You are on page 1of 64

The

Emergence
Period
1935 - 1945
THE EMERGENCE PERIOD
According to Jose M. Hernandez,
“There was an inflorescence of literature. A
sunburst of glory seemed to illumine the whole
country. Everybody was eager to try his wings; a
new wave of freedom permeated not only the life
of the people but also the literature produced.”

This period was a time of self-discovery and of


rapid growth; hence, some writers called it the
period of emergence.
Certain qualities mark the literature
produced during this period:
 The writers consciously and purposefully set out to
create a national literature.

 The writers had gained full control of the English


language and could manipulate it successfully as a
literary medium.

 Experimentation with different literary form and


techniques and moods was the fashion .
Groups of writers that emerge
during the period
Those who were deeply concerned with
social consciousness

Those whose main concern was


craftsmanship
Those who were determined to explore
local color
Some of the third group called themselves the
Veronicans
Their aim was “to make their writings bear the
imprint of the face of the Philippines just as the
cloth of Veronica wore the imprint of the face of
Christ.”
Professor Yabes
He called this period “The most productive
of distinctive work in the half century of
Filipino writing in English.”

Professor Hernandez
He enthusiastically called this the “Golden
Age of Philippine Literature in English”
What cause this flowering of creative
energy in Filipino writing?
It is difficult to say but Herbert Schneider, S.J., points to the
following contributors factors:

THE PHILIPPINE BOOK GUILD was founded (1937)


Its purpose was to produce literature and create a reading
public.

THE PHILIPPINE WRITERS’ GUILD was established (1939)


The creed of the member was to develop a common
cultural consciousness among our people.
The Free Press , The Graphics and The
Philippine Magazine followed a policy on
providing ample space for literary work in
English

The policy adapted by newspapers to issue


weekly supplements when literary works were
published.
 The Commonwealth Literary Awards, established in
1940, gave the first substantial prizes to meritorious
writers.
The first winners of these awards were:
Essay Division –
Literature and Society, by Salvador P. Lopez
Short Story Division –
“How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife”, by
Manuel E. Arguilla
Poetry Division –
“Like the Molave”, by Rafael Zulueta da Costa
Novel Division –
“Native Soil”, by Juan Cabreros Laya
This period saw an extraordinary literary
creativity which blossomed all over the Islands.

A review of some statements made during


the preceding period clearly shows a note of
expectancy and determination to promote
cultural independence of the Philippines.
In 1925, Jorge C. Bocobo wrote:
“If any country fails to discover and unfold its talent in
letters and art, that country has gone beyond the stage of
apprenticeship. The nation has only reached the period of
formation, not expression .”
“The Philippines must let her national soul express itself in
beauty and truth and grace and culture of the human
race.”
“The Filipino writers must sing immortal verse or depict in
vivid story and drama of this Filipino life. To arouse the
social consciousness of the Filipino, the writers should play
up the fortitude of our great heroes and the rugged,
simple virtues of our people.”
Amador T. Daguio, in his “The Malayan Spell and
the Creation of Literature.” stated “We may be able to
achieve something at least more worthy of ourselves
than what is merely a ridiculous aping of what is foreign
to our feeling and thought.”

The Japanese occupation of 1941-1945 brought


this flowering of Philippine literature in English to an
abrupt close. The country was plunged in turmoil, fear,
and apprehension as a reign of terror swept the land.
 The literary works that were produced were
published abroad.
1. Romulo wrote I Saw The Philippines Fall and My
Brother Americans;
2. Carlos Bulosan wrote The Voice of Bataan;
3. Alfredo E. Litiatco published With Harp and Sling.
4. In 1943, Jose P. Laurell published his Forces That Make
a Nation Great.
Although the Japanese occupation years produced
little literary work of significance, the period was to
become a rich source matter in the succeeding
period.
Romantic Realism
The period of emergence saw a shift from
romantic idealism to romantic realism.

This realism reached a climax in the


stories of Manuel E. Arguilla, N.V.M.
Gonzales and Nick Joaquin who wrote
effective portrayals of Filipino life of the
charm of rustic scenes, rising to artistic
value and significance.
MANUEL E. ARGUILLA
N.V.M. GONZALES
NICK JOAQUIN
BIENVENIDO N. SANTOS
ESTRELLA ALFON
FRANCISCO ARCELLANA
& AIDA RIVERA FORD
Poetry
In poetry, the literary output was rather
meager although there seemed to be genuine
desire to create new poetic modes of
expression. The “schoolroom poets” still
provided inspiration, and the Romanticists and
Victorians offered patterns that Filipino poets
followed. The sonnet enabled them to create
love lyrics which captured nuances and
moods through a more skilled manipulation of
language and imagery.
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
The revolt against traditional value and mores
was first felt in poetry.

