21st Century Literature from the Philippines and Around the World

It refers to any “written work”. It is derived from ‘literatura’ which means writing formed with letters. It
is the mirror of the society which reflects societal norms, culture, tradition, experiences etc.

What is the importance of literature in the 21st century?

21st Century literature is important, because it can help us to better understand our world today, and
the great questions that are being hammered out right before our very eyes.

Characteristics of 21st Century Learners

 They demonstrate independence.

 They build strong content knowledge.
 They respond to the varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.
 They comprehend as well as critique.
 They value evidence.
 They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.

Creativity and Innovation. “Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with
the same status.” –

 Collaboration and Communication

 Critical Thinking & Problem Solving.
 Global Citizens
 Lifelong Learners
 Technology Literacy

Philippine Literature from Pre-colonial to Contemporary Period The 21st Century Literary Genres

Periods of Philippine Literature

 PRE-COLONIAL LITERATURE
 It practices the art of “storytelling called oral traditions.
 Common themes of Philippine Pre-Colonial literature are:
 Nature, Supernatural Events, Bravery of Heroes, and Customs and Ideologies.
 Philippine Pre-Colonial Literature was considered their truth.
 Plots were generally shorter and characters have one distinguishable characteristic.
 Language is full of melody of rhythm.
 SPANISH COLONIAL
 It has two distinct classifications: religious and secular.
 It introduced Spanish as the medium of communication.
 AMERICAN PERIOD
 American literature consisted mostly of practical nonfiction
 JAPANESE OCCUPATION
 Topics and themes were often about life in the provinces
 The common theme of most poems during the Japanese occupation was nationalism.
  CONTEMPORARY
 Most of the writings dealt with the development or progress of the country.

The early stages of Filipino Literature are the core of our history and literature. History has a very
important role in literature as literature not only reflects fact with aesthetic language but more
importantly, it displays the ideas and feelings of the people living at that time. Not only does literature
exhibit history but so as the hope that people have.
The 21st Century Literary Genres

 Illustrated Novel
 story through text and illustrated images.
 50% of the narrative is presented without words.
 The reader must interpret the images in order to comprehend completely the
story.
 Chick Lit or Chick Literature
 A genre fiction which addresses issues of modern womanhood, often
humorously and lightheartedly.
 Digi-Fiction
 combines three media: book, movie/video, and internet website.
 In order to get the full story, students must engage in navigation, reading,
viewing, in all three formats.
 Science Fiction
 is a genre of speculative fiction dealing with imaginative concepts such as
futuristic science and technology, space travel, time travel, faster than light
travel, parallel universe and Extra-terrestrial life.
 Blog
 A web log; a website containing short articles called posts that are changed
regularly.
 Hyper Poetry
 Digital poetry that uses links using hypertext mark-up.
 Also known as literary non-fiction or narrative non-fiction.
 a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually
accurate narratives.
 Creative Non-Fiction
 Doodle Fiction
 Is a style of fictional literature of extreme brevity.
 Flash Fiction
 Text-Talk Novels
 stories told almost completely in dialogue simulating social network exchanges.
 Manga
 Japanese word for comics.
 The Major Literary Genres
 POETRY
 DRAMA
 FICTION
 NON-FICTION
Context

What is context?

The environment in which the text was produced, the environment in which the text is set, or the
environment in which the text is read. The environment may be social, political, historical, philosophical
or physical or a combination of these.

Context refers to the underlying concepts and information needed to understand an idea or statement.

- helps readers understand what they otherwise wouldn't be able to comprehend. It is a much-
needed assistant, helping readers define unknown words and make sense of outside information.
- Context is information that helps the message of a literary text make sense.

Why Is Context Important in Writing?

“Content is king, but context is God.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

The role of context is to bridge the gap between authors and their audiences, strengthening readers’
comprehension and preventing miscommunication of the writer’s intent.

It’s not enough to know that a particular event is occurring—readers also need context to know why.

The writer's context is about knowing the writer's life, values, assumptions, gender, race, sexual
orientation, and the political and economic issues related to the author.

Reader's context is about the reader's previous reading experience, values, assumptions, political and
economic issues.

Context can be anything.

