CANONICAL AUTHORS

IN THE PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE
CANONICAL AUTHORS
-refers to the collection of
works determined by the
society to have significant value
and importance.
AMADO V. HERNANDEZ
 Penname: Amante Hernani/ Julio Abril
Born: September 13, 1903
Died: March 24, 1970 (at the age of 66)
Cause of death: Heart attack and was buried at Manila, Laguna

Amante Hernani was a Filipino writer, poet, playwright, novelist

and a labour leader who was known for his criticism of social
injustices in the Philippines.

• When he was a teenager, he began writing in Tagalog

newspaper Watawat and later on became an editor of Mabuhay
newspaper.
In 1922, at the age of 19, he became a member of the
literary society Aklatang Bayan which included noted
Tagalog writers Lope K. Santos and Jose Corazon de Jesus.
• He was married to zarzuela actress and queen of kundiman
Honorata 'Atang' dela Rama.
• Amado is one of the Filipino writers who practiced
'committed art'.
• He strongly believed that the function of the writer is to act
as the conscience of society and to affirm the greatness of
human spirit in the face of inequity and oppression.
• He was the first to receive the title in Literature.
• He has several reasons as to his in-jail poetry and
literature. One, he writes to exclaim the greatness of
the Filipino guerrillas which were the glory of World
War II (MSB) for he believes that if this splendor
would soon be long forgotten by the contemporary
heroes, history won’t.
• Another reason that he posited as to why he pursued
his literature is that he wanted to prove that the real
essence of a poet cannot be incarcerated.
  NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS
(His socio-political novels were based on his experiences as a guerilla,
as a labor leader and as a political detainee)

• Isang Dipang Langit (A Stretch of Heaven) - won a Republic

Cultural Heritage Award
- It is a poem which Amado wrote during his imprisonment. It was all
about his experiences while imprisoned.
Lesson learned: there is hope when you still have life
• Bayang Malaya (Free Nation) - won a Balagtas Award
- A historical poem that he started and finished inside the little detention
room in jail. It is a historical account of defending the nation and the
ordinary citizens against the dominance of the Imperial Japanese Army.
• Luha ng Buwaya (Tears of the Crocodile) - was his masterpiece.
- A novel that consists of 53 chapters. The story is about the farmers
uniting against the greedy desires of the prominent family of the
Grandes.
The 'buwaya' (crocodile) in the title refers to the Grandes Family,
who were greedy for money

- Luha ng Buwaya was Hernandez's realistic embodiment of the

social- political crisis happening in the Philippines during the
1930's until 1950's.
 Common Theme of Amado's Literary Works
 socio- political in nature or that which are capable of raising social
consciousness

Awards

 National Artist for Literature in 1973

 Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for One-act play in Filipino
 Relevance of the Author's work

• The works of Amado V. Hernandez reflect a life lived fighting against

social injustice and foreign domination.

Impact made in the Philippine Literature

• Amado V. Hernandez is the most serviceable Filipino revolutionary
artist of the twentieth-century whose poetry, fiction and plays in Filipino
continue to inspire the popular struggle for national democracy and
genuine independence against U.S. imperialism .
'The mind of a poet often performs miracles- a few coarse- grained
words apprehended become bullets and roses.'
- Amado V. Hernandez

'Naryan ang kaibahan ng armas sa isang ideya. Ang sandata'y

nakagigiba't pumapatay lamang; ang ideya'y nakagibaba't nakabubuo,
pumapatay at bumubuhay.
- Amado V. Hernandez, Mga Ibong Mandaragit
FRANCISCO 'Franz' ARCELLANA
 'Zacarias Eugene Francisco Quino Arcellana'

Born: September 6, 1916

Died: August 1, 2002 at aged of 85
Cause of death: Pneumonia and was buried at the Libingan ng
mga Bayani

 Francisco Arcellana was a Filipino writer, poet, essayist, critic,

journalist and teacher.
 He is considered an important progenitor of the modern Filipino
short story in English.
 Pioneered the development of the short story as a lyrical prose- form
within Filipino Literature.
 Many of his works were translated into Tagalog, Malaysian, Russian,
Italian and German.
 NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS
• Franz
- It is a collection of essays gathered by Arcellana family from
colleagues, friends, students and family members.

• The Flowers of May - won first prize at Don Carlos

Palanca Memorial Award in 1951
- It is