Jose Garcia Villa was charged with “poisoning


public morals and offending the taste of decent
Manila readers” when he published “Man
Songs.”

He was expelled from the University of the


Philippines but succeeded in awakening Filipino
poets to their own inhibitive realities.
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
Villa’s poems echoed Walt Whitman’s
Free verse
Egoism
Oratical tones
Mysticism
Intimacy of religious and sexual impulses
 His early poems were reminiscent of Emily Dickinson’s
compact language as well as her attitude or irreverent
mischief and divine challenge toward God.
 His first book of poems was published in 1933.
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
 His second collection of poetry, entitled Poems by
Doveglion won the Commonwealth Literary Award
for 1941.
 Have Come, Am Here, was published in the United
States.
 His latest book of poetry is Poem 55.
 In general, his poetry has “the sorcery of suggestive
ambiguities (uncertainty), the mystery of the truth,
the fascination of the tangential argument, the
magic of the idea wrapped in poetical mists.
 British and American Have acclaimed Villa’s works.
Essay
The Inauguration of the Philippine
Commonwealth in 1935 gave the Filipinos
partial self-rule preparatory to independence
in 1946.
Political Freedom gave the writers a feeling
of responsibility.
The essays of the Commonwealth bore
traces of attempts to embody artistic and
national ideals.
Essay
The essays were on various types:
Light and frothy
Timely and serious subjects
Posing problems for public solution

PHILIPPINE WRITERS’ LEAGUE


– group of essayist banded together
– they were animated by the belief
“Literature is conditioned by society.”
FRANCISCO B. ICASIANO
Also known as “Mang Kiko,” his nom de
plume, wrote essays bubbling with
humor and sardonic wit.
SALVADOR P. LOPEZ
He is popularly known for his deep concern for
the development of the Philippine Literature in
English.

In his first book of essays, Literature and society,


he insisted that the writer should:
Have a direct responsibility in a dynamic society;
Redirect his talent and energy toward a red-blooded
literature, and
Deal with virile people winning victories toward
freedom or of emancipated human beings
enfeebled by an antihuman civilization.
Other members of Philippine
Writers’ League:
Federico Mangahas
Leopoldo Y. Yabes
Amando G. Dayrit
Alfredo Elfren Litiatco
Antonio Estrada
Drama
The western influence continued its firm hold on
Filipino playwrights. Although the west had already
rebelled against photographic representations of life, the
Filipino writers in English were not yet home with
representational realism.
The Philippine drama in English lagged behind in
development compared to other literary forms. There are
several reasons for this. One reason is that nationalistic
themes and revolutionary subjects were popular among
the general public. Playwrights who adopted English as
their vehicle of artistic expression felt neither rebellious nor
seditious.
Drama
Another reason may have been that
movies took over the zarzuela despite the
great competition put up by the latter.
Dramatic realism could not assimilate
unrealistic dialogue and situations resulting
from the use of English to express Filipino
situations, experiences, and ideas.
Playwrights
Prominent among the playwrights of this period
were Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero and Severino Montano.

Guerrero succeeded in establishing a drama


tradition in the University of the Philippines and had
put up the UP Mobile Theater.

His plays have been gathered in (3) volumes:


1. 13plays,
2. 8 other plays, and
3. 7 more plays
Playwrights
Severino Montano was the “founder-director”
of the Arena Theater at the Philippine Normal
College. He was graduate of the Yale Drama
Workshop. He wrote a number of significant plays,
among them:
 Sabina
 The Ladies and the Senator
 The Love of Leonor Rivera, and
 Parting at Calamba
Novel
In the field of the novel, Juan C. Laya’s “His
Native Soils” won the first Commonwealth Literary
Award in 1940. This novel tells of a Filipino
repatriate who, having been educated abroad,
finds himself a stranger in his hometown. N. V. M.
Gonzalez is prolific writer. He wrote “The Winds of
April.” He is a regional-realist and gives a down-to-
earth portrayal of the farmers and fisherfolk and
“how they live, love and fight.”
Although the influence of the
American novels and novelist was strong,
the Filipino novel was not well developed.
An explanation for this may be found in the
“indifference of local publishers to publish
longer fictions.” It was not until literary prizes
were offered by the Commonwealth
Government that Laya wrote His Native Soil
and Gonzales, The Winds of April.
Short Story
Carlos Bulosan
Born in Binalonan, Pangasinan, in 1914.
Most popular Filipino short story writer in the United
States.
“The Laughter Of My Father,” one of his best stories,
has been translated to Italian, Swedish, and Danish.
He wrote for the Saturday Evening Post and was
included in American anthologies and listed in
Who’s Who in America.
The short story which follows is a satire against that
national pastime of Filipinos- cockfighting.
My Father’s Tragedy
The story, written in first person, starts with a
situation in which many people do not have
enough food to eat that drives farm-dependent
families to poverty and hunger, including that of
the narrator, the son. His mother and his sister were
the only ones who find ways to put enough food on
their table. His father was in a hopeless situation
because no matter how much he tried to retrieve
their family from poverty, series of unfortunate
events would happen. After the locusts which
destroyed their field was gone, the whole
plantation was burned and they felt that all the
things they've worked on was wasted.
His father focused his attention to his fighting cock hoping
for some luck to save them from poverty. He's constantly
exercising his fighting cock and dreaming his time away. Once,
he even teaches his son how to make it stronger and ready for
the fight. Then the father draws up a strategy that will put the
family out of famine. Then in the late afternoon the fight was
arranged. The son and his father went home with some hope.
The mother was cooking something good. The whole family ate
happily because they haven't eaten chicken for a very long
time. The father ate more than he usually eat then asked his
wife where he got the white meat because the poultry house in
the village is empty. The wife answered, "Where do you think I
got it?".

Then the father walked out of the house with great agony.
Poems
Jose Garcia Villa
 Born in Singalong, Manila.
 After he was expelled for publishing “Man Song’s”, he went
to U.S and studied in the University of Mexico.
 His stories and poems have been published in the U.S. – A
Footnote to Youth and Other Stories, by Scribner’s; and
Have Come, Am Here, by New Directions.
 Outstanding Filipino with an International reputation.
 In 1959, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of
Literature, honoris causa, by the Far Eastern University.
 In the poem below, Villa shows man as holding the world in
the hollow of his hand and daring to measure God.
God said, “I Made a Man”
God said, “I made a man”
Out of clay
But so bright he, he spun
Himself to brightest Day
Till he was oh shining gold
And oh

He was lovely behold;


