The literature of the Filipinos.pdf

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Part of Panorama

extracted text: THE LITERATURE OF THE FILIPINOS Leopoldo Y. Yabes Part II IV. American Colonial A number of interesting works depict the Filipino so ciety in transition from the late Spanish colonial to'the early and middle American colonial regime. Among them are Claro Recto's “Solo Entre las Sombras”, Nick Joaquin’s “La Vidal”, Paz Marquez’s “Dead Stars”, Wilfrido Guer rero’s “The Old Teacher”, and Kalaw’s The Filipino Rebel. As would be expected the authors are inclined to be more sympathetic to the pre vious than to the existing re gime. Joaquiq is more hostile to the existing regime than any of the more competent writers. “La Vidal” is the sto ry of the degeneration- of a well-born, conventbred wo man who originally married a poet of the Revolution and who ended up marrying the unscrupulous physician, a product of the American re gime, who had practised abor tion on her as a result of her love affair with a man after the death of her first hus band. The portrait of La Vi dal, the woman, is quite un flattering. “Solo Entre las Sombras” is also the story of two sisters, the older belong ing to the Spanish-educated generation, who find them selves in love with the same man, who is married to the older sister. The more aggres OCTOBER 1961 73 sive and unscrupulous of the two, the younger sister bears a child of the brother-in-law. The revelation is too much for the older girl and she dies from shock, leaving her hus band and her sister to suf fer the consequences of their crime, which is considered as very grievous. “Dead Stars” is a quiet picture of the quiet but relentless change in the cultural milieu taking place in the early third decade of the century. “The Old Tea cher” is the story of an old classroom science teacher at the University of Sto. Tomas who uses both Spanish and English as languages of ins truction. Educated in Spanish he is not quite at home in English, but he has to use the language once in a while be cause the young generation in the colleges and universities had been brought up in Eng lish. The Filipino Rebel, a longer work, gives a more de tailed picture of the conflict between the passing and the up-and-coming generations. One cannot escape noticing, however, that the American democratic tradition was slowly permeating Philippine society as reflected in the writings of the younger art ists during the third decade. The tradition-bound society at the turn of the century has been transformed into the freer society found in many of the stories of Casiano T. Calalang, Arturo B. Rotor, A.E. Litiatco, Fernando Leano, Lo reto Paras, Paz Latorena/Jose Garcia Villa, and Salvador P. Lopez, and in some of the dramas written by Carlos P. Romulo, Jorge Bocobo, Bue naventura Rodriguez, and Vi dal A. Tan before the 'close of the third decade. This note of freedom became more evi dent during the later years of the American colonial re gime and during the early years of the Commonwealth. The impact of American de mocracy and technology was felt in all segments of socie ty but particularly those that had gone to school under the American-b u i 11 Philippine educational system. As might be expected, most of the lea dership of this movement came from the University of the Philippines, the capstone of that educational system. V. Late American Colonial and Commonwealth This covers the last years of the American colonial re gime, the establishment of the Commonwealth, and the out break of the war, when there was a resurgence of nation alism. This period may be traced to the beginning of the American business depression and the passage, largely be74 Panorama . cause of pressure from eco nomic groups adversely affec ted by Philippine products entering the American mar ket free of duty, of the law by the American Congress granting independence to the Philippines after a ten-year transition period. Of course it should end around the year of Philippine independence. This was an era that be gan with hopes for the new independent nation that was a-building, despite the worldw i d e business depression which ushered in the Hitler regime, and wound up in the maelstrom of war. It was a great era for the Filipinos both as individual members of the national community and as the national communi ty themselves. Two representative works in the earlier part of this period were Salvador P. Lo pez’s Literature and Society (1940) and R. Zulueta da Cos ta’s Like the Molave (1940). Although critical of the faults and shortcomings of their own people, both young men expressed faith in their people’s ability to build a strong independent nation. One of them dreamed of “gods walking on brown legs”. The other did not believe merely in aestheticism but in full-blooded proletarian lite rature. Both of these works won major prizes in the Common wealth literary contests which were established in 1939 by President Manuel L. Quezon upon the strong