BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO: THREE PHILIPPINE PROTO-NOVELS

Author(s): Resil B. Mojares

Source: Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society , MARCH 1976, Vol. 4, No. 1
(MARCH 1976), pp. 46-54
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/29791236

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philippine Quarterly of
Culture and Society

This content downloaded from

202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society
4 (1976)46- 54

BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO:

THREE PHILIPPINE PROTO-NOVELS

Resil B. Mojares

LITERARY histories almost invariaby ly considered to be based on the Georgian, remains

mention three Tagalog works produced by
priests as 'forerunners' of the Philippine novel.
These are Jesuit Antonio de Borja's Barlaan at
Josaphat (1712), Secular Modesto De Castro's
Urbana at Feliza (1864), and Franciscan Miguel
Lucio y Bustamante's Si Tandang Basio Macu
nat (1885). Yet, curiously, not much has been
said, by way of sustained analysis, about these
works and the exact nature of their importance.
Perhaps this is because the student is imme?
diately tempted to summarily dispose of these
books as conventional expressions of Catholic
propaganda.
It is the object of this paper to view these
works at closer range: to show that they have
value, firstly, as sociohistorical documents,
and, secondly, as literary works in themselves,
particularly in so far as they are guideposts in
the development of that 'realism' which was to
reach its culmination in the novels of Jose
Rizal and those of Tagalog writers in the first
years of the twentieth century.
Barlaan at Josaphat
Aral na tunay na totoong pag aacay sa tauo
nang manga cab an alang gaua nang manga
maloualhating santos na sina Barlaan at Josa?
phat (True Doctrine regarding the right con?
duct of human life, derived from the holy
deeds of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat) was
published in Manila in 1712, the work of the
Jesuit Antonio de Borja. It is supposed to be a
translation into Tagalog of St. John Dama?
scene's Greek redaction of a narrative popular
in various forms in medieval ecclesiastical and
secular literature.
The 1837 edition of this work itself states that it is
a translation from the work of St. John Damascene
(c. 676-749? ). It is to be noted, though, that the
authorship of the original Greek version, now general
a matter of controversy (Lang 1966:19-41).
Its ultimate source is an account of Buddha's
youth (possibly the Sanskrit Laiita Vistara),
the story of which was transmitted throughout
a large area, adapted in Iranian, Pehlevi,
Syriac and Arabic versions, probably as early as
the sixth century; readapted in Georgian some?
time in the ninth and tenth centuries; translated
into Greek in the tenth or eleventh; and into
Latin and Spanish shortly after. This romance
was widely disseminated in Spain and used by
a number of Spanish writers of the 13 th and
14th centuries (Chandler and Schwartz 1961:
159, 160, 163). Lope de Vega himself used the
tale in his play, Barlaam y Josafa (1618). It is
then almost inevitable, considering the peda?
gogical value of the tale, that it was introduced
by Spanish friars into the Philippines.
The Christian recension of the Barlaam story
is a metaphrastic, didactic narrative which tells
of the triumph of the 'saints' Barlaam and Josa?
phat in converting heathen India to Christianity.
Josaphat, the sole heir of King Abenir of India,
is raised in a well-guarded palace so as to iso?
late him from the experience of death, pain
and suffering, and to keep him away from the
Christians who were then making inroads into
the kingdom. Abenir is troubled by a prophecy
at the child's birth that the child will grow up
to be a Christian. Despite these precautions,
however, Josaphat gets to have his encounter
with the realities of mortal life when he meets
a poor, infirm man on the road. A holy man
in the neighboring country of Senaar (Ceylon),
named Barlaam, gets to know about Josaphat's
desire for spiritual enlightenment. By a ruse,
Barlaam gains access to the palace and forth?
with teaches the young man the message of
Christ. Josaphat is converted and later takes it

