21st Century Literature from the

Philippines and the World

Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Introduction to
21st Century Literature
 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you
master the nature of 21st century literature, its relevance to your life as a student
by relating it to your everyday experiences. The scope of this module permits it to
be used in many different learning situations. The language used recognizes the
diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to follow the
standard sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them can be
changed to correspond with the textbook you are now using.

The module is divided into three lessons, namely:

• Lesson 1 – Introduction to 21st Century Literature

• Lesson 2 – Philippine literature: Pre-Colonial and Pre-Revolutionary
Writings
• Lesson 3 – Philippine Literature: American Influences and Traditions:
Period of Imitation

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. define literature;
2. explain 21st century literature;
3. identify 21st literary genres;
4. explain the relevance of reading literature;
5. give examples of literary works read; and
6. write a reflective journal.

What I Know
Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a
separate sheet.
1. From the following choices, how would you recognize ONE characteristic of
21st century literature?
a. deals with ancient themes and issues
b. created in the 19th century
c. uses technology and the digital media
d. sticks with traditional writing rules
2. What exactly does literature do to your life?
a. demonstrates dependence
b. builds weak content knowledge
c. prepares for meaningless and unrewarding lives
d. reawakens experiences and blends into one harmonious expression
3. Which of the following texts supports the idea that 21 century literature is
st

traditional and did not start in 2001?

a. Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo
b. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
c. Hajime Isayama’s Attack on Titan [Manga series]
d. Jeff Kinney’s The Diary of a Wimpy Kid
4. Which genre refers to communication that reaches many people?
a. Nonfiction c. Media
b. Fiction d. Poetry
5. What is used in the English-speaking world as a generic term for all comic
books and graphic novels originally published in Japan?
a. Doodle fiction c. Graphic novels
b. Manga d. Text-Talk novels
6. Which adjective is appropriate for ‘Dystopias are _____ visions of the future?’
a. Optimistic c. pessimistic
b. realistic d. idealistic
7. What is the main aim of dystopian literature?
a. to criticize contemporary societies
b. to emphasize the beauty of contemporary societies
c. to create a shock value in order to entertain
d. to downplay contemporary issues
8. Which of the following could be a theme of a story?
a. Your past does not define you.
b. Returning home after a long time
c. A man sees a group of people he used to work for a long time ago.
d. An old man who used to be a farmer
9. How can you tell the theme of a story?
a. Examine the words and actions of the characters.
b. Put the main ideas together.
c. Read carefully until you find where the author states it.
d. Research where the author wrote the story.
10. What is another word for hyperpoetry?
a. digipoetry c. wwwpoetry
b. cyberpoetry d. texttula
11. What genre is described as interpreting images in order to understand the
story completely?
a. Digi-fiction
b. Illustrated novels
c. Doodle fiction
d. Graphic novels
12. Which of the following texts is NOT an example of speculative fiction?
a. Veronica Roth’s Divergent
b. James Dashner’s The Maze Runner
c. Suzanne’s Collin’s The Hunger Games
d. John Green’s The Fault in our Stars
13. What is meant by Triple-media literature?
a. reading, watching, surfing the net
b. speaking, reading, writing
c. listening, reading, writing
d. speaking, watching, surfing the net
14. Which of the following themes is 21st century?
a. greed c. identity
b. patriotism d. betrayal
15. What does not involve science fiction?
a. time travel
b. events from history
c. outer space
d. advanced technology
 What’s In

Literature reproduces manifold experiences blended into one

harmonious expression. Literature is compared to a time capsule
that helps students to express and relate to what happened in the past, at present
and will still happen in the future. Reading about how people lived in the past can
make you appreciate what humanity is able to achieve and experience in your
lifetime. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of
students’ lives, 21st century literature offers you to read online newspapers, ezines
and ebooks, write blogs, tweet, and use Instagram and other media platforms to
express your thoughts or even participate in virtual classrooms.

Identify the following social media icons:

_____________ ____________

_____________ ____________

____________ ______________

____________ _____________

What’s New

Nature of 21st century literature

21st century literature develops proficiency with the tools of technology. In this
time and age, you need to understand what is happening by exploring texts that
will help you build relationships and solve problems collaboratively with the
people around you like your family, classmates, teachers and even virtual friends.
However, since you are doing this module, you can still access the texts because
your teacher will provide sample texts.

