Stevan Javellana (1918-1977)

Birth: 1918 in Iloilo City, Philippines

He also known as Esteban Javellana.

He fought as a guerrilla during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. After World War II, he
graduated from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1948. He stayed in the United States
afterwards but he died in the Visayas in 1977 at the age of 59.

Javellana was the author of a best-selling war novel in the United States (U.S.) and Manila, Without
Seeing the Dawn, published by Little, Brown and Company in Boston in 1947.

His short stories were published in the Manila Times Magazine in the 1950s, among which are Two
Tickets to Manila, The Sin of Father Anselmo, Sleeping Tablets, The Fifth Man, The Tree of Peace and
Transition. Without Seeing the Dawn, also known as The Lost Ones, is his only novel.

He never published another book or novel in Manila or in New York. The writer from La Paz, Iloilo
City in the Visayas died in 1977 at the age of 59.

For three decades (1947 to 1977) he led a brief but celebrated life as writer-novelist.

Fifty-five years after his first novel, twenty-five years after his death, he has been one of theif not the
most neglectedFilipino writer











Without Seeing the Dawn
(novel)
by Stevan Javellana
3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 rating details 329 ratings 14 reviews




The title of Stevan Javellana's only novel in English Without Seeing the Dawn was derived from
one of Jos Rizal's character in the Spanish-language novel Noli Me Tangere or Touch Me Not.
Javellana's 368-paged book has two parts, namely Day and Night.
The first part, Day, narrates the story of a pre-war barrio and its people in the Panay Island
particularly in Iloilo.
The second part, Night, begins with the start of World War II in both the U.S. and the
Philippines, and retells the story of the resistance movement against the occupying Japanese
military forces of the barrio people first seen in Day.It narrates the people's "grim experiences"
during the war.

First published in 1947, Javellana's novel sold 125,000 copies in the U.S. and was reprinted in
paperback edition in Manila by Alemar's-Phoenix in 1976.
The same novel was made into a film by the Filipino film maker and director, Lino Brocka
under the title Santiago!, which starred the Filipino actor and former presidential candidate,
Fernando Poe, Jr. and the Filipino actress, Hilda Koronel. It was also made into a mini-series
film for Philippine television. The published novel received praises from the New York Times,
New York Sun and Chicago Sun.
Without Seeing the Dawn, the novel, became the culmination of Javellana's short-story writing
career. The said novel was also known under the title The Lost Ones
EDITIONS OF THE BOOK
Without Seeing the Dawn
(Paperback)
Published 1998 by Phoenix
Press
Paperback, 359 pages
Author(s):
Stevan Javellana
ISBN:
9710621777 (ISBN13:
9789710621774)
Edition language:
English
Average rating:3.88 (322
ratings)

Without Seeing the Dawn
(Paperback)
Published 2000 by Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.
Paperback
Author(s):
Stevan Javellana
Edition language:
English
Average rating:
4.00 (7 ratings)

Without Seeing the Dawn
(Hardcover)
Published January 1st 1947
by Little, Brown and
Company
Hardcover
Author(s):
Stevan Javellana
Edition language:
English
Average rating:
0.0 (0 ratings)

Steven Javellana to his novel WITHOUT SEEING THE DAWN
The author has written about the simple life of simple Filipinos. He has also written about what
had happened to these Filipinos during the WWII. He was able to tackle all these parts in the
Filipino life. Because of this, he decided to write the novel in two parts.
Javellana, writing not in the country where he come from, wanted to recall the live of simple
Filipino folks whose world suddenly changed with the coming of the Japanese in their small
village. He wanted to show how a simple life became very much
complicated with the coming of the WWII.
The author, Stevan Javellana, had the book divided into two parts: the DAY and the NIGHT.
The first part tells the story of a small barrio and its people. It tells of the simplicity in life of the
people in a small barrio of an island in Panay and in Iloilo City. The second part, the NIGHT,
tells how the war has changed the lives of these simple folks. It tells how they have fought
against the historical novel whose characters may have been fictitious, but has great
resemblance to real persons living or dead.
The author has different critical leanings, which he
presents differently in each conflict that the novel has. At some
point, he seems to be very Marxist. In the Marxist theory, there is
the farmer and the land owner. The country is still under the
condition that small-scale farmers work for land lords.The author used the
Marxist theory to present the struggle of the farmer folks who are
somewhat abused by their land lords.
The author also has portrayed his female characters against
the feminist point of view. The heroin in his novel is a woman who
is succumbed to the powers of his husband. He made his heroin a
woman who follows the chauvinist male and in someway this heroin
tries to rebel against the stereotypes but fails.
The novel speaks
nothing but the live of the Filipinos and how their simple farm life
was changed when the coming of the Second World War reached the
Philippines. He tells faithfully about the Filipinos, their lives,
their loves, and their death. He tells of their sufferings, their
struggles, and their pains.
The author did not write the novel when he was still in the
country. The novel was published abroad where it first became a
bestseller.