This content downloaded from

202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Mojares / BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO 47
upon himself to persuade his father into seeing
the goodness of the Christian life. Various
episodes in the book?usually taking the form
of debates or 'dialogues' on faith and dogma -
finally lead to Abenir's conversion, after his
repeated efforts at disproving Christianity have
failed. The story then ends with Josaphat's
decision to forsake his now-Christian kingdom
for the life of a hermit, his final reunion with
his teacher Barlaam, and their death and con?
secration as holy men.
This, in gist, is the narrative of Fr. Borja's
work, as based on a fairly substantial section
by-section summary provided by Ruflno Ale?
jandro and Juliana Pineda of an 1837 edition
of the work (Alejandro and Pineda 1950:18
39).
Another summary and an excerpt (ch. XXXIV) are
in B.S. Medina 1972:91-98. No copies of this work
are in the major Filipiniana collections of the
country. A copy of the 1837 edition, printed in
Manila by Imp. de D. Jose Maria Dayot, is with the
Valladolid Collection in Spain.
Borja's translation is obviously based on the
Greek version or ultimately derived from it
through the mediation of Latin or Spanish
sources, as can be judged, for instance, on the
basis of Borja's use of names: Abenir (Gr.
Abenner) Senaar (Gr. Senaar), Araquez (Gr.
Araches}. Its narrative content appears to be
fairly substantial, as can be appreciated through
a comparison with the Old Georgian Balavariani,
a version considered superior to the Greek in its
literary artistry and in the manner it preserves
the narrative values of the original non-Christ?
ian tale (Lang 1966). But one has the im?
pression, too, that there is in Borja's work, as
in the Greek version, a thick overlay of dis?
sertations on Catholic dogma and extracts or
quotations from the Bible. This, of course, is
to be expected for Borja's motivation must
have been mainly evangelistic.
Hie Barlaam romance must have presented
itself to Fr. Borja as a perfectly relevant piece
of work to disseminate in the light of the con?
ditions of mission work during his time. At the
turn of the eighteenth century, the Jesuits were
still actively engaged in laying down the foun?
dation of their religious province in the Philip
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
pines: establishing missions, erecting churches,
instructing converts, and warding off the
dangers of Moro raids and recalcitrant pagan
cults. The tale with its story of the successful
conversion of a heathen country must have
appeared to Fr. Borja and other Spanish mis?
sionaries as a particularly appropriate model
for the work they were engaged in at the same
time that it provided them with an appealing
vehicle for the dissemination of the abstract
concepts of Christian dogma.
In fact, at least two others, both friars, used the
Barlaam story in the seventeenth century. The
Augustinian Agustin Mejia, who died in 1630, is
reported to have left behind a manuscript, Vida de
San Badam y Josaphat, in 'elegant and correct Iloko
verse' (Perez 1901:79). The Dominican Baltasar de
Santa Cruz is also recorded to have published in
Manila in 1692 a Spanish translation of Jacobo
Biblio's Latin rendition of the Greek version of the
same narrative (J.T. Medina 1964:74).
Antonio de Rnja (1650-1711) left Spain for
the Philippines in 1671 and took his final vows
in 1687. He is reported to have directed the
building of the church in Ternate, part of the
Silang residence in Cavite, in 1692. His ex?
periences with mission-building must have gone
beyond mere routine for he is reported to have
been sent by Governor-General Zabalburu as
arbiter in a dispute between the Sultans of the
Magindanaus and Sulus in 1704 (De la Costa
1961:475, 541, 625).
The choice and the character of the Barlaam
tale, therefore, logically draw from his ex?
periences as well as the conditions and require?
ments of missionary work at the turn of the
eighteenth century. For the friars of the time,
the Philippines was a religious frontier ? the
'India' of the Barlaam romance. Apart from its
literary values therefore, Borja's work tells us
something about the author's perceptions of
his mission and milieu and about the historico
religious conditions of the time.
Urbana at Feliza
Pagsusulatan nang Dalauang Binibini na si
Urbana at ni Felisa na nagtuturo ng mabuting
kaugalian (The Correspondence of the two
ladies, Urbana and Feliza, teaching Good