In every aspect of your life, you learn to create, critique, analyze, and evaluate
multi-media texts. Your life now is dependent on the numerous information you
get from the Internet. Thus, once you have learned to navigate, interpret,
communicate and interpret coded language and decipher graphics, you have
developed the necessary skills needed in the 21st century.

Popular 21st century literary genres

These genres deal with current themes and issues such as poverty, social justice,
migration, technology, identity, intertextuality and history and memory. The
following table lists some of the popular 21st literary genres.

Table 1. Some popular 21st literary genres

Genre Example

Illustrated novels The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Digi-fiction Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

Graphic novels/Classic Stitches [Memoir] by David Small Frankenstein

Graphics by Mary Shelly

Tales of Wedding Rings [Japanese] Shakespeare’s

Manga
Romeo and Juliet [Manga Edition]
Doodle-fiction Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Blog, email and IM novels Tweet Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick l8r,
g8r by Lauren Myracle

Speculative Fiction The Road by Cormac-McCarthy

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Medical Notes of an Illegal Doctor by A. Kirke

Hyperpoetry/Cyberpoetry

What is It
Senior high school students being 21st century readers need to
understand the importance of embracing ‘new literacies’ in today’s
classrooms. As a 21st century learner, you incorporate modern/contemporary
texts to traditional literary texts and relate with universal themes like greed, peer
pressure, survival, love, justice, fear of failure and revenge with the use of
technology in the present culture and identify contemporary themes like LGBT,
cloning, genetic engineering that years ago would have never ever been conceived.

Our society and technology change, so does your mode of learning. The 21 st
century demands that you navigate to understand the world. As a senior high
school student, communicating with people around you is done in a blink of an
eye-with the flick of a switch or the move of a mouse. This ‘new normal’ (Covid19
post-pandemic) should drive you to read literature whether past or contemporary
using technology. During this pandemic, students spend more time virtually
because learning need not stop.

21st century Philippine literature in English reflects current trends in life and
culture and because these things change often, contemporary literature changes
often as well. Illustrated denotes images or pictures. An illustrated novel is a story
through text and illustrated images. Generally, 50% of narrative is presented
without words. You have to interpret images in order to comprehend the story
completely.

In your junior high school years, you learned the classic, Shakespeare. Have you
ever imagined that his works like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and A Midsummer
Night’s Dream in manga comics format? Classic novels like Scarlett Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn have been adapted to
manga as well. Manga is a Japanese word for comics considered to have an artistic
storytelling style. On the other hand, digi-fiction is known as triple media
literature using a book, movie or video and Internet website simultaneously. For
you to get the full story, you have to be engaged in all these three formats-
navigating, reading and viewing.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is a very popular book and spans all ages. It is a
literary presentation where the author incorporates doodle drawings and
handwritten graphics in place of traditional font. The drawings enhance the story
adding humorous elements that would be missing if illustrations were omitted.

Another example is The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman

Alexie, a young adult novel about a young native American boy who is torn
between his Indian heritage and a desire to be successful. You will read an excerpt
of this novel in one of our lessons.
Learning has become paperless especially when your teacher requires you to
submit a paper about a text you have read. Blogging is one avenue where students
can express themselves especially the introverted ones. Basically a blogging site
is one that provides you a personal online space in which you can write and
publish texts called posts, which may also contain images and hyperlinks. The
most used blog hosts are www.blogger.com and www.wordpress.com

Students understand the importance of hearing many voices. Literature in the

21st century hones the writing skills of students through this platform. On the
other hand, micro blogging also known as nano blogging, like Twitter.com,
Instagram or Pinterest is extremely popular to students nowadays. When students
do micro blogging, they practice creating information-packed or short form blog
that make them share relevant tips, thoughts and thus encourage comments and
interaction.