But in his hands he held a bow
Aimed at me who created
Him. And I said,
‘Wouldst murder me
Who am thy Fountainhead?’
Then spoke he man of gold:
‘I will not
murder thee! I do but
Measure thee, Hold
Thy peace!’ And this I did.
But I was curious
Of this so regal head
‘Give thy name! –Sir! Genius!
Conrado V. Pedroche
 Born in Victoria, Tarlac, on September 6, 1909.
 His stories and essays express his apparently
irrepressible gay outlook on life.
 Considered the Philippine’s most popular writer of
humorous stories.
 He taught English in the University of the East and
became director of the National Media Production
Center.
 He wrote four volumes of stories – Ray the Little
Creature, Tales and Fairy Tales, Stories from the Good
Book (Bible stories), and The Ginger Girl.
An Infant’s Death
You were not meant to sorrow, little one;
You were not meant for music nor pain;
You were not cold for cold September rain
Nor the sunshine and the grass; for now you’re
gone.
From those sweet, flitting moment with warm love
And scented breasts; from the eyes that wondered
long,
From lips joy-parted with a mother’s song,
And arms that ached with tenderness. But of
This earth you have a memory,
A brief and sudden loveliness fulfilled.
Wrapped in the softness of a newborn flower.
What if you knew no living victory,
No far and shining wonders half-concealed?
Earth holds no beauty lovelier than your hour.
Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales
 Born in Romblon, Romblon, in 1915.
 He studied at Stanford University, the University of
Denver, and Kenyon College
 His stories, poems, and articles have appeared in U.S.
publications such as the Hopkins Review, Poetry,
Swanee Review, the New York Times Magazine, and
the pacific Spectator.
 He teaches creative writing at Hayward State College,
in California, where he moved after teaching English at
the U.P. for many years.
 The Poem My Island is an outburst of love of country.
My Islands
Even as the bough breaks
From the sheer weight of song
So does my heart break with love,
So will my rivers flow
To kiss the sea’s warm eternal breast.
So will my island poise their hills
Against the sun.
My heart is proud
Of this dream and prouder yet rivers
Of the faith that keeps the pace
Of tides and moons, and prouder
Still my islands of their hills.
Abelardo Subido
Abelardo Subido, Principally a journalist
and late commissioner of Civil Service, was
also a distinguished poet.
Subido’s best poems are found in Two
Voices (1945) and in anthologies, notably
Manuel A. Viray’s Heart of the Island.
In “Soft Night” the speaker calls for his
beloved with passionate tenderness.
Soft Night
The night is soft and cool. I wait for you
Amid the garden dusk beneath the trees.
This is the hour of softly falling dew.
I breathe your name; it floats upon the breeze
That gently stirs the clinging window-vine.
You cannot hear; the fervid longing dies
Upon my heart. I hear a bird repine
In liquid notes that mingle my sighs.
Rise from your dreams. The sampaguitas faint:
The cool, soft night is slipping, waning slow . . .
Night sheds its tears: the night bird’s sad complaint
Melts into silence. Love, I want you so.
Rise from your dreams: I bring you love more sweet
Than all the flowers I scatter at your feet.
R. Zulueta da Costa
Born in Manila in 1915.
He won the Commonwealth Literary Contest for
poetry in 1940 with his poem, “Like the Molave”.
His importance rests mainly on his collection of
poems, Like the Molave and Other Poems. This
book is divided into three parts
Part One, “Like the Molave”;
Part Two, a series of poems largely on music;
Part Three, a patriotic invocation addressed to
Jose Rizal.
The selections that follow are excerpts from
“Like the Molave.” The lines breathe a
strong invocation to Rizal whom some critics
consider not only the supreme example to
be emulated by Filipinos but also a source
of strength and power for the whole nation.
Like the Molave
Not yet, Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace;
There are thousand waters to be spanned;
There are thousand of mountains to be crossed;
There are thousand of crosses to be borne.
Our shoulders are not strong; our sinews are
Grown flaccid with dependence, smug with ease
Under another’s wings.
Rest in peace;
Not yet, Rizal, not yet. The land has need
Of young blood and, what younger than
your own,
Forever spilled in the great name of
freedom,
Forever ablate on the altar of the free?
Not you alone, Rizal
O souls
And spirits of the martyred brave, arise!
Arise and scour the land! Shed once again
Your wiling blood! Infuse the vibrant red
Into our thin, anaemic veins; until
We pick up your Promethean tools and, strong,
Out of the depthless matrix of your faith
In us, and on the silent cliffs of the freedom,
We carve for all the time your marmoreal
dream!
Until your people, seeing, are become
Like the molave, firm, resilient, staunch
Rising on the hillside unafraid,
Strong in its own fiber, like the molave!
XVIII
They say the molave is extinct,
But they are blind or will not see.
Stand on the span of any river, and lo!
Relentlessly to and fro, cross and recross, molave!

Yes, molave strides roads into the darkest core!


Yes, molave builds seven thousand bridges in
blood!
Bagumbayan planted the final seed
Balintawak nurtured the primal green.

Molave, uprooted and choked, will not succumb.


Molave presses on and will not be detained.

Let Spain speak.


Let America speak.
Essay
Ismael Villanueva Mallari
Ranked as leading literary and art critic in the
Philippines.
He also wrote poems and short stories as well as
essays.
He had the gift of laughter as show in his book
When I Was a Little Boy.
He went as a government pensionado to the
University of Wisconsin where he took his M.A.
Degree in English.
Pliant Like The Bamboo
This means that the Filipino would accept any kind of
life that God would present to him. For this reason, he is
contented, happy and at peace to, as to that oriental
poet, “The past is already a dream, and tomorrow is only
a vision; but today, well – lived, makes every yesterday a
dream of happiness and every tomorrow is a vision of
hope.”
The Filipinos are very resilient, he has the ability to
recover from any obstacle that comes his way. Man-
made or natural forces, he emerge triumphantly. He
never gives up, no matter how hard life was before and
even now…. The FILIPINO remains to be PLIANT like the
bamboo.
The Emergence Period
1935 - 1945
Reported by Group 2
Jimbo Manalastas Cherry Miranda
Alexa Ingalla Gale Madarang
Jomer Santos Marianne Bunquin
Corrine Santos Haidee Serrano
Ericka Salvador Angelica Quizon
Bhabyline Dela Cruz Alecs Cruz
Shekinah Lao Rosete Galvez
Amiel Santos

You might also like