recommend ation of the Philippine Wri ters’ League, to promote the development of literature in English, Tagalog, and Spanish, which derives its importance from its treatment of socially significant problems. There was heated controversy over this avowed objective of the Writers’ League. This quarrel raged for more than two years, and was put to a stop only after the awarding of the prizes in the second year of the contests, when the Ja panese attacked the Philip pines in December 1941. That attack was the most cogent argument for the stand of the League. Carlos B u 1 o s a n’s The Laughter of My Father (1944) is a burlesque on Philippine small-town and country life during the early years of the period. But his America is in the Heart (1946), although it begins as a picture of poverty and social degradation in both the Philippines and the Ame rican west coast, ends on a note of faith in-American de mocracy as a result of the heroic performance of the Fi lipino and American soldiers in the Battle of Bataan. Juan October 196| 75 C. Laya’s His Native Soil (1941) is the story of a Fili pino repatriate from America who, after being told his fur ther stay in America was no longer welcome, could not ad just himself in the society to which he had returned. It is not an inspiring picture of pre-war Philippine society in a small provincial town. His next novel, This Barangay (1950), however, which is •about life in wartime Philip pines, is a reaffirmation of fatih in a better future for the country because of the war and enemy occupation. Three other novels about the war strike the same note of faith in freedom and de mocracy as a way of life for the Philippines. Javellana’s Without Seeing the Dawn (1947), as the title indicates, is an eloquent affirmation of that faith. It shows most ele ments of the population as contributing their little bit for the liberation of the coun try from the invaders, inclu ding even the prostitute who did service to the Japanese soldiers in -the hope that her disease -would be contracted by the enemy soldiers. E.K. Tiempo’s Watch in the Night (1953) and More Than Conquerors (1959), especially the latter, echo the same note as Javellana’s novel. The spirit shown by the. conquered in the latter novel was more in domitable than that of the conquerors. The leading wo man in the story, who is the mistress of a Japanese offi cer, makes possible the free dom of a Filipino prisoner who had been condemned to death, at the cost of her own life. Although not written in the same vein, Nick Joaquin’s Portrait of the Artist as Fili pino (1952) is nevertheless a glorification of the Old City of Manila, and all that it stood for, which had been destroyed by the war. It is a picture of the pre-war Wall ed City — especially of a Ca tholic family and its head, the artist, who refused to compromise his own integri ty as a Filipino and as an ar tist for greater affluence. VI. National and Contem porary The national scene since 1946 has not been very clear; in certain areas it Is quite confused. The development of the Filipino nation-state since its establishment has not. been very steady;, in. fact it has been, reflected in: much of the. literature produced. Only a few. of . the representa tive works of this period can be discussed here. Rigodon .(1958), a fulllength play by A. O. B.ayot, 76 Panorama gives a picture of the rich land-owning and globe-trott ing class of our society. The main woman-character, how ever, is given a social cons cience and rebels against her own class. Although dealing with an aspect of PhilippineAmerican relations during the war years and a little after, You Lovely People (1955), by B. N. Santos, will hold more significance during the pre sent period because of the as yet unremoved irritants in Philippine-American r e 1 ations. In La Via: A Spiritual Journey (1958), Ricaredo Demetillo points out the way to spiritual bliss from the spiri tual morass of the present, not through asceticism or mortification of the flesh but through the proper exercise of the psychosomatic func tions of the body. “We have begun to see authoritatively,” the poet says in his preface, “that nature herself has set up sex as the amative bath to invigorate the human psy cho, a reservoir which can last almost indefinitely unless its sources are dammed up by fears and guilts.” It ends with a beautiful because po sitive and harmonious song to the “Lady,” a goddess of beauty arid begetter of gods and poetry. “Fairy Tale, for a City” by Estrella Alton seems to have a theme simi lar to that of La Via, but the voyager fails to attain bliss at the end of the voyage and dis covers, to his dismay, spirit ual hypocrisy instead. The Women Who Had Two Navels (1951), another of Nick Joaquin’s pieces indicting Fi lipino society of the present, describes the sub-rosa activi ties of two Filipino women commuting between Manila and Hongkong in the post war years. A story depicting sordid life, it leaves one with a feeling of puzzlement that there could