 48 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Manners, 1864) comes a century and a half
after Borja's work and is clearly the product of
a different stage of Philippine church history.
This handbook of manners, characterized by
an equanimity of style and thought, reflects a
community in which Church-taught precepts
of thought and behavior are already fairly well
established, making for a way of life that is
decorous and almost ceremonial.
Written a manera de novela moral educativa,
it uses as framework a series of letters ex?
changed among a number of persons, principal?
ly the sisters Urbana and Feliza. Unlike Bar?
laan at Josaphat, this is an original work with a
local, contemporary setting: in the 1850s,
Urbana, a student in Manila, writes letters to
her family in Paombong (Bulacan), counselling
her younger sister, Feliza, as well as the other
members of the family, on the requirements of
the virtuous life.
Actually, beyond the facts just stated, this
pro to-novel exhibits little circumstantiality,
whether personal or social, in the lives of its
characters. Its 'narrative' is merely the slender
frame on which the work's didactic content is
hung. The letters are wholly concerned with the
highly specific detailing of the rules of correct
conduct, the do's and don't's of Christian
behavior at home, in school, in church, and in
the community. These prescriptive discourses
are perfunctorily bracketed by standard salu?
tary and closing addresses which reveal little of
the individual circumstances of the characters.
There is no sustained attempt at individuali?
zing a character or developing a story. What we
have in this direction is almost wholly adven?
titious. Urbana is studying in a religious school
in Manila. A woman completely devoted to her
Christian duties, her letters speak endlessly of
the lessons in religious obligation and decorous
social behavior she has learned in school. At
the end of the book, she says that she is joining
a beaterio (a community of pious lay-women
without religious vows). Feliza, on the other
hand, looks up to her sister as a model of
character and actively seeks out her counsel.
There are two 'events' in the book: the court?
ship and marriage of Feliza, and the death of
the father. It is obvious though that these are
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
brought in primarily as occasions for instruction.
The marriage of Feliza to Amadeo provides
Urbana (and the author) with the occasion for
discoursing on the proper conduct of a woman
in receiving a suitor, the correct choice of a
mate, the role of parents in arranging the
marriage, the duties of husband and wife to?
wards each other and their children, and other
related matters. The death of the father supplies
the occasion for the discussion of how to die,
what parents must do at the time of death, how
to behave at funerals, and so on down the line.
Here, one has a clear instance of the com?
plete subordination of the narrative to the
book's didactic purposes. That the father's
death is a mere peg for instruction can be seen
in the fact that Urb an a is not at her father's
side at the time of his death, or even at his
funeral, for curiously unconvincing reasons:
that she was informed about the passing away
of her father only after the burial so as not to
disturb her in her studies. One suspects, though,
that the real reason is that the author has to
keep Urbana in Manila, and Feliza in Paom
bong, so that the letter-writing can continue,
and the moral instruction can go on undis?
turbed. Furthermore, it is a complete violation
of verisimilitude for Urbana's letter over her
father's death to be filled with practically
nothing but detached, pontifical counsel on
such topics as how people should conduct
themselves at funerals. All of this, of course,
can be explained by the fact that Fr. de Castro
is not centrally concerned with writing an
epistolary novel but with providing his readers
with a moral guidebook.
Decorum is the dominant theme of the book.
Its exposition of the duties of the individual to
hisfellowmen, family, Church and Government,
is governed by a concern for the maintenance
of a moral and social equilibrium. In this res?
pect, Urbana at Feliza is a thoroughly con?
servative work.
Fr. Modesto de Castro, a secular priest, was
a native of Bifian (Laguna), an alumnus of the
Real Colegio de San Jose, and cura parroco
assigned to the Cathedral m Manila and, later,
to Naic (Cavite). Chronicler Salvador Pons,
writing in 1900, already acknowledged Fr. de
 Mojares / BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO 49

