OBJECTIVE:
Appreciate and value of the contributions of our local writers to the development of
literary traditions.
Canonical Authors and Works of the Philippine National Artists in
Literature
1.Edith L. Tiempo is a poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic.
She is one of the finest Filipino writers in English. Her works are characterized by a
remarkable fusion of style and substance, of craftsmanship and insight. Born on April
22, 1919 in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.
As fictionist, Tiempo is as morally profound. Her language has been marked as
“descriptive but unburdened by scrupulous detailing.” She is an influential tradition in
Philippine literature in English. Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo,
she founded and directed the Silliman National Writers Workshop in Dumaguete City,
which has produced some of the country’s best writers.
POEMS: “The Little Marmoset”, “The Tracks of Babylon” and “Bonsai”.
NOVEL: A Blade of Fern (1978), The Native Coast (1979), and The Alien Corn (1992);
SHORT STORY: Abide, Joshua, and Other Stories (1964).
2. Bienvenido Lumbera, is a poet, librettist, and scholar.
As a poet, he introduced to Tagalog literature what is now known as Bagay poetry, a
landmark aesthetic tendency that has helped to change the vernacular poetic tradition.
POEMS: Likhang Dila, Likhang Diwa (poems in Filipino and English),
1993; Balaybay, Mga Tulang Lunot at Manibalang, 2002; Sa Sariling Bayan, Apat na
Dulang May Musika, 2004; “Agunyas sa Hacienda Luisita,” Pakikiramay, 2004.
As a librettist (writer for musical theater) for the Tales of the Manuvu and Rama Hari,
he pioneered the creative fusion of fine arts and popular imagination.
As a scholar (person who study in special fields), his major books include the
following: Tagalog Poetry, 1570-1898: Tradition and Influences in its Development;
Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology, Revaluation: Essays on Philippine
Literature, Writing the Nation/Pag-akda ng Bansa.
3. Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better known as N.V.M. Gonzalez, fictionist,
essayist, poet, and teacher, articulated the Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes.
He received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad CCP Para sa
Sining in 1990. The awards attest to his triumph in appropriating the English language
to express, reflect and shape Philippine culture and Philippine sensibility. He became
U.P.’s International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the
U.P. Creative Writing Center. In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of Humane
Letters, honoris causa, its highest academic recognition.
STORIES: The Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-Covered Loam and
Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and
Beyond: Twenty -One Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the
Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and
Other Stories
4. Virgilio S. Almario, also known as Rio Alma, is a poet, literary historian and critic,
who has revived and reinvented traditional Filipino poetic forms, even as he
championed modernist poetics.
Many Filipino writers have come under his wing in the literary workshops he founded –
the Galian sa Arte at Tula (GAT) and the Linangan sa Imahen, Retorika at Anyo (LIRA).
He has also long been involved with children’s literature through the Aklat Adarna
series, published by his Children’s Communication Center. He has been a constant
presence as well in national writing workshops and galvanizes member writers as
chairman emeritus of the Unyon ng mga Manunulat sa Pilipinas (UMPIL).
He headed the National Commission for Culture and the Arts as Executive Director,
(from 1998 to 2001) ably steering the Commission towards its goals.
BOOKS OF POETRY: Makinasyon and Peregrinasyon, and the landmark
trilogy Doktrinang Anakpawis, Mga Retrato at Rekwerdo and Muli, Sa Kandungan ng
Lupa.
BOOKS OF CRITICSM AND ANTHOLOGIES: Ang Makata sa Panahon ng
Makina, Balagtasismo versus Modernismo,Walong Dekada ng Makabagong Tula
Pilipino, Mutyang Dilim and Barlaan at Josaphat.
5. Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements
and significant contributions to the development of the country’s literary arts. He is
acknowledged by peers and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of his
generation.
Throughout his career that spans more than four decades, he has established a
reputation for fine and profound artistry; his books, lectures, poetry readings and
creative writing workshops continue to influence his peers and generations of young
writers.