 Details about yourself or your character

 A backstory
 A personality trait
 An environment
 A life changing situation
 A trivial situation
 A memory
 An anecdote
 Something simple as how your day is unfolding
 Etc.
Context is important because it helps you connect and create a relationship with the reader. It helps you
communicate your point of view clearly making it easier to understand. It allows you and others to be
more creative.

The main contexts of a literary work

 PHYSICAL CONTEXT
 The attributes of a place can also inform how a plot unfolds or how characters develop.
The physical environment you establish for your writing will influence how certain
characters act and how the audience understands them.
 A story about characters escaping a natural disaster in New York City will have a
different setup than if they were escaping one in the Philippines.
 Your environment can dictate how a plot unfolds, but it’s important to provide readers
with enough detail for them to understand why.
 SOCIAL CONTEXT
 The term “social context” is generally used to describe the types of settings in which
people are engaged, including the groups with whom they interact and the culture
in how they live. Varieties of peoples’ customs, mindsets, traditions, and behaviors
all influence their social context. Social context is also referred to as “social
environment.”
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT
 This one is a little easier to understand.
 Historical context means the setting of the work that you’re reading or studying.
 In other words, the time period and the place in which a story is set.
 CULTURAL CONTEXT
 Culture includes the behaviors, ideas, and beliefs shared by individuals within a
particular group of people.
 This group can be based around age, ethnicity, or social standing.
 Culture is learned, and it includes language, values, norms, and customs related to that
particular group.
 IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
 Ideology refers to the system of beliefs and ideas that underpin our attitudes and
behavior.
 Ideology is a context that is in many ways ‘invisible’. This is because our own is largely
internalized and normalized. We act accordingly to our assumptions and social norms.
 Ideology: a system of beliefs that governs a group’s actions, it’s views of reality, and its
assumptions about what is “normal” and “natural”. Ideology can be communicated by
discourse.
 - some authors ideologically agree with the power elites of society (agree with the
societal norm)
- other authors ideologically disagree with the power elite (want to initiate change)
- life experiences often influence their ideologies.
 BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT/ AUTHORIAL CONTEXT
 Authorial context connects a particular work to the author’s life. A writer’s experiences
inevitably inform their writing, from content to style.
How common is Biographical Context in Writing?

 All* authors write in a biographical context

 The goal of biographical criticism is understanding why the author wrote what he or she wrote.
- How biographical circumstances contributed to the creation of parts of the text.
- Biographical readings often resemble non-theoretical psychological readings.
 Biographical context can refer to an author’s life history, a text’s place in an author’s
body of work, the author’s success, circumstances in which a text was written, current
events at the time of publication, and even an author’s motivation for writing a text.

REMEMBER!

Use prior knowledge

Use your own experiences

Use the tools that are given

Enjoy the story

Multimedia Formats in Interpreting Literary Text

 Blog or a “weblog”
 Blog or a “weblog” is a website containing informational articles about a person’s own
opinions, interests and experiences. These are usually changed regularly (DepEd 2013,
9).
 Mind mapping
 Mind mapping is a graphical technique to visualize connections of ideas and pieces of
information. This tool structures information to better analyze, comprehend, synthesize,
recall and generate new ideas. You can use Microsoft Word or online mind mapping
tools in creating a mind map.
 Mobile phone text tula
 Mobile phone text tula is a traditional Filipino poem. A particular example of this poem
is a tanaga that consists of 4 lines with 7 syllables each with the same rhyme at the end
of each line. (DepEd 2013, 8).
 Slideshow presentation
 Slideshow presentation is created with the use of Microsoft PowerPoint. It contains
series of pictures or pages of information (slides) arranged in sequence and often
displayed on a large screen using a video projector.
 Tag cloud
 Tag cloud is a visual, stylized arrangement of words or tags within a textual content such
as websites, articles, speeches and databases (Techopedia 2020).
 Video
 Video is an electronic device used to record, copy, playback, broadcast, and display
moving visual media (Lexico 2020)

Theme
 The main idea or underlying meaning of a literary work.

Theme=Universal Truth

The theme is usually something everyone goes through, a statement or a lesson about life.