Castro's fame as an autor* clasico, famed for his
sermons and his 'precise and elegant' writings
(Pons 1900:25-26). De Castro's works include
Coleccion de Sermones (1878), Exposicion de
las Siete Palabras (1887), and Novena a San
Isidro (1888), all in Tagalog.
Not much is known about the man but it
appears that 'classicism' marked not only his
style but also his thought. In this respect, his
works are a quintessential expression of the
'custom and ceremony' Catholicism cultivated
in Philippine society. De Castro is concerned
with ideal norms of behavior and thus operates
on a plane somewhat removed from the Macunat, with whom he had discussions on
actualities and strains of social reality. An ob?
sessive concern with smooth interpersonal
relations within the context of a hierarchical
order governed by a religious and colonial
power ultimately makes for a kind of unreality
which strains the work. This is perhaps un?
wittingly and obliquely exemplified in the dis?
sociation of the book's didactic content and why he has no intention whatsoever of learning
the logic of its narrative, as in the case of Spanish or acquiring higher education. The
Urbana's response to her father's death. In this
respect, the book remains expressive of that
'anti-realist' impulse in the literature of the
Spanish period.
It marks an advance over Barlaan at Josaphat
in its use of local characters, setting and con?
temporary manners, and in its language, but it
nevertheless remains well within the tradition
of the church literature of the Spanish period
in its dogmatic, prescriptive attitude, its
avoidance of basic social conflicts, and in that
idealization of behavior which dignifies but, in
excess, also artificializes and trivializes human
relations.
A very popular work that ran through several
editions ? it was also translated into Ilocano in
the nineteenth century (Yabes 1936:43) -
Urbana at Feliza represents that moral universe
which figures prominently in early twentieth
century Philippine fiction. But in these later
works, where characters are agents of action
rather than mere receivers and implementers
of moral verities, this moral universe is not to
remain intact and inviolate. In both these facts
He the value and limitation of Fr. de Castro's
work.
Si Tand ailg Basio Macunat
Published two decades after Urbana at Feliza,
Ft. Miguel Lucio y Bustamante's Si Tandang
Basio Macunat (188 5) has a clearer, more direct
'narrative' but it is still cut out of the same
didactic mold as the earlier novel.
It speaks in the first person and tells of how,
in his travels through the country, the speaker
(who is presumably the author himself) came
to the town of Tan ay, in the district of Morong
(Rizal), where he stayed for two weeks and got
acquainted with a wise old man named Gervasio
subjects like the customs of the Tagalogs. The
speaker tells Tandang Basio that if only the
old man had studied Spanish he would have
easily become a directorcillo and thus would
not have to work hard on the land to support
his family. At this remark, Tandang Basio be?
comes angry and goes on to politely explain
'story' that Basio tells the speaker ? which also
involves an 'inner story' supposedly written by
Basio's father ? comprises almost nine-tenths
of the whole book.
Basio is the son of poor but virtuous serfs
who sent him to school to learn the rudiments
of education (read, write, count), daily quizzed
him on his lessons, and taught him his religious
and household duties. (With respect to these
precepts, this work does not differ from Urbana
at Feliza.) Basio recalls fondly his school?
teacher, Cacang Yoyo, who was respected by
the town though he knew no Spanish because
he was not pretentious or arrogant (a phrase
Basio uses to describe him is ualang sariling
calooban, which means literally 'no will of his
own'): he did not dress up or conduct himself
to be like the Capitan or even the Cura (unlike
some natives ? Basio says ? who seem to forget
that they are as dark-skinned as himself,
casing-itim co), and that when it came to teach?
ing or getting people to do things Cacang Yoyo
never did anything unless he had the prior
counsel of 'our courtly Capitan' and, above all,
'our most respected Padre Cura'.
Basio proudly shows off to the speaker his