be such a Manila as pictured by Joaquin, a city of dirt and slime — a veri table human wasteland. N. V. M. Gonzalez’s latest novel, The Bamboo Dancers (1959), also pictures Filipinos in rela tion to other peoples, a broa der subject matter than that dealt in his previous novels The action involves America. Japan, and the Philippines, and the characters include Filipinos, Japanese, and Ame ricans. As the title itself in dicates, the novel seems to be symbolic of the opportunism of present-day Filipino socie ty. Like the skillful bamboo dancers, the Filipino’s main ambition seems to be to get along cleverly and well in life and his chief concern is not to get caught in the toils of the law. October 1961 77 VII. The Past Few Years Notwithstanding the ob vious lack of a sense of direc tion in creative work during recent years, there has been much productive activity ne vertheless, especially during 1960. And that is what seems important — to be produc tive. Sooner or later the wri ters will find their own bear ings and feel a new sense of direction. A self-respecting in dependent people will redis cover their own integrity as a people and this discovery will inspire the birth of a new literature, which will be a faithful expression of a rein vigorated national soul. There has been a perceptible trend toward such a direction. The Republic Cultural Heritage Awards could be a sign of such a reawakening to the possibilities of the future on the basis of the national he ritage. The promotional aspect of this literary movement has been reenforced during the past year. In addition to the Palanca memorial, Free Press, and Zobel awards in litera ture and the Standard Vac uum Awards in journalism, there is now the Stonehill fellowship award for the no vel in English, sponsored by the Philippines Center .of PEN International. The University of the Philippines for its own part held literary contests in the novel, drama, poetry, and short story in connection with its golden jubilee. And of course there was the first post-war National Writers’ Conference held in Baguio late in 1958 under the auspi ces of the Philippine Center of PEN International. Modes tly, it can be claimed that that conference had a catalyzing effect on the writers, not ne cessarily towards a more in tense nationalist direction, but certainly towards more intense creative activity. Al so, the visit of such great in ternational figures like the philosophers Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Sidney Hook and of such lesser lights as Edmundo Blunden, James Sa xon Childers and Hortense Calisher could not but have stimulated more intellectual and creative activity. Therefore there is hope of more and better literary pro duction in the hear future. VIII. Some Observations As an expression of the ex perience of the Filipino peo ple through the centuries, Philippine 1 i t e r a ture, as roughly outlined in this short study, constitutes a rich source of material for the stu dy of a variegated culture with great potentials for de 78 Panorama velopment. As a result of ac culturation to more advanced cultures of both East and West, the culture of the Phil ippines today represents a unique product of the blend ing of basic Oriental traits and assimilated Western ele ments. Although still retain ing many of the characteris tics of the Oriental “status” society, the Filipino people are slowly emerging into the essentially “contractual” so ciety of the modern Occident. The society described in Bantugan and Maragtas is different from the society pic tured in Noli Me Tangere and Urbana at Felisa, while the society pictured in the later works is quite different from the society that constitutes the matrix of Without Seeing the Dawn and Rigodon. There is definitely more freedom in the later than in the earlier Philippine societies, even if the basic factors are not changed. With the cultural influen ces now at work, which are reflected in contemporary Philippine writing, it should not be difficult to evolve in the Philippines a new and vi gorous cultural system that will embody in itself the choicest elements of both the Western and Eastern cultural traditions. A cultural system of this kind should be in a good position to contribute to peace, understanding, and goodwill among the peoples of the world. LAUNDRY-DRYING IN THE ROOM The washing needs no longer to be hanged out on the line. An electric dryer will dry it conven iently inside the room. The Francksche Eisenwerke Company of Adolf shutte-Dilleriburg in Hesse makes an “Oranier” Laundry Dryer, a small white box with six bars over which the laundry is hanged. Drying requires from 30 to 90 minutes according to the type and wetness of the wash ing. An electric blower drives warm air of 60 deg ree centigrade from top to bottom. The dryer is mobile with wheels, and it can be used for heat ing the room also. It takes a charge of 10 lbs., in cluding nylon and perlon. OCTOBER 1961
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