Have you ever been interested about time travel? Time travel can be seen as
unscientific, time travel stories or texts become speculative. Speculative fiction,
or Spec-fic as it’s also known, is a genre that speculates as to what society may
be like in the future. It reflects current social, cultural, or political issues.
Everything from science fiction and fantasy to superversive and dystopian can be
found under the Spec-fic umbrella. The protagonist in a dystopian society is
trapped and wants to escape the chaotic world. Have you heard or read Roth’s
novel Divergent and Dashner’s The Maze Runner? If you did not read the book,
you might have seen the movie version? In addition, you might be familiar with
Twilight and Breaking Dawn written by Stephenie Meyer, J. K. Rowling’s Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games? These novels
which have been adapted to movies are examples of speculative fiction. One of the
advantages of reading science fiction is it can help readers make sense of the
world.

Hyperpoetry or Cyberpoetry, on the other hand, is a collection of verse (not

necessarily in lines and stanzas) and could not be presented without the
computer. When the Philippines was hardly hit by Yolanda in 2013, poets from
different parts of the world penned verses to show empathy to Filipinos. On the
other hand, textula is a blend of the English word ‘text’ and the Filipino word ‘tula’.
It is a poem written in the form of a text message. Usually consisting one of one
or two stanzas, it is sent as a direct communication to a person close to the sender.
Example of Hyperpoetry:
Epitaph for a Filipino Child
By Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.

Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.
Compiled by Michael R. Burch for the sympathy for the victims of Bagyong Yolanda

What’s More
Activity 1.1 Understanding 21st Century Literature

In this activity, your vocabulary is tested because as a 21 st century learner you

communicate in whatever means you can. Vocabulary helps you think and learn
about the world.
Find the definitions of the italicized words. Then, use the word in your own
sentence. Write the sentence on a separate sheet.
1. Students learn empathy when they read literature to understand the world
better.
a. coolness c. discipline
b. kindliness d. animosity
2. Students communicate virtually with their FB friends who are abroad.
a. face to face c. pen and paper
b. snail mail d. electronic and cyber
3. A 21st century reader navigates through the Internet for information.
a. follow a location c. seek out a website
b. use domains d. travel from point to point
4. Makati students use triple-media literature by reading, watching, and
browsing the World Wide Web.
a. ebook-movie-Facebook c. comics-video-Ebay.com
b. book-movie-EdX.org d. encyclopedia-podcast-Twitter
5. If subversive is about tearing down the structures of society, superversive
must be about building them back up.
a. unhealthful c. weaken
b. strengthen d. hindering
6. Utopia is an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect
while dystopia is the exact opposite.
a. peaceful place c. lawlessness
b. bliss d. positive
7. Posting on Tweeter is considered micro-blogging.
a. posting long, frequent messages c. making short, weekly posts
b. making short, frequent posts d. creating long, monthly posts
8. The art teacher was proficient in the art of calligraphy.
a. expert c. practiced
b. skilled d. well-versed
9. Today, an astonishing 77 percent of the people in the world have mobile
devices and thus access to all kinds of better care via telemedicine.
a. removal c. qualified
b. passport d. discharge
10. Space Godzilla is a unique monster because he is based on a
modified clone of Godzilla himself.
a. initiation c. duplication
b. imagination d. creation
 What I Have Learned

1. _______ is a faithful reproduction of man’s manifold experiences blended

into one harmonious expression.
2. Reading literature makes me a better individual because I ______ the
complications of the world around me.
3. 21st century literature is composed of literary works created by
contemporary authors from ______ until the present, reflects a
technological culture and deals with current issues and themes.
4. 21st century _______ include issues about women and LGBT, cloning,
technology, environment, identity, intertextuality, and history and
memory.
5. Two characteristics of 21st century literature are creativity and innovation
especially when one reads illustrated texts because _____ of the narrative
is without words.
6. _______ is a Japanese word for comics considered to have an artistic
storytelling style.
7. _______ novels in the 19th and 20th century can be adapted into comics
like Manga.
8. Reading widely enhances _________ skills.
9. Creating, critiquing, analyzing, and evaluating are necessary ______ in the
21st century.
10. ________ is creating short frequent posts on Facebook, tweeting what you
feel about what’s happening around, sharing on Pinterest trending
photos/images with a short description of what you love to do and a lot
more.
11. Reading _________ may help students cope with the stress and anxiety of
living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
12. Hyperpoetry is ______ poetry that uses links using hypertext mark-up.
Pool of Words

