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Philippine literature in Spanish

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Philippine literature in Spanish (Spanish:

Literatura filipina en español; Filipino: Panitikang
Pilipino sa Espanyol) is a body of literature made by
Filipino writers in the Spanish language. Today, this
corpus is the third largest in the whole corpus of
Philippine literature (Philippine Literature in Filipino
being the first, followed by Philippine literature in
English). It is slightly larger than the Philippine
literature in the vernacular languages. However,
because of the very few additions to it in the past 30
years, it is expected that the former will soon
overtake its rank.

History

According to Mariñas (1974) Philippine Literature in

Spanish can be divided into 5 stages of
development[1] namely:

1. Works of Spanish Religious About the

Philippines (1593–1800)

2. Formative Stage (1800–1900)

3. Nationalist Stage (1883–1903)

4. The Golden Age (1903–1966)

5. Modern Works (1966–present)

Spanish religious works

about the Philippines (1593 -
1800)

The arrival of the Spaniards in 1565 brought Spanish

culture and language editors. The Spanish
conquerors, governing from Mexico for the crown of
Spain, established a strict class system that
imposed Roman Catholicism on the native
population. Augustinian and Franciscan
missionaries, accompanied by Spanish soldiers,
soon spread Christianity from island to island. Their
mission was implemented by the forced relocation of
indigenous peoples during this time, as the uprooted
natives turned to the foreign, structured religion as
the new center of their lives. The priests and friars
preached in local languages and employed
indigenous peoples as translators, creating a
bilingual class known as ladinos.

The natives, called "indios", generally were not

taught Spanish, but the bilingual individuals, notably
poet-translator Gaspar Aquino de Belén, produced
devotional poetry written in the Roman script in the
Tagalog language. Pasyon, begun by Aquino de
Belen, is a narrative of the passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, which has circulated in
many versions. Later, the Mexican ballads of
chivalry, the corrido, provided a model for secular
literature. Verse narratives, or komedya, were
performed in the regional languages for the illiterate
majority. They were also written in the Roman
alphabet in the principal languages and widely
circulated.

In the early 17th century a [Chinese Filipino] printer,

Tomas Pinpin, set out to write a book in romanized
phonetic script writer. His intention was to teach his
fellow Tagalog-speakers the principles of learning
Spanish. His book, published by the Dominican
press (where he worked) appeared in 1610. Unlike
the missionary's grammar (which Pinpin had set in
type), the native's book dealt with the language of
the colonizers instead of the colonized. Pinpin's
book was the first such work ever written and
printed by a Philippine native.[citation needed] As such,
it is richly instructive for what it tells us about the
interests that animated Tagalog translation and, by
implication, Tagalog conversion in the early colonial
period. Pinpin construed translation in simple ways
to help and encourage Tagalog readers to learn
Spanish.

Formative stage (1800 - 1873)

During the so-called 'Formative Stage', Filipino

writers began to recognize the Philippines a
separate entity from Spain and codified these in
different form of expressions.

Among the first Filipinos to produce works is Luis

Rodríguez Varela, a mestizo born in Tondo (which
was province outside Manila walls but now
incorporated as a district) in 1768.

Among the works, the earliest recognised work in

this era is "Proclama historial que para animar a
los vasallos que el Señor Don Fernando VII tiene
en Filipinas a que defendian a su Rey del furor de
su falso amigo Napoleón, primer Emperador de
fanceses, escribe, dedicada e imprime a su costa
Don Luis Rodríguez Varela". As the title expresses,
the work is full of prohispanic sentiments.

In 1810, a year later the publication of the said work,

Fernández de Folgueras, Governor General to the
Philippines was granted by the 'Office of the Censor'
to publish three books. The books were entitled:
"Elogio a las Provincias de los Reynos de la
España Europea", "Elogio a la mujer" and "El
Parnaso Filipino". The last book, a collection of
poems written by various Filipino poets at that time,
is still now one of the most important works in the
entire corpus of Philippine Literature in Spanish. And
although it was severely criticised during its heyday
(in 1814), it bears the merit of being the first book
about the Philippines in Castilian that is purely
literary and not didactic or religious.

This era also saw the publication of works by José

Vergara, one of the Philippine representative to the
Spanish Cortes; and Juan Atayde (1838–1896), a
military official. Most of the works published during
these years are poetry.

But since most of the people who are

knowledgeable in Spanish are those that belong to
the Catholic hierarchy, religious works still make up
a large part of the corpus.

