a large part of the corpus.

During his stay as Vicar General of the

Though it was first printed anonymously, a flyer published in Madrid in 1862 entitled "Documentos importantes para la cuestión pendiente sobre la provisión de curatos en Filipinas" was also attributed to him. It was also Peláez who first used the term perla de oriente to refer to the Philippines. This was made popular later by José Rizal in his last poem and the modern translation into Filipino by the national anthem. The term was first used in 1855 in his work entitled "Sermón de San Andrés".

With the death of Peláez, another priest continued the battle for self-identity in the person of

Pedro Paterno also tried to establish some newspaper like "La Patria", "El Libera", "Soberanía Nacional" and "Asamblea Filipina". This also became outlets where Filipino were able to publish their works in Spanish.

Filipino novels in Spanish are quite rare. And aside from

Aside from "Ninay", Paterno were able to publish "Doña Perfecta" (1876), a novel; and "Sampaguita" (1880), a collection of poems; "La antigua civilización tagalog" (1887), "El cristianismo en la antigua civilización tagalog" (1892), and "La familia tagala en la historia universal", all expositories.

If Paterno was able to introduce the Tagalogs into the world, Isabelo de los Reyes (fondly called Don Belong by contemporaries) did the same for the Ilocanos.

In 1882, Don Belong published his "La invasión de Limahong". This made him enter the world of journalism which gave him all the outlets he needed to express his nationalism. Some of the newspapers he worked for were El Diario de Manila, La Oceanía Española, Revista Catolica, El Progreso, El Republicano and El Heraldo.

Considered the founder of the

Some of Don Belong's more renowned works include "El Folklore Filipino" (1889), "Las Islas Visaya en la Época de la Conquista" (1889), "Historia de Filipinas" (1889) and "Historia de Ilocos" (1890).

The era also saw the works of José Rizal, Antonio Luna, Eduardo de Lete, Emilio Jacinto, José Palma, Felipe Calderón and Apolinario Mabini.

In Cebu, the first Spanish newspaper, El Boletín de Cebú, was published in 1886.

The Golden Age (1903–1966)

Paradoxically, the greatest portion of Spanish literature by native Filipinos was written during the American commonwealth period, because the Spanish language was still predominant among the Filipino intellectuals.

In 1915, the local newspapers began publishing sections in English and after World War II and the destruction of Intramuros where a large part of the Hispanic community was based, Hispano-Filipino literature started declining and the number of books and magazines written in Spanish by Filipino authors was greatly reduced.

Modern works (1966–present)

Although the output of Philippine literature in Spanish has diminished in later years, there are still some notable writers, like José del Mar, who won a Premio Zóbel (Zobel Prize) for his work, "Perfiles", in 1965, Francisco Zaragoza (1914–1990), author of "Castala Íntima", Guillermo Gómez Rivera, academic director of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language, Edmundo Farolan, director of Revista Filipina and recipient of the Premio Zóbel in 1982 for his poetry work "Tercera Primavera" or Lourdes Castrillo Brillantes, a prominent Filipino female writer, author of "80 Años del Premio Zóbel" (80 Years of the Zobel Prize), a compilation of Spanish literature written by Filipinos.

Notable writers

• Antonio Abad (1894–1970)
• Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, S.J. (1610–1674)
• Rosauro Almario (1886–1933)
• Uldarico A. Alviola (1883–1966)
• Cecilio Apóstol
  (1877–1938)
• Jesús Balmori
  (1887–1948)
• Lourdes Castrillo Brillantes
• Edmundo Farolán
• Guillermo Gómez Rivera (b. 1936)
• Fernando María Guerrero (1873–1929)
• León María Guerrero III
  (1915–1982)
• Francisco Alonso Liongson (1896–1965)
• Graciano López Jaena (1856–1896)
• Apolinario Mabini (1864–1903)
• José Palma (1876–1903)
• Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850–1896)
• Claro M. Recto (1890–1960)
• José Rizal
  (1861–1896)

Notable works written by Filipino authors

• Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, both written by
  Jose Rizal
  . The novels created controversy among the Spanish authority in the Philippines. They were instrumental in creating a Filipino sense of identity during the Spanish colonial period by caricaturing and exposing the abuses of the Spanish colonial government and religious authority.
• Impresiones written by Antonio Luna. It is a collection of articles previously written for the newspaper La Solidaridad depicting Spain, the Spaniards, and their manners in a critical, corrosive and sarcastic fashion.
• La oveja de Nathán written by the 1929 Premio Zóbel awardee Antonio Abad. Set during World War I, this novel movingly expresses the Filipino nation's desire for independence from the United States through the story of Mariano Bontulan, a young linotypist in a government printing office, whose work allows him to be well versed in global issues, eventually spurring him to enlist to fight in the First World War on the side of the Americans in the hopes of seeing the United States fulfill, in return, its promise of independence of the Philippines. The book won Abad the 1929 Premio Zóbel.
• Mi casa de Nipa written by the 1927 Premio Zóbel awardee Jesús Balmori. It is a collection of poems that won him the 1940 Commonwealth Literary Award for poetry. The book was then published in 1941. This collection of poems is considered the culmination of Balmori's career as a poet, as he finally achieved his intent of creating a Filipino poetical aesthetic, overcoming Spanish modernism as a means of achieving a new literary stage, the culmination of the Golden Age of Spanish-Filipino literature.^[5]
• Cuentos de Juana: narraciones malayas de las Islas Filipinas written by the 1956 Premio Zóbel awardee Adelina Gurrea. It is a collection of short stories featuring indigenous folklore of the island of Negros, such as the tamao, the tic-tic, the asuang, the camá-camá, the bagát and the cafre.^[6] First published in Spain in 1943, the book then won first prize for literature in a contest held by the Latin Union Writers' Association in Paris in 1951.
• Quis ut Deus: o, el teniente Guimo, el brujo revolucionario de Yloilo written by the 1975 Premio Zóbel awardee
  Ilongo
  folklore and a soldier of the Philippine Revolutionary Government in Iloilo which resisted the American invasion. The Instituto Juan Andrés and Grupo de Investigación Humanismo-Europa of Spain awarded the author the 2015 I Premio Jose Rizal de las Letras Filipinas for the publication of this novel.
• El diario de Frankie Aguinaldo written by the 1982 Premio Zóbel awardee
  Niebla of Miguel de Unamuno and Nausea of Jean-Paul Sartre, this novel recounts the life of Frankie Aguinaldo, the alter-ego of the author.^[7] Farolán was awarded the 2017 III Premio Jose Rizal de las Letras Filipinas for the publication of his novel.^[8]

• Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language
• Literature of the Philippines
• Philippine Literature in English
• Philippine Literature in Filipino
• Spanish-language literature

References