This content downloaded from

202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 50 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
seven children whom he has raised the way his
parents raised him, and warns the speaker not
to address them in Spanish for he does not
want them to learn even a single word of the
language. Basio explains:
Ang castila . . . castila, at ang indio ay indio.
Ang ongo . . . ang ongo, i, sootan man ninyo
nang baro at sataoual, ay ongo rin at hindi
tauo. (Lucio 1885:16. 'The Spaniard ... is a
Spaniard, the indio an indio. The ogre . . .
though you may dress it up in shirt and
pants, is still an ogre and not a person.')
The speaker remarks that Spanish can enhance
the native's knowledge but Basio insists he does
not want the Tagalogs, or the indio in general,
to learn Spanish. He says, quoting his father:
Ang mga tagalog, and mga indio baga . . . na
humihiwalay caya sa calabao, ay ang cadalasa, i,
naguiguing masama at palamarang tauo sa Dios at
sa Hari. (Ibid: 17. 'The Tagalogs, the indios . . .
who forsake the carabao, chances are, will go astray
and become disloyal to God and the King.')
The following day, Basio reads to the speaker
an illustrative story. This is a tale supposedly
preserved by Basio's father (Antonio Macunat)
in a book which the author-speaker now tran?
scribes in the novel, 'with nothing added or
taken'. It is entitled Buhay nang isang maganac
na tagarito sa Tanay (The Life of a family in
Tanay). It begins thus: 'In 1830, there was in
Tanay a family that was prosperous and
kind . . .' and goes on to tell the story of how
great misfortunes are visited upon this God?
fearing and law-abiding family by the mis?
adventures of the son, Prospero, whom they
had sent to Manila to study. There, Prospero
is drawn to worldly pleasures, abandons his
studies, falls into debt and commits various
misdeeds, and is only saved from going to jail
when his parents, selling some of their lands
and animals, bail him out. Brought back to the
province, seemingly contrite, Prospero soon
slides back into his indolent and profligate
ways until his father, broken by labor and
heartsick, dies. Again, Prospero promises to re?
form only to renege on the vow once more,
falling into debt and committing crimes of
virtue against women. He is brought to Manila
and jailed, and his mother and sister sell
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
everything they have left in a fruitless attempt
to save him. The whole story comes to an end
with the death of Prospero's virtuous sister,, and
finally of his mother. Prospero himself is sent
to a penal colony where he dies. The narrator
of this story (Basio's father) says that the root
cause of all these misfortunes is the inordinate
desire of the parents to send their son to Manila,
not paying heed to the counsels of the Cura
and the devout daughter, Felicitas. They aspired
for a level not proper to them. The Cura had
advised against sending Prospero to Manila be?
cause the Cura had 'seen' that though Prospero
was an obedient child he was 'somewhat weak
in the head' and, thus, would only acquire bad
habits in Manila. The Cura says that it is 'a
great mistake to hope that a tamarind tree will
bear guavas or that the guava tree bear tamarind'
(Ibid:26). Such vain ambition, the Cura says,
is a common fault of all indios.
When Cabesang Dales (Prospero's father),
with due deference, remarks that the Cura
seemed to suggest that the native should not
aspire for the Spaniard's level of learning, the
Cura says that this is not, at all, what he means.
He believes, he says, in the natives' going into
the professions but he says that what he is con?
demning is the attitude of the indio who, if he
has a little money, immediately sends his sons
to Manila even if 'they have heads as hard as
stones and are thoroughly immature' (Ibid:2&).
He says that of 1000 natives studying in Manila,
950 are simply wasting their parents' money.
And he criticizes those students who come
back neglectful of their religious duties, who
cock and strut, act knowledgeable and re
belliously interfere in all things, thus exerting a
bad influence on the townspeople.
Tandang Basio himself concludes the whole
story by saying that he will not have the indios
send their children to school to learn Spanish
'or whatever knowledge not proper to their
status or to their being indios/ Again, he in?
vokes his father's lesson:
Ang Hari, ay mangasiwa sa caniyang pinagharian;
ang anloagui, ay maghasa nang maghasa nang cani?
yang manga pait at catam; ang ama't, ina, ay mag
alila sa canilang manga anac; at ang manga indio, ay
mag-alaga hang canilang manga calabao (Ibid:9\.
 Mojares / BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO 51
'The King attends to his kingdom, the carpenter
sharpens his chisels and planes, parents serve their
children, and the indios take care of their carabao.')
The speaker himself is non-committal but closes
the book with the statement that he cannot,
even to this day, forget his friend, Tandang
Basio, and 'his straight and correct reasoning.'
It is not surprising that Rizal and his con?
temporaries found the arguments of this book
obnoxious. (Rizal's satirical reference to Fr.
Lucio's work is to be found in Ch. IX of El
Filibusterismo, 1891). W.E. Retana says that in
maintaining that 'the indio should not go out
of the place of his birth; that knowledge for
him is dangerous; that he has no better com?
panion than the carabao and no truer counselor
than the friar,' this book made many Filipinos
enemies of the friars (Retana 1906:942,1016).
Fr. Miguel Lucio y Bustamante, born in Spain
in 1842, served as priest in the 1860s and 70s
in such places as Santa Cruz and Magdalena
(Laguna), Paquil, San Felipe de Mandaloyon,
and Tanay (Rizal) (Gomez 1880:750). He is
also credited with a novel of manners. Benito
y Rosalia (1882), and a handbook entitled
Breves Instrucciones a los Jovenes Religiosos