During his stay as Vicar General of the Archdiocese

of Manila, Fr. Pedro Peláez, S.J., (1812–1863)
founded the "El Católico Filipino", a journal of
religious nature. While serving the said post, he also
taught at the University of Santo Tomas and acted
as a correspondent to "La Genereción", a journal
published in Madrid. In his works, Peláez worked
much to the defence of his fellow Filipinos.

Though it was first printed anonymously, a flyer

published in Madrid in 1862 entitled "Documentos
importantes para la cuestión pendiente sobre la
provisión de curatos en Filipinas" was also
attributed to him. It was also Peláez who first used
the term "PERLA DE ORIENTE" to refer to the
Philippines. This was made popular later by José
Rizal in his last poem and the modern translation
into Filipino by the national anthem. The term was
first used in 1855 in his work entitled "Sermón de
San Andrés".

With the death of Peláez, another priest continued

the battle for self-identity in the person of Fr. José
Apolonio Burgos (1837–1877). Burgos was a student
of Peláez at UST. A year after an earthquake of 1863
that took the life of his teacher, he graced the
Madrid journal "La Verdad" with "Manifesto que a
la noble Nación Española dirigen los leales
filipinos" to defend the heavy criticisms of the
regular priests against the Filipinos of that time. He
also able to publish "El Eco Filipino" in order to
reiterate the call of reform to the Philippine
government and hierarchy.

His other notable works are "Mare MAgnum"

(1851), "Estado de Filipinas a la llegada de los
españoles" (witten in 1871 but published
posthomustly in 1894), "Ciencias y costumbres de
los filipinos" (1868), "Cuentos y leyendas
filipinas" (1860), "Es verdad los milagros" (1860)
and "Los Reyes Filipinos".

With the opening of the Suez Canal, many Españoles

came to the Philippines. Some even studied in the
islands which gave birth to some publications like
"La Oceanía Española", "El Comercio" and "La
Voz de España".

Nationalist stage (1873 -

1903)

The opening of Philippine ports to foreign

commerce, the transition to an export economy, and
the establishment of regular maritime routes
between the Philippines and Spain brought social
and economic changes in the Philippines. More
affluent families who benefited from the economic
development of the Philippines during the late 19th
century sent their children to Spain and Europe to
take advantage of the educational opportunities
offered to them by the liberalized Spanish colonial
policy at that time.[2] These educated young men,
also called ilustrados, would later become the
spokesmen of the grievances and the aspirations of
their people. They gathered around Madrid's Circulo
Hispano-Filipino, founded in 1882, which then
evolved into the Asociación Hispano-Filipina, and
from 1888 onwards these young men started to
write for the newspaper La Solidaridad, with
propagandist intentions and nationalist
aspirations.[3] Many of these ilustrados were also
protagonists of the Philippine Revolution, which
ended with the Philippine independence from Spain
and the cession of the Philippines to the United
States of America.

A potent tool in promoting Filipino nationalism in

Spanish was the foundation of La Solidaridad (more
fondly called La Sol by the members of the
propaganda movement) on 15 February 1885. With
the help of this organ, Filipino national heroes like
José Rizal, Graciano Lopez Jaena, Marcelo H. del
Pilar, etc. were able to voice out their sentiments.

Perhaps, the best-known editor of the Sol is

Graciano Lopez Jaena (1856–1896). Some of his
more famous works include "Fray Botod" and "La
Hija del Fraile".

Pedro Paterno also tried to establish some

newspaper like "La Patria", "El Libera", "Soberanía
Nacional" and "Asamblea Filipina". This also
became outlets where Filipino were able to publish
their works in Spanish.

Filipino novels in Spanish are quite rare. And aside

from José Rizal's Noli Me Tángere and El
Filibusterismo, Paterno published an earlier novel
entitled "Ninay" in 1885. The work was depicting
local colour and was one of the inspirations that led
José Rizal to write his own.

Aside from "Ninay", Paterno were able to publish

"Doña Perfecta" (1876), a novel; and
"Sampaguita" (1880), a collection of poems; "La
antigua civilización tagalog" (1887), "El
cristianismo en la antigua civilización tagalog"
(1892), and "La familia tagala en la historia
universal", all expositories.

If Paterno was able to introduce the Tagalogs into

the world, Isabelo de los Reyes (fondly called Don
Belong by contemporaries) did the same for the
Ilocanos.

In 1882, Don Belong published his "La invasión de

Limahong". This made him enter the world of
journalism which gave him all the outlets he needed
to express his nationalism. Some of the newspapers
he worked for were "El Diario de Manila", "La
Oceanía Española", "Revista Catolica", "El
Progreso", "El Republicano" and "El Heraldo".