Theme and Subject

 It is important to recognize the difference between the theme of a literary work and the subject
of a literary work.
 The subject is the topic on which an author has chosen to write.
 The theme, however, makes some statement about or expresses some opinion on that topic.

Identifying Themes

Themes are not explicit. (Clearly stated)

Themes are implied. (Something suggested but not actually said) You will need to INFER!

Themes are bigger than the story.

The reader’s job

 Part of your job as a reader is to understand what the author is trying to say.
 Writers seldom come out and tell you, “Hey, Reader! THIS is what I want you to GET from my
writing.”
 You, as the reader, must make inferences and draw conclusions about what the author is trying
to express.

HEY! What’s the BIG IDEA?!!

 Of a literary work, that is!

 Themes are usually about BIG IDEAS. For example:
- Freedom
- Trust
- Friendship
- Good vs Evil
- And much, much more

So, what is theme?

  Theme is the message from the author.
 Themes can be found everywhere:
- Literature
- Art
- Movies
 The theme of a fable is its moral.
 The theme of a parable is its teaching.
 The theme of a piece of literature is its view about life and how people behave.

THIS is THEME…

 Theme is the underlying meaning of the story.

 It is the universal truth.
 It is a significant statement the story is making about society, human nature or the human
condition.

Get to the POINT!

 Theme is NOT the TOPIC.

 Theme IS the POINT being made about the TOPIC.
 Theme is a statement about LIFE.
 A GOOD theme teaches a VALUABLE lesson about life.

Theme and Idea

 The theme of a literary work is its underlying central idea or the generalization it communicates
about life.

Theme… the meaning of Life?

The theme expresses the author’s opinion or raises a question about human nature or the meaning of
human experience.

Words of the Wise

 At times the author’s theme may not confirm or agree with you own beliefs.
 Even then, if skillfully written, the work will still have a theme that illuminates some aspects of
true human experience.

Finding… Common Ground

 The author’s task is to communicate on a common ground with the reader.

 Although the particulars of your experience may be different from the details of the story, the
general underlying truths behind the story may be just the connection that both you and the
writer are seeking.

Common Literary Themes

 True love
  Education
 Life
 Poverty
 Law
 Bravery

Themes

 The quest for immortality

 Humans have a dualistic nature consisting of a physical self that exists in the world of
objects and a symbolic self that lives in the symbolic world of meaning.
 Humans transcend the existential problem of mortality by focusing on our symbolic
selves. Perhaps we can’t live forever in the physical world, but we can turn towards
identification with our cultural symbols to achieve immortality. If we believe
ourselves to be part of something bigger than ourselves — something we believe is
immortal — we achieve symbolic immortality.
 A Natural or Man-Made Catastrophe
 The individual’s relationship and obligation to society.
 Sometimes called “man vs society”
- The individual’s relationship and obligation to the natural world.
- Man vs Nature

A theme that shows the perils of man’s relationship with nature as well as characters fighting for their
survival.

 Struggle for Identity Crisis or Purpose

 It talks about one’s struggle for purpose or identity.
 The individual’s inward journey to understand himself or herself/identity.
 Sometimes called “man vs self”
 Being a hero or anti-hero.
 Love conquers all.
 The importance of family.
 Friendship
 Social Evils
 It circles around war, terrorism, racial discrimination and other misdoings in the society.
 Personal Narrative
 It talks about one’s real-life experience.
 Perils of Technology
 It talks about the effects and downside of technologies. Many 21st century works of
literature explore what it means when all of humanity’s experiences are filtered through
technology. It also depicts a futuristic world where everyone escapes reality by plugging
into a virtual utopia.

 Fracturing
 A story is told through the eyes of a character or narrator-this is the point of view.
  It shows different perspectives and angles of a certain scenario.
 A fractured story changes the original story more extensively, resulting in a new lesson
or moral more in keeping with the social and political ideas of the time.

Effects of Capitalism

 Diaspora
 It refers to the movement of people from one place to another.
 History and Memory
 As contemporary readers are able to look back on history and see how history has been
depicted differently for different audiences, history and memory have become themes
in 21st century literature. Often contemporary literature explores the notion of
multiplicities of truth and acknowledges that history is filtered through human
perspective.