REFERENCES
1.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevan_Javellana
2.) http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843434.Stevan_Javellana
3.)https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=stevan+javellana&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&s
urce=univ&sa=X&ei=k-
3RU9K2KomLuAS91oLQBQ&ved=0CCgQsAQ&biw=1455&bih=735#facrc=_&imgrc=-
9HUOBodX2hrnM%253A%3BdYz-
AA59burqGM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fverafiles.org%252Fwp-
content%252Fuploads%252F2012%252F12%252FStevan-
Javellana.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fverafiles.org%252Fplight-of-comfort-women-
revisited-in-a-1947-filipino-novel%252Fstevan-javellana%252F%3B222%3B276
4.)https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=stevan+javellana&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&s
urce=univ&sa=X&ei=k-
3RU9K2KomLuAS91oLQBQ&ved=0CCgQsAQ&biw=1455&bih=735#facrc=_&imgdii=Y27X
ucBxMIJFJM%3A%3BcsawYJjXwdWapM%3BY27XucBxMIJFJM%3A&imgrc=Y27XucBxM
IJFJM%253A%3BcsQAlNy7GuG1CM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%25
2Fwikipedia%252Fen%252Ff%252Ffb%252FWithout_Seeing_the_Dawn_(or_The_Lost_Ones)
_by_Stevan_Javellana_book_cover.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwi
ki%252FWithout_Seeing_the_Dawn%3B240%3B240
5.)https://www.google.com.ph/search?q=stevan+javellana&newwindow=1&tbm=isch&tbo=u&s
urce=univ&sa=X&ei=k-
3RU9K2KomLuAS91oLQBQ&ved=0CCgQsAQ&biw=1455&bih=735#facrc=_&imgdii=Y27X
ucBxMIJFJM%3A%3BsKzH81lyfD9TEM%3BY27XucBxMIJFJM%3A&imgrc=Y27XucBxMI
JFJM%253A%3BcsQAlNy7GuG1CM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%25
2Fwikipedia%252Fen%252Ff%252Ffb%252FWithout_Seeing_the_Dawn_(or_The_Lost_Ones)
_by_Stevan_Javellana_book_cover.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwi
ki%252 FWithout_Seeing_the_Dawn%3B240%3B240
6.Florentino, Alberto and Francisco Arcellana, Without Seeing the Dawn: A Review
(Javellana: Did He Die Without Seeing the Dawn? - The Odyssey of a Young Writers First and Only
Novel Without Seeing the Dawn), PALH Book Reviews (undated), retrieved on: June 16, 2007
7.)http://www.palhbooks.com/javellana.htm
8.) https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/PhilLit2007/conversations/topics/782






















Republic of the Philippines
Bulacan State University
City of Malolos, Bulacan
College of Arts and Letters




WRITTEN REPORT
IN
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

STEVEN JAVELLANA



Submitted by:
Ms. Jennea May R. Villarama

Submitted to:
Mr. Ronaldo Zamora



Republic of the Philippines
Bulacan State University
City of Malolos, Bulacan
College of Arts and Letters



WRITTEN REPORT
IN
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE



Submitted by:
Ms. Pearl Trisia Ureta

Submitted to:
Mr. Ronaldo Zamora