Franciscanos destinados a la cura de almas en
Filipinos (1886). In this latter work, where he
devotes a chapter to a character sketch of the
indio, is made further explicit Fr. Lucio's con?
descending attitude towards the natives whom
he refers to as unos ninos grondes (Lucio
1886:29-32).
Si Tandang Basio Macunat clearly belongs to
a period different from that of the two earlier
works. If Barlaan belongs to a period of
pioneering evangelization, and Urbana to a
period of settled orthodoxy, Fr. Lucio's work
is reflective of a time when the friar-imposed
order was already subjected to the strains of
liberal assertiveness on the part of formerly
docile parishioners. It suggests the time of
Rizal, M.H. delPilar, and the critics of monastic
supremacy. Its criticism of the dangers of 'too
much education' for the indio can be seen as a
reaction to a situation in which Filipino stu?
dents, educated in Manila or abroad, were
beginning to express ideas and sentiments sub?
versive of the role of the friars in Philippine
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
society. Though the particular impetus which
gave rise to the novel may have been the friars*
opposition to the teaching of Spanish to the
natives ? an issue of controversy during Fr.
Lucio's time ? this novel is essentially a defense
of a colonial structure founded on, among
others, ideas of racial superiority and monastic
power.
It is to be noted that in the period 1867-1889 at
least fourteen decrees were enacted pertaining
to the instruction of Spanish in the schools but it
appears that this policy was largely frustrated by
the opposition of the friars who believed that the
teaching of Spanish (which, concomitantly, prepared
the way for higher education) would sow liberalism
and rebelliousness among the natives, thus under?
mining monastic control in the islands (Frei 1959:
5-30).
In retrospect, then, the development that is
illustrated by the motives and content of the
three books studied in this paper parallels
stages of church and social history in the
Philippines in the Spanish era.
Proto-Realism
Literary genetics is always a complicated
matter, particularly as concerns the period we
are studying. The three books have all been
referred to as 'novels' but they are such largely
in the context of an expanded understanding
of this concept. Exemplum, dialogo, epistolario,
cuadro de costumbres: these medieval prose
forms can be applied, in varying measure
to these books. They are novelas in so far as
they are either sustained narratives or long
prose works with a narrative ? or a semblance
of narrative ? as framework.
Barlaan at Josaphat has been called a 'col?
lection of exempla' by historians of Spanish
literature in so far as it strings together fables,
apologues, or stories with a moral point. But it
is also, in itself, one long sustained narrative, a
romance ? in so far as it deals with marvellous
happenings set in a pseudo-historical, mythical
past ? although one in which the element of
the supernatural is not overtly exploited.
It is to be noted that the conversion of India in
Barlaan has no historical basis. The 'saints' Barlaam
and Josaphat, themselves, are no early Christian
saints but Christianized legendary figures based on
 52 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY
the Buddha. It was not until the nineteenth century,
though, that the cult surrounding these two figures
was challenged as to its authenticity.
It is a novel in so far as it is a sustained prose
narrative, with underpinnings of verisimilitude,
but its lack of the values of historicity, con?
temporaneity, and originality ? in so far as
the narrative itself is concerned ? puts it out?
side the mainstream of literary realism which is
to find its culmination in the modern novel. Its
value in literature is further diminished by the
fact that it is a translation of an apocryphal
story related strictly for its didactic values. It
is largely on the basis of the fact that it is the
'first' printed prose narrative in Tagalog that it
has been assigned the historical importance it
now has in Philippine literature.
Urbana at Feliza is, in many respects, a
distinct advance over Barlaan. It is an original
work that makes use of local and contemporary
characters, setting, and plot situations. It is, of
course, written in a conventional mode
(epistolario) and for a didactic purpose but
these, in themselves, need not detract fromits
value as a literary piece. While it speaks of
norms of behavior that appear stylized and
idealized its rich detailing of conduct and
customs in ordinary life (taking care of one's
body, eating, visiting friends, going out for a
stroll, etc.) makes for that value of cir?
cumstantiality lacking in the narrative itself.
It is also written in Tagalog with that kind of
ease and suppleness that heralds the possibilities
of the language as medium for the novel.
Si Tandang Basio Macunat, in its turn,
advances the technical gains in Urbana at Feliza.
Again, it makes use of the local and the con?
temporary in its choice of place, time, people,
and situations. Its narrative is more consciously
fleshed out ? being free from the static,
mechanical framework of an epistolario. It, of
course, belongs essentially to the same mode as
Barlaan and Urbana in its employment of the
dialogo ? a method of argument and pre?
sentation that harks back to Plato ? in unfold?
ing its 'truth'. Thus, we have the set situations
of Tandang Basio 'conversing' with the speaker,
and of Basio's father with Basio and the
speaker through the medium of a written
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
'story'. (In fact, Fr. Lucio refers to his work as
a salita, that is, a 'dialogue' or 'speech'.) Des?
pite such conventional devices the book is
more substantial in the circumstantiality of its
outer and inner narratives.
One can, for instance, note here the use of
the exemplum. These tales ? favored by
medieval preachers as devices to decorate a