Considered the founder of the workers' movement in

the Philippines, Don Belong founded the "La
actividad del obrero" in 1902 that served as the
main voice of the working class. Later, he founded
the Iglesia Filipina Independiente as a revolt to the
abuses of the Catholic hierarchy in his hometown.
The foundation of the church was instrumental in
the translation of the Holy Scriptures in Ilocano.

Some of Don Belong's more renowned works include

"El Folklore Filipino" (1889), "Las Islas Visaya en
la Época de la Conquista" (1889), "Historia de
Filipinas" (1889) and "Historia de Ilocos" (1890).

The era also say the works of José Rizal, Antonio

Luna, Eduardo de Lete, Emilio Jacinto, José Palma,
Felipe Calderón and Apolinario Mabini.

In Cebu, the first Spanish newspaper, El Boletín de

Cebú, was published in 1886.

The Golden Age (1903 - 1966)

Ironically, the greatest portion of Spanish literature

by native Filipinos was written during the American
commonwealth period, because the Spanish
language was still predominant among the Filipino
intellectuals.[4] One of the country's major writers,
Claro Mayo Recto, continued writing in Spanish until
1960. Other well-known Spanish-language writers,
especially during the American period were
Francisco Alonso Liongson (El Pasado Que Vuelve,
1937), Isidro Marfori, Cecilio Apóstol (Pentélicas,
1941), Fernando Ma. Guerrero (Crisálidas, 1914),
Flavio Zaragoza Cano (Cantos a España and De
Mactán a Tirad) and others. Manila, Cebu, Bacolor
and many other cities and towns across the
Philippines had its share of writers in Spanish, most
of whom flourished during the early decades of the
century.

Among the newspapers published in Spanish were El

Renacimiento, La Democracia, La Vanguardia, El
Pueblo de Iloílo, El Tiempo and others. Three
magazines, The Independent, Philippine Free Press
and Philippine Review were published in English and
Spanish.∓

In 1915, the local newspapers began publishing

sections in English and after World War II and the
destruction of Intramuros where a large part of the
Hispanic community was based, Hispano-Filipino
literature started declining and the number of books
and magazines written in Spanish by Filipino authors
was greatly reduced.

Modern works (1966 -

present)

Although the output of Philippine literature in

Spanish has diminished in later years, there are still
some notable writers, like José del Mar, who won a
Zóbel Prize (Premio Zóbel) for his work, Perfiles, in
1965, Francisco Zaragoza (1914-1990), author of
"Castala Íntima", Guillermo Gómez Rivera, academic
director of the Academia Filipina de la Lengua
Española (Philippine Academy of the Spanish
Language), Edmundo Farolan, director of "Revista
Filipina" and recipient of the Premio Zobel in 1982
for his poetry work "Tercera Primavera" or Lourdes
Castrillo Brillantes, a prominent Filipino female
writer, author of "80 Años del Premio Zobel" (80
Years of the Zobel Prize), a compilation of Spanish
literature written by Filipinos.

Notable writers in Spanish

Antonio Abad (1894-1970)

Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, S.J. (1610-1674)

Rosauro Almario (1886-1933)

Uldarico A. Alviola (1883-1966)

Cecilio Apóstol (1877-1938)

Jesús Balmori (1887-1948)

Lourdes Castrillo Brillantes

Edmundo Farolán

Guillermo Gómez Rivera (b. 1936)

Fernando María Guerrero (1873-1929)

León María Guerrero III (1915-1982)

Francisco Alonso Liongson (1896-1965)

Graciano López Jaena (1856-1896)

Apolinario Mabini (1864-1903)

José Palma (1876-1903)

Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850-1896)

Claro M. Recto (1890-1960)

José Rizal (1861-1896)

Notable Spanish language

works written by Filipino
authors

Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo , both

written by Jose Rizal in Spanish. The novels
created controversy among the Spanish authority
in the Philippines. They were instrumental in
creating a Filipino sense of identity during the
Spanish colonial period by caricaturing and
exposing the abuses of the Spanish colonial
government and religious authority.

Impresiones written by Antonio Luna in Spanish.

It is a collection of articles previously written for
the newspaper La Solidaridad depicting Spain, the
Spaniards, and their manners in a critical,
corrosive and sarcastic fashion.

La oveja de Nathan written by the 1929 Premio

Zobel awardee Antonio Abad in Spanish. Set
during World War I, this novel movingly expresses
the Filipino nation's desire for independence from
the United States through the story of Mariano
Bontulan, a young linotypist in a government
printing office, whose work allows him to be well
versed in global issues, eventually spurring him to
enlist to fight in the First World War on the side of
the Americans in the hopes of seeing the United
States fulfill, in return, its promise of
independence of the Philippines. The book won
Antonio Abad the Premio Zobel award in 1929.