As a teacher of literature, Bautista has realized that the classroom is an important
training ground for Filipino writers. In De La Salle University, he was instrumental in
the formation of the Bienvenido Santos Creative Writing Center. He was also the moving
spirit behind the founding of the Philippine Literary Arts Council in 1981, the Iligan
National Writers Workshop in 1993, and the Baguio Writers Group.
Thus, Bautista continues to contribute to the development of Philippine literature: as a
writer, through his significant body of works; as a teacher, through his discovery and
encouragement of young writers in workshops and lectures; and as a critic, through his
essays that provide insights into the craft of writing and correctives to misconceptions
about art.
MAJOR WORKS: Summer Suns (1963), Words and Battlefields (1998), The
Trilogy of Saint Lazarus (2001), Galaw ng Asoge (2003).
6. Nick Joaquin, is regarded by many as the most distinguished Filipino writer in
English writing so variedly and so well about so many aspects of the Filipino. He has
also enriched the English language with critics coining “Joaquinesque” to describe his
baroque Spanish-flavored English or his reinventions of English based on Filipinisms.
Aside from his handling of language, Bienvenido Lumbera writes that Nick Joaquin’s
significance in Philippine literature involves his exploration of the Philippine colonial
past under Spain and his probing into the psychology of social changes as seen by the
young, as exemplified in stories such as Doña Jeronima, Candido’s Apocalypse and The
Order of Melchizedek. Nick Joaquin has written plays, novels, poems, short stories and
essays including reportage and journalism. As a journalist, Nick Joaquin uses the nom
de plume Quijano de Manila but whether he is writing literature or journalism, fellow
National Artist Francisco Arcellana opines that “it is always of the highest skill and
quality”.
7. F. Sionil Jose’s writings since the late 60s, when taken collectively can best be
described as epic. Its sheer volume puts him on the forefront of Philippine writing in
English. But ultimately, it is the consistent espousal of the aspirations of the Filipino–
for national sovereignty and social justice–that guarantees the value of his oeuvre.
In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, consisting of The Pretenders, Tree, My
Brother, My Executioner, Mass, and Po-on, he captures the sweep of Philippine history
while simultaneously narrating the lives of generations of the Samsons whose personal
lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation. Because of their international
appeal, his works, including his many short stories, have been published and translated
into various languages.
F. Sionil Jose is also a publisher, lecturer on cultural issues, and the founder of the
Philippine chapter of the international organization PEN.
WORKS: The Woman Who Had Two Navels, A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino, Manila,
My Manila: A History for the Young, The Ballad of the Five Battles, Rizal in Saga,
Almanac for Manileños, Cave and Shadows.
8. Amado V. Hernandez, poet, playwright, and novelist, is among the Filipino
writers who practiced “committed art”.
In his view, the function of the writer is to act as the conscience of society and to affirm
the greatness of the human spirit in the face of inequity and oppression. Hernandez’s
contribution to the development of Tagalog prose is considerable — he stripped Tagalog
of its ornate character and wrote in prose closer to the colloquial than the “official” style
permitted. His novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit, first written by Hernandez while in prison,
is the first Filipino socio-political novel that exposes the ills of the society as evident in
the agrarian problems of the 50s.
WORKS: Bayang Malaya, Isang Dipang Langit, Luha ng Buwaya, Tudla at Tudling:
Katipunan ng mga Nalathalang Tula 1921-1970, Langaw sa Isang Basong
Gatas , Magkabilang Mukha ng Isang Bagol.
9. Prize-winning writer Lazaro A. Francisco developed the social realist tradition in
Philippine fiction. His eleven novels, now acknowledged classics of Philippine literature,
embodies the author’s commitment to nationalism. Amadis Ma. Guerrero wrote,
“Francisco championed the cause of the common man, specifically the oppressed
peasants. His novels exposed the evils of the tenancy system, the exploitation of farmers
by unscrupulous landlords, and foreign domination.” Teodoro Valencia also observed,
“His pen dignifies the Filipino and accents all the positives about the Filipino way of life.