sermon or illustrate a moral ? are cited as a
germ of the novel in so far as they are earthy
contemporary sketches of common life
(Schlauch 1963:40-47). But in Barlaan what
we have are unoriginal, stock tales from the
Bible and other religious sources. This is also
true of Urb ana where illustrations are, as a rule,
taken from conventional foreign sources. If
Urbana is a fresher work it is because of the
manner in which it is enlivened by naturalistic,
elegantly-expressed analogies and metaphors.
To cite an example:
Houag tulutang mamintanangpalagui, sapagca,t, ang
dalagang namimintana, ay caparis nang isang buig
nang uvas, na bibitin-bitin sa sanga sa tabi nang daan,
na nag-aanyayang papitas sa sino mang macaibig.
(Castro 1864:102. 'Do not allow yourself to look
out of the window often because a young woman
who sits by the window is like a bunch of grapes
hanging from a branch at the roadside, inviting to
be picked by anyone who might want it.')
But it is in Si Tandang Basio Macunat with its
extended 'sociological' exemplum about the
family of Cabesang Dales that we have more
distinctly foreshadowed that direct, sustained
portrayal of common life which we associate
with the realist novel. In its reportorial ap?
proach, emphasizing direct personal obser?
vation or knowledge of events, and in its
occasional realization of milieu, one can al?
ready perceive the movement towards the more
developed realism of such early secular Tagalog
novels as Valeriano Hernandez-Pena's Ang
Kasaysayan ng Magkaibigang si Nena at si
Neneng (1903) and others.
Fr. Lucio's contributions are ironic for
Retana records that Fr. Lucio believed that
novels, in general, are bad for the intelligence.
For which reason, he took great care in writing
nothing that would be contrary to 'the faith
or sound customs', writing only for the sake of
 Mojares / BARLAAN, URBANA AT BASIO 53
'passing the time' (Retana 1906:942). But
then, also, Fr. Lucio, in contrast to Borja and
De Castro, wrote his work with a consciousness
of the novel form of his time and with the
intention of practising or approximating this
form.
Deficient then as these 'novels' are in the
conception or execution of social, historical,
and psychological realities, they are nevertheless
important as touchstones, as well as agents, in
the development of prose fiction in the country.
Conclusions
We have endeavoured to present in this study
of three early prose narratives two main con?
clusions. First: that these three works reflect,
albeit obliquely, distinct phases in the history
of church and society during the Spanish era.
They are expressions of the historically-con?
ditioned consciousness of their authors, all of
whom are clergymen, members of a governing
class. They are, in this sense also, limited
visions of the realities of their time. Second:
that these works demonstrate perceptible stages
in the development of 'literary realism'. In this
one discerns such changes as shifts from the
use of foreign to local materials, from
hagiography to common life, from the reela
boration of conventional truths to the more
direct treatment of social issues, from a stiff,
formal language to a looser, more colloquial
speech, and others. In all these shifts, factors
other than those internal to literary form are
obviously at work, but this is perhaps a matter
that can be given more adequate treatment
elsewhere.
These three works are not the only 'proto
novels' in the period before 1900 though they
are the most often cited ones. It is also not our
intention to argue that the full-blown novels of
a later time consciously and directly drew im?
petus from these texts. In fact, it can perhaps
be shown that the later novels drew more, and
directly, from fully-developed Western models
than from these local half-realizations of
novelistic form. This is certainly the case of
Jose Rizal's Noli me T?tigere (1887) and El
Filibusterismo (1891), the works that
auspiciously inaugurated the rise of the novel
This content downloaded from
202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
in the Philippines. But the laws of literary his?
tory are complex, for works do not remain
mere texts but are assimilated into a general
consciousness (into 'tradition', in the vital
sense in which T.S. Eliot has defined it), there
to interact with other elements, to direct or
redirect, in varying ways and to varying effect,
a people's creative or critical turn of mind.
Barlaan, Urbana, and Basio belong to the
national consciousness. They are no mere relics
of a discredited past, they are living parts of
that flawed and changing tradition which we
inhabit and which we are continually called
upon to extend and improve.
REFERENCES
Alejandro, Rufino and Juliana C. Pineda
1950 An^AtingPanitikan. Manila, Bookman, Inc.,
Castro, Modesto De.
[1864] Pagsusulatan nang Dalauang Binibini na si
Urbana at ni Feliza . . . Manila, Imprenta y
Libreria de J. Martinez, n.p. 165p. [The
following dates of publication have been re?
corded: 1852, 1856, 1863, 1864, 1877,
1889. It appears, though, that 1864 is the
most likely year of its first publication.]
Chandler, Richard E. and Kessel Schwartz.
1961 A New History of Spanish Literature. Baton
Rouge, Louisiana State University Press.
696p.
Costa, H. de la.
1961 The Jesuits in the Philippines; 1581-1768.
Cambridge, Harvard University Press. 702p.
Frei, Ernest J.
1959 The Historical Developmen t of the Philippine
National Language. Manila, Bureau of Print?
ing. 92p.
Gomez Platero, Eusebio.
1880 Catalogo Biografico de los Religiosos Fran
ciscanos de La Provincia de San Gregorio
Magno de Filipinos . . . Manila, Imprenta del
Real Colegio de Santo Tomas. 813p.
Lang, David Marshall.
1966 The Balovariani (Barlaam and Josaphat); a
Tale from the Christian East Translated from
the Old Georgian. Berkeley, University of
California Press. 187p.
54 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Lucio y Bustamante, Miguel.

1885 Si Tandang Basio Macunat. Manila, Lap. de
Amigos del Pais. 92 I. [Typewritten copy in
the Filipiniana Division, University of the
Philippines Library, Diliman, Quezon City.]
1886 Breves Instrucciones a los Jovenes Religiosos
Franciscanos destinados a la cura de almas
en Filipinos. Manila, Imprenta de 'Amigos
del Pais\ 192p.
Medina, B. S., Jr.
1972 Tatlong Panahon ng Panitikan. Manila,
National Book Store, Inc. 512p.
Medina, J. T.
1964 La Imprenta en Manila desde sus Origenes
hasta 1810. Amsterdam, N. Israel. 280,203p.
[Reprint of editions published in 1896 and
1904.]
Perez, Elviro I.
1901 Catalogo Bio-Bibliografico de los Religiosos
Agustinos de Ja Provincia del Santisimo
Nombre de Jesus de las Isias Filipinos.
Manila, Est. tip. del Colegio de Sto. Tomas.
873p.
Pons y Torres, Salvador.
1900 El Clero Secular Filipino; apuntes biblio
Democracia. 14 lp.
Retana, W. E.
1906 Aparato Bibliografico de la Historia General
de Filipinos . . . Volumen segundo. Madrid,
Imprenta de la Sucesora de M. Minuesa de
los Rios. pp. 465-1064.
Schlauch, Margaret.
1963 Antecedents of the English Novel, 1400
1600. London, Oxford University Press.
264p.
Yabes, Leopoldo Y.
1936 A Brief Survey of Iloko Literature. Manila,
The Author. 155p.

This content downloaded from

202.57.63.219 on Thu, 14 Mar 2024 07:01:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms