Tagalog Literary Works and Linguistics

[dancethingy]

Filipino Literature

When i first arrived here in the Philippines I made it a goal, an imperative goal, to explore Filipino literature. I thought that finding a starting point for my exploration was going to be easy, but my attempts at exploring Filipino literature became a challenge when not one person in any bookstore could give me any advice on where to start. I was even startled when one salesperson recommended Jessica Hagedorn, a FILIPINO AMERICAN writer. It was so annoying to think that our peoples worth isn't official until it is verified or attached to something foreign.

So my first venture into Filipino literature was with F. Sionil Jose and it is he who has inspired me to create this thread. I have struck gold with his vast and epic collection of essays, short stories, and novels. There is something about his work that strikes a chord with me and his work so clearly expresses how i feel about our country. His work is infused with such profound melancholy regarding our country, but at the same time it is filled with nationalism and pride at what he calls "our heroic heritage."

I have only read "Wayway," "We Fililipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage," and "Sin." I have just started his Rosales Saga Novels, which is a series of 5 Novels.

I recommend all these books, especially for all the young forumers here. We as Filipinos, if we really care to understand ourselves, need to read his works. They are so ahead of his time and so brazenly true. His essay "Our Place in the Sun" for example, written in 1997, effectively sums up all what we debate on this forum. His short story "waywaya" is an amazing account of pre-hispanic Philippines and wonderfully portrays the life of the Ilocanos and the Ifugaos before our hundreds of years of colonization.

I hope this thread grows, because i know most you are much much smarter than I on this topic. I'm so ignorant of it. Come to think of it, most of you have probably read these books or have already discussed them in the forum before my arrival. I would love more suggestions for reading.

By the way i've also been reading Nick Joaquin, but his works are not that easy to read given his love for run-on sentences. I'm going to start on him after F. Sionil Jose.

[sandrin]

Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas is a good start for a new comer in Filipino literature. Another truly captivating short story is Ibong Adarna (The legend of Ibong Adarna) - the bird with a melancholy voice & magical sh*t.

[paulkrps]

here's one by joey ayala's mom:

A Fool's Summer Song
By Tita Lacambra Ayala

Piety and angels belong to children
piety and hotels to artists and fools
who ignites the first star is struck by blindness
but who keeps his distance sees the truth

He who sees his blindness sings about it
and he who cannot see must paint the dark
he who cannot sing about his blindness
in blindness must find his way alone

For what one sees with eye or mind is what makes beauty
and beauty alone is there to share
beautiful food beautiful money
beautiful thoughts of beauty
our world of sense is all that we will ever know

[xXx carlos xXx]

Originally Posted by sandrin

Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas is a good start for a new comer in Filipino literature. Another truly captivating short story is Ibong Adarna (The legend of Ibong Adarna) - the bird with a melancholy voice & magical sh*t.

good one! magical sh*t!!!! hahaha! lolz

[sandrin]

Originally Posted by xXx carlos xXx

good one! magical sh*t!!!! hahaha! lolz

yup, as i recall, when you hear the adarna bird sing, you must stay awake. when you fall asleep, it will sh*t down on you & will turn you into a stone, just like the medusa legend.
so how do you stay awake?
hiwain mo yung kamay mo at pigaan ng kalamansi

[paulkrps]

we cry for the unborn
not humans, not of our own
we cry, forlorn
tell me, when
that we cry for our own
we cry, oh the thorn
that we shed those
tears, we have shown
but they're not
for our own, not

poems, in the works...

[Culiat]

Bangkero
Ni Lamberto E. Antonio

Kaydalas matibag ng kabilangpampang.

Sa ibayo, kumakaway ang babae,
kasama ang mga lilik at nakatalungkong mga
sako.

Ilang uhay kaya ang naamot ng pauwing ibon?

Nag-uusap ang sagwan at agos
Sa langit na itong animo'y lukot
At nangingitim na kumot.

Ang mga babae: lalong namumurok
Ang kanilang mga pisngi sa tilamsik
Ng duguang sinag. At muli kang naalala,

Mutya ng Pampangin: ang tinig mong
Kumakampay kapag ako'y walang sakay;
Ang huling kaway mo sa pantalan at sa akin

Akong hindi maitawid ng sariling bangka
Sa ilog ng paglimot.

[Lili]

Originally Posted by dancethingy

Filipino Literature

When i first arrived here in the Philippines I made it a goal, an imperative goal, to explore Filipino literature. I thought that finding a starting point for my exploration was going to be easy, but my attempts at exploring Filipino literature became a challenge when not one person in any bookstore could give me any advice on where to start. I was even startled when one salesperson recommended Jessica Hagedorn, a FILIPINO AMERICAN writer. It was so annoying to think that our peoples worth isn't official until it is verified or attached to something foreign.

So my first venture into Filipino literature was with F. Sionil Jose and it is he who has inspired me to create this thread. I have struck gold with his vast and epic collection of essays, short stories, and novels. There is something about his work that strikes a chord with me and his work so clearly expresses how i feel about our country. His work is infused with such profound melancholy regarding our country, but at the same time it is filled with nationalism and pride at what he calls "our heroic heritage."

I have only read "Wayway," "We Fililipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage," and "Sin." I have just started his Rosales Saga Novels, which is a series of 5 Novels.

I recommend all these books, especially for all the young forumers here. We as Filipinos, if we really care to understand ourselves, need to read his works. They are so ahead of his time and so brazenly true. His essay "Our Place in the Sun" for example, written in 1997, effectively sums up all what we debate on this forum. His short story "waywaya" is an amazing account of pre-hispanic Philippines and wonderfully portrays the life of the Ilocanos and the Ifugaos before our hundreds of years of colonization.

I hope this thread grows, because i know most you are much much smarter than I on this topic. I'm so ignorant of it. Come to think of it, most of you have probably read these books or have already discussed them in the forum before my arrival. I would love more suggestions for reading.

By the way i've also been reading Nick Joaquin, but his works are not that easy to read given his love for run-on sentences. I'm going to start on him after F. Sionil Jose.

Those are great choices Ben. Thanks for reminding me of these homegrown literary treasures. F. Sionil Jose and Nick Joaquin are two of my favorite Filipino writers. Waywaya was made into a movie starring Ace Vergel. Of course, Nick Joaquin's May Day Eve and Summer Solstice have been featured many times in films and TV. The most recent movie on his play 'Tatarin', however, fell short of my expectation. Other early Filipino writers that I enjoy reading are Paz Latorena, F. Sionil Jose, Loreto Paras-Sulit, NVM Gonzales, Francisco Arcellana, Manuel Arguelles, among others.

For later writers, I enjoy the short stories of Jose 'Butch' Dalisay.

P.S. Did you visit the greetings thread? I greeted you there for passing the NCLEX. Congrats ulit. .

[xXx carlos xXx]

philippines has more than 24 epics so..... better know all of them... hahaha

[Solblanc]

If you're looking for something modern, try visiting the ADMU/UST/UP/DLSU press. They churn out a lot of works, and some of them are even worth reading outside the classroom.

[dancethingy]

Oh my gosh, this forum is blessed with such well read informative people. That's great.

@Paulkrps, thanks for the poems
@Sandrin, magical sh*t huh? thanks for the references
@Lili, thanks too for the reference and thank you for your greetings, hehehe i haven't gone to the greetings thread, thanks

[ThisFire]

I also think that you can never go wrong with Jose Rizal's works.

[tigidig14]

read balagtasan since your into it too

[Sinjin P.]

I'm sorry but I hate Filipino Classes nowadays. Why aren't they practical? They're letting us read the Noli Me Tangere with all those "out of this world super deep" Tagalog words...

[Lili]

When I was in high school, I hated Noli Me Tangere read in Tagalog, too. It made it tedious for me and lessened the experience. I wish that they will just allow us to read it in English and once we develop a flavor for it, we can decide to read it in Tagalog or in its original text in Spanish.

Try reading Florante at Laura in deep Tagalog. Then you'll be in deep sh*t. That was the most difficult reading I've encountered because there were a lot of metaphors in that epic poem.

[Sinjin P.]

Originally Posted by Lili

When I was in high school, I hated Noli Me Tangere read in Tagalog, too. It made it tedious for me and lessened the experience. I wish that they will just allow us to read it in English and once we develop a flavor for it, we can decide to read it in Tagalog or in its original text in Spanish.

Try reading Florante at Laura in deep Tagalog. Then you'll be in deep sh*t. That was the most difficult reading I've encountered because there were a lot of metaphors in that epic poem.

Yeah, in 1st Year, we had Ibong Adarna which was also poetic in style but it wasn't as difficult to understand as in...

Florante at Laura, which we had last year. It was really so difficult. Our teacher makes it more difficult.

Now, we're having Noli Me Tangere. The words used simply turn me off. And next year, we're gonna have El Filibusterismo.

Oh my God. Our Filipino Curricula needs reforms.

[Lili]

Yes, @sinjin. I agree with you.

[dancethingy]

Hey at least you guys get some education on Filipino Literature. I'm left with squatt to fend for myself. But thanks for bringing them up so i check them out.

Is there a Filipino equivalent to Steinbeck's "East of Eden." I think "Waywaya" is the Pinoy equivalent of "Interpreter of Maladies," or maybe i should say "Interpreter of Maladies" is the Indian equivalent of "Waywaya" since "Waywaya" came first.

[surfsam]

There is Tagalog for foreigners being taught at UP Diliman. And several books can be considered primers on Philippine Literature...They include:

Philippine Literature by Bienvenido Lumbera and Cynthia Lumbera (National Book Store)
Philippine Writing from the Regions by Lumbera (Anvil)
Likhaan Anthology of Philippine Literature by Gemino Abad and Cristina Hidalgo (UP Press)
Philippine Literature in English by OA Dimalanta (UST Press)

Gemino Abad also edited 3 landmark anthologies of Philippine Poetry in English--representations of Philippine poetry from 1898 to the present:

MAN OF EARTH (Ateneo Press)
A NATIVE CLEARING (UP Press)
A HABIT OF SHORES (UP Press)

You will not be disappointed. Philippine Literature is rich. But it needs to be taught properly. UP Diliman, Ateneo, La Salle, UST, UP Baguio, UP Visayas, UP Mindanao, University of San Carlos (Cebu), Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology and Silliman University (Dumaguete) do have outstanding literature and culture professors who are at the same time prizewinning writers.

The problem is that there are too many mediocre teachers dabbling in these courses. These teachers do Philippine literature a great disservice.

[Mango]

Thanks @surfsam for those references. I agree with you that for students to appreciate literature, teachers play a big role.

Just like @sinjin, I didn't understand the essence of Noli and Fili during HS because of lack of explanation from the teachers. I was lucky in college to have an excellent teacher in Rizal's Works who explained the 'symbolisms' and related it to the present time---which I think is most important, what is the significance of that work.

We were made to read many short stories and essays written by Filipinos and I liked "Bread of Salt" by NVM Gonzales and "How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife" (Villa or Gonzales?). Again, I had a very good teacher who inspired the class to read beyond class hours.

And Sionil Jose. I had the chance to meet him personally 5 years ago at a gathering in Makati. I wanted to talked to him but he was too busy signing and people never left him alone!
Thanks din @Lili for mentioning Butch Dalisay. I don't know kung may published book na siya but so far, I am reading him in Philstar.