Mi casa de Nipa written by the 1927 Premio

Zobel awardee Jesus Balmori. It is a collection of
poems that won him the 1940 Commonwealth
Literary Award for poetry. The book was then
published in 1941. This collection of poems is
considered the culmination of Jesus Balmori's
career as a poet, as he finally achieved his intent
of creating a Filipino poetical aesthetic,
overcoming Spanish modernism as a means of
achieving a new literary stage, the culmination of
the Golden Age of Spanish-Filipino literature[5].

Cuentos de Juana: narraciones malayas de las

Islas Filipinas written by the 1956 Premio Zobel
awardee Adelina Gurrea. It is a collection of short
stories featuring indigenous folklore of the island
of Negros, such as the tamao, the tic-tic, the
asuang, the camá-camá, the bagát and the
cafre[6]. First published in Spain in 1943, the book
then won first prize for literature in a contest held
by the Latin Union Writers' Association in Paris in
1951.

Quis ut Deus: o, el teniente Guimo, el brujo

revolucionario de Yloilo written by the 1975
Premio Zobel awardee Guillermo Gomez Rivera in
Spanish. Published in 2015, the novel recounts the
legend of Teniente Guimo, the aswang of Ilongo
folklore and a soldier of the Philippine
Revolutionary Government in Iloilo which resisted
the American invasion. The Instituto Juan Andrés
and Grupo de Investigación Humanismo-Europa of
Spain awarded the author the 2015 I Premio Jose
Rizal de las Letras Filipinas for the publication of
this novel.

El diario de Frankie Aguinaldo written by the 1982

Premio Zobel awardee Edmundo Farolan in
Spanish. The book was published in 2016. In the
form of philosophical anthropology and in line with
the tradition of existentialist novels like Niebla of
Miguel de Unamuno and Nausea of Jean-Paul
Sartre, this novel recounts the life of Frankie
Aguinaldo, the alter-ego of the author[7].
Edmundo Farolan was awarded the 2017 III Premio
Jose Rizal de las Letras Filipinas for the
publication of his novel[8].

See also

Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language

Literature of the Philippines

Philippine Literature in English

Philippine Literature in Filipino

References

1. ^ Literatura Filipina en Castellano, Madrid, 1974.

ISBN 84-276-1205-2

2. ^ Constantino, Renato; Constantino, Letizia R

(1975). "Chapter X - Revolution and
Nationhood". A history of the Philippines: from
the Spanish colonization to the Second World
War . Monthly Review Press. p. 146.
ISBN 9780853453949. "Coming from families
that had benefited from the economic
development of the country, these young men
were able to take advantage of the educational
opportunities that a liberalized Spanish colonial
policy offered at the time."

3. ^ Ortuño Casanova, Rocío. "Introducción

temática a la Literatura filipina en español -
Literatura filipina en español" .
www.cervantesvirtual.com (in Spanish).
Archived from the original on 25 August 2019.
"Estos jóvenes estudiantes burgueses
comienzan agrupándose en torno al círculo
hispano-filipino de Madrid fundado en 1882. El
círculo evolucionó a Asociación hispano-filipina
y en 1888 comenzaron a publicar el periódico
La solidaridad, con una intención,
efectivamente, propagandista."

4. ^
http://descargas.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/S
irveObras/bameric/013505531355735000886
80/209438_0011.pdf

5. ^ Balmori, Jesús; Donoso, Isaac (2010). Los

pájaros de fuego: novela Filipina de la guerra
(in Spanish). p. XXVI. ISBN 9789719415176.

6. ^ Colby Knowlton, Edgar. "Adelina Gurrea

Monasterio and philippine folklore / Edgar Colby
Knowlton | Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de
Cervantes" . www.cervantesvirtual.com.

7. ^ Lalinde, Luis M. "El diario de Frankie

Aguinaldo de Edmundo Farolán en el contexto
de la novela filosófica" .
revista.carayanpress.com.

8. ^ "Tarjetón de la concesión del III Premio José

Rizal" . revista.carayanpress.com.

External links

Online E-book of La Primera Imprenta en Filipinas:

Reseña Histórica Bio-Bibliográfica con tres
apéndices by Manuel Artigas y Cuerva.
Published in 1910.

Revista Filipina Filipino magazine dedicated to

Spanish language and literature.

Last edited 1 month ago by Stricnina

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