The 21st Literature from the

Philippines
 THE INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY

Philippine literature withstood time and periods

and has evolved through generations. For every
period that passed, different genres appeared,
and these literary works rooted from all regions
reflecting their culture, society and lifestyle.
The early stages of Filipino Literature consist of
the Pre-Spanish period, the Spanish period and
the Propaganda and Revolutionary
In the Pre-Spanish period, literature was in oral
form as technology of printing wasn’t available
yet. Works such as epics, legends, folklore,
salawikain, bugtong, sawikain, songs such as the
Oyayi or Hele.
Philippine Literature changed during the Spanish
Period. It was centered on Christian faith. Pre-
Spanish literary types continued to develop;.
• However, there was a gradual shift of interest
from nature and natural phenomena to the
lives of the saints, hymns, miracles and
invocations based on the teachings of the
Catholic Church.
The works during this time are imitative of the
Spanish theme, forms, and traditions. The
corrido, awit, dalit, cenaculo, moro-moro, duplo
and karagatan, and zarzuela are reflective of the
said characteristics.
Religious matters were in prose as novenas and
prayer books, biographies of the saints, tales
and novels.
The Filipinos were able to retain their native
traditions and poems in the field of poetry
reflected as lyrical folksongs and riddles. Some
examples of songs are Bahay Kubo, kundiman,
and tapat. Francisco Baltazar also was popular
during this time because of his “Florante at
Laura”.
Events such as the exposure of the Filipinos to
Europe’s liberal idealism, the opening of the
Suez Canal, the Spanish Revolution in 1868, and
the martyrdom of Gomburza led to Filipino
nationalism.
This gave birth to two movements during this
time – the Propaganda movement and the
Revolutionary movement.
The Propaganda movement was reformatory in
objective and its members are college students
mostly based in Spain. The primary
propagandists were Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del
Pilar, and Graciano Lopez-Jaena.
The exposure of the evils of the Spanish rule in
the Philippines was because of Rizal’s Noli Me
Tangere and El Filibusterismo and has paved the
way to a revolution against Spain.
Del Pilar’s essays and editorials in Diariong
Tagalog which he founded with Lopez-Jaena’s
articles in La Solidaridad which he was an editor
reflected nationalism that was dominant at this
time.
• 1st century literature per se, is anything that
was written and published in the year 2000s.
 Creative nonfiction

It’s a rich mix of flavors, ideas, and techniques,

some of which are newly invented and others as
old as writing itself. Creative nonfiction can be
an essay, a journal article, a research paper, a
memoir, or a poem; it can be personal or not, or
it can be all of these.
 Some of the creative nonfiction in the
Philippines are:

• “The Cardinal’s Sins, the General’s Cross, the

Martyr’s Testimony, and Other Affirmations”
by Gregorio C. Brillantes
• “Manananggal Terrorizes Manila and Other
Stories” by Jessica Zafra
• “Sapay Koma” by Jhoanna Lynn Cruz
The Flowers in a Crypt

The Plot Diagram

 Hyper poetry

Hypertext poetry and hypertext fiction are new genres of literature that use
the computer screen as medium, rather than the printed page. The literary
works rely on the qualities unique to a digital environment, such as linked
World Wide Web pages or effects such as sound and movement. Hypertext
“poetry” can consist of words, although not necessarily organized into lines
and stanzas, as well as, sounds, visual images, movement or other special
effects. Although the poem may be dazzling with sounds, perhaps of a
lawnmower, while the words “mowing,” “stop,” “Sunday,” and “morning”
float across your computer screen in pseudo-three-dimensional letters, one
will have been hard pressed to identify the use of any formal poetics.
 Mobile phone text tula

A cell phone novel, or mobile phone novel is a

literary work originally written on a cellular phone
via text messaging. This type of literature originated
in Japan, where it has become a popular literary
genre. However, its popularity has also spread to
other countries internationally, especially to China,
United States, Germany, and South Africa. Chapters
usually consist of about 70-100 words each due to
character limitations on cell phones.
 Chick lit

This is genre fiction, which “consists of heroin-

centered narratives that focus on the trials and
tribulations of their individual protagonists”. The
genre often addresses issues of modern
womanhood – from romantic relationships to
female friendships to matters in the workplace –
in humorous and lighthearted ways.
 Some of the chick lit in the Philippines are:

• Spotlight New Adult by Mina V. Esguerra

• Tall Story by Candy Gourlay
• All’s Fair in Blog and War by Chrissie Peria
 Speculative fiction

It covers all stories from fantasy to science fiction to

slipstream to magic realism to urban fantasy — so on and
so forth. In other words (or in other worlds), it
encompasses all the stories that are removed from the
reality that we are currently living in. As the introduction
states, “speculative fiction is a type of story that deals
with observations of the human condition but offers the
experience through a different lens…and challenges us to
see what tomorrow could be like or what the mythic past
of our imagination actually is.”
Some of the speculative fiction in the Philippines
are:

• Smaller and Smaller Circles by FH Batacan

• Sink by Isabel Yap
• The Secret Origin of Spin-Man by Andrew
Drilon
 Flash fiction

Flash fiction goes by many names, including

microfiction, microstories, short-shorts, short short
stories, very short stories, sudden fiction, postcard
fiction and nanofiction. While it can be difficult to
pinpoint an exact definition of flash fiction based on
word count, consideration of several of its features
can help provide clarity, like its brevity, length,
background and purpose.
Some of the flash fiction in the Philippines are:

• 100 Kislap, by Abdon M. Balde Jr.

• Karapote: Antolohia Dagiti 13 a Nasuerte A
Sarita, by Ariel S. Tabag
 Blog

• A blog (shortening of “weblog”) is an online

journal or informational website displaying
information in the reverse chronological order,
with latest posts appearing first. It is a
platform where a writer or even a group of
writers share their views on an individual
subject.
 Graphic novels

The ‘graphic novel’ has existed as an art form

arguably from the time our species learned how
to paint. However, the term has only been in use
since the 1960’s, and though it’s often a hotly
debated issue, it’s generally accepted that a
graphic novel is a longer work or collection of
works presented in ‘comics’ style.
Some of the graphic novels in the Philippines
are:

• The Mythology Class (Nautilus comics) by

Arnold Arre
• Light (Anino comics) by Rob Cham
• Sixty Six (Anino comics) by Russell Molina
• Maktan 1521 by Tepai Pascual
• There are various themes and topics that the
contemporary literature addresses. One of
which is Identity. With increasing
globalization, intersections of cultures and
more vocal discussions of women’s rights and
LGBT rights, identity has become a common
theme in 21st century literature.
• Another theme is history and memory. Often
contemporary literature explores the notion of
multiplicities of truth and acknowledges that
history is filtered through human perspective
and experience.
Another main theme is technology. Today,
technology is more integrated into people’s lives
than ever before. Dreams of what technology
could potentially help people become and
anxieties regarding the demise of humanity
because of technology can be seen in 21st
century literature.
• Many 21st century works of literature explore
what it means when all of humanity’s
experiences are filtered through technology.
They are more liberal and unfiltered in a sense,
just like the world we live in. For this reason, the
language and tone that are commonly used
doesn’t really follow a rule just like the
traditional and classical works, as long as it is
able to express and convey the authenticity and
the essence of the meaning of the work and the
identity of the characters.