Manga Micro blogging

understand speculative fiction Classic
themes writing skills 50%
2001 digital Literature

What I Can Do
This part of the module is essential to effective learning of
literature in the 21st century. You will be evaluated to make sure that you are
performing the new set of skills correctly and then you will be provided with
activities that require you to take what you practice in your daily life and try to
apply it correctly in “real life” situations. You are to bridge the gap between what
you learn in this module and the “real world” by providing appropriate application
activities. Reading newspapers can help you to develop not only reading skills but
also, writing, grammar, vocabulary, speaking skills and critical and problem
solving skills.
Filipinos, stay home and read
By Jorge Mojarro
March 17, 2020
NOW that Filipinos have been called to restrict their movements and spend more
time at home in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, it is time to reclaim
an activity that many of my Filipino friends confess to me they never do: read.
They tell me they do not have time, but I want to believe that for many Filipinos
this excuse will be over for a few weeks. The confession of my friends is more
appalling when you think that the national hero of this archipelago, José Rizal,
was an essayist, a novelist, a poet and a prolific writer of letters. Wouldn’t this
be a good opportunity to be in touch with his excellent works?
My father was a seaman and my mother was a housewife. And although I
remember that my father liked to read cheap adventure novels set in the
American Old West, we had no books at home apart from the mandatory
schoolbooks we bought yearly with national scholarships. I remember I had no
patience to continue reading anything. I just focused on the illustrations, then I
got bored and went out to play football, as many Spanish children do.

I had the curiosity to know what was written, but no one around me liked to
read, an individual and solitary activity, and I felt somehow weird. Then, the
years of adolescence came, many questions rose and I found an unexpected
solace in reading 19th century novels. In the beginning, I used to borrow books
weekly from the mother of a friend and then I started to be a frequent user of
public libraries. That’s how it started. Nothing at birth could predict that I would
have some kind of intellectual inclination and that, as of today, I would have a
doctorate in literature and a library of nearly 3,000 books.

Reading books has a lot advantages. In the first place, it is an activity you can
do everywhere, unless it is raining. Moreover, reading can be done while
commuting, while having lunch, before going to bed. If you want to be
undisturbed, open a book; very few will dare to interrupt you. We are living
times of expected and continuous availability through social media and apps,
and reading gives you the chance to turn off for a while and stay away from the
noise. To be honest, you don’t become a better person either by reading — some
readers are really mean people — and you do not come to be in possession of
truth. But, generally speaking, you become step by step more knowledgeable,
you develop slowly taste and criteria, and your critical thinking skills increase
too.

Lack of money is not an excuse either: you can buy books today at a ridiculous
price. Not too long ago, I found a United States-printed biography of storyteller
Jorge Luis Borges for just P99. The book has 600 pages. How many hours of
good entertainment, learning and relaxation did I get for just P99? It is difficult
to think of a cheaper activity.

Lack of space only becomes a problem if you become a bibliophile and start
accumulating physical books. Today, electronic books, or e-books, provide a big
solution to that. Moreover, many e-books are copyright free and you can freely
download from hundreds of websites.

I would like to remark that not being used to reading is especially sad in the
Philippines for a very good reason: this country has produced so far a lot of good
writers in different languages. Four Filipinos, as far as I know, have been
published in the canonical Penguin Classic collection: José Rizal, Nick Joaquín,
Carlos Bulosan and José García Villa. Some other contemporary authors have
been translated into many languages such as Francisco Sionil Jose, José
Dalisay and Miguel Syjuco.
This alone is a national achievement and many more, surely, will be translated
and appreciated abroad in the years to come. One of the hidden treasures of the
national culture is Philippine literature in Spanish — literature written by
Filipinos for Filipinos — a treasure that today cannot be appreciated due to the
lack of translations. A nation of great writers should also be a nation of great
readers.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Keep safe at home, turn off the TV, set aside your
mobile phones and stop inventing excuses. Embrace that book you’ve always
wanted to read.

Answer the following questions with conviction.