His writings have contributed much to the formation of a Filipino nationalism.” Literary
historian and critic Bienvenido Lumbera also wrote, “When the history of the Filipino
novel is written, Francisco is likely to occupy an eminent place in it. Already in Tagalog
literature, he ranks among the finest novelists since the beginning of the 20th century.
In addition to a deft hand at characterization, Francisco has a supple prose style
responsive to the subtlest nuances of ideas and the sternest stuff of passions.”
His reputation as the “Master of the Tagalog Novel” is backed up by numerous awards
he received for his meritorious novels in particular, and for his contribution to
Philippine literature and culture in general. His masterpiece novels—Ama, Bayang
Nagpatiwakal, Maganda Pa Ang Daigdig and Daluyong—affirm his eminent
place in Philippine literature. In 1997, he was honored by the University of the
Philippines with a special convocation, where he was cited as the “foremost Filipino
novelist of his generation” and “champion of the Filipino writer’s struggle for national
identity.”
10. Carlos P. Romulo‘s multifaceted career spanned 50 years of public service as
educator, soldier, university president, journalist and diplomat.
It is common knowledge that he was the first Asian president of the United Nations
General Assembly, then Philippine Ambassador to Washington, D.C., and later minister
of foreign affairs. Essentially though, Romulo was very much into writing: he was a
reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a publisher at 32. He was the
only Asian to win America’s coveted Pulitzer Prize in Journalism for a series of articles
predicting the outbreak of World War II.
Romulo, in all, wrote and published 18 books, a range of literary works which
included The United (novel), I Walked with Heroes (autobiography), I Saw the
Fall of the Philippines, Mother America, I See the Philippines Rise (war-time
memoirs).
His other books include his memoirs of his many years’ affiliations with United Nations
(UN), Forty Years: A Third World Soldier at the UN, and The Philippine
Presidents, his oral history of his experiences serving all the Philippine presidents.
11. Levi Celerio is a prolific lyricist and composer for decades.
He effortlessly translated/wrote anew the lyrics to traditional melodies: “O Maliwanag
Na Buwan” (Iloko), “Ako ay May Singsing” (Pampango), “Alibangbang” (Visaya) among
others.
Born in Tondo, Celerio received his scholarship at the Academy of Music in Manila that
made it possible for him to join the Manila Symphony Orchestra, becoming its youngest
member. He made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person able to
make music using just a leaf.
A great number of his songs have been written for the local movies, which earned for
him the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines. Levi
Celerio, more importantly, has enriched the Philippine music for no less than two
generations with a treasury of more than 4,000 songs in an idiom that has proven to
appeal to all social classes.
12. Carlos Quirino, biographer, has the distinction of having written one of the
earliest biographies of Jose Rizal titled The Great Malayan. Quirino’s books and articles
span the whole gamut of Philippine history and culture–from Bonifacio’s trial to
Aguinaldo’s biography, from Philippine cartography to culinary arts, from cash crops to
tycoons and president’s lives, among so many subjects. In 1997, Pres. Fidel Ramos
created historical literature as a new category in the National Artist Awards and Quirino
was its first recipient. He made a record earlier on when he became the very first
Filipino correspondent for the United Press Institute.
His book Maps and Views of Old Manila is considered as the best book on the
subject. His other books include Quezon, Man of Destiny, Magsaysay of the
Philippines, Lives of the Philippine Presidents, Philippine Cartography, The
History of Philippine Sugar Industry, Filipino Heritage: The Making of a
Nation, Filipinos at War: The Fight for Freedom from Mactan to EDSA.
ACTIVITY
In a paragraph, explain the value of the contributions of our local writers to the
development of literary traditions.