1. What is the purpose of the writer in telling the Filipinos to stay home and read
this time of pandemic?
2. How did the writer cultivate love of reading?
3. Enumerate the advantages of reading as stated by the writer.
4. If you cannot purchase a printed book, what is the best solution to do?
5. Why do you think it is very sad that Filipinos do not read? What might happen
to a person who doesn’t read?
6. Explain the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining” and relate it to class
postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic

Assessment

Multiple Choice. Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on
a separate sheet of paper.

1. Which definition below BEST describes literature?

a. A kind of writing whose meaning is different on what is written.
b. Any kind of written works that provide information.
c. An argument examining the smaller pieces that make up as a whole.
d. A faithful reproduction of our experiences blended into one creative
expression.

2. What genre of 21st century literature combines three media: book,

movie/video, and Internet website?
a. Doodle fiction c. Illustrated novel
b. Digital fiction d. Manga
c.
3. Which is not an example of 21st century literature?
a. Yann Martels Life of Pi c. Meyer’s Twilight/Life & Death
b. Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing d. Gaiman’s American Gods

4. If you were to post a message on Facebook about Covid19 pandemic after

reading how people lose hope because of unemployment and sickness, which
of the following would you choose?
a. “This government lacks empathy because there’s no mass testing.”
b. “Stay calm and the government is doing its best to address the needs of
the people.”
c. “#The Philippines Pandemic response: A tragedy! Let’s go to the streets!”
d. “The Duterte government should fire the incompetent Duque!”
5. What 21st century theme is suggested in the paragraph?
Carlo is the only son of his parents. He struggles every day because he
cannot tell his parents about his sexual orientation. His father has high
expectations of him because he wants him to take law when he wants to take
music.
a. migration c. family
b. identity d. alienation

6. What ending do you suggest for this prompt?

Lily wants to be a painter, but her husband is constantly telling her that she
has no talent, will never get anywhere, and should stop molesting the
brushes.

a. My husband is correct. I cannot be a painter because I am just a

woman who has to focus on house chores.
b. I am just a woman. I will follow what my husband says because I love
him.
c. I am what I am and will prove to him that I have the talent. I am a
21st century woman, confident and passionate.
d. I will just devote my time to whatever my husband wants me to do.

7. What does Lily’s husband mean by stop molesting the brushes?

a. break the brushes c. destroy the brushes
b. stop painting d. keep the paint brushes

8. Which of the following characteristics is dystopian?

a. A safe environment c. Propaganda controlling people’s mind
b. Equality for citizens d. Access to education, healthcare,
employment and so forth

9. What is one characteristic of hyperpoetry?

a. paper based
b. digital
c. with lines/stanza
d. metrical

10. Suppression of an individual is a popular topic for which genre?

a. Dystopia c. Science-Fiction
b. Utopia d. Romantic comedy

11. Which situation is an example of a person using technology initially

designed for the military?
a. A teenager pumps gasoline into a new car.
b. A man uses a credit card to pay for new purchases.
c. A woman uses a Global Positioning System to navigate around town
d. A pediatrician vaccinates patients against polio.

12. What kind of story is about an alien coming to earth to meet humans?
a. poetry c. mystery
b. fantasy d. science fiction
13. Which situation demonstrates one way that Philippine culture has
spread to other parts of the world?
a. A young boy in Great Britain watches anime
b. A teenage girl buys a hip-hop CD in China
c. A businesswoman eats at a sushi restaurant in Canada
d. A college athlete in Brazil learns the dynamics of riddles or bugtong.

14. Which of the 4Cs this activity would fall under?

Working in small groups, students survey favorite forms of recreation among local
teens. Students also research the local history of recreational youth facilities for
teens and the potential sources of political and economic support. The information
is graphed and analyzed, and each group creates a business plan for developing a
local recreation center/club for teens. Students present survey results, need, and
plan to a community group or civic association using technology tools. Working in
small groups, students research a current issue and analyze its historical,
political, and economic components, various viewpoints, and potential solutions,
and create a digital presentation that clearly describes all sides of the issue.
a. Creativity
b. Collaboration
c. Communication
d. Critical thinking and Problem solving

15. When you are critically analyzing a prose, how do you appreciate it?
a. Apply it in real life.
b. Reread it.
c. Rewrite the whole literary piece.
d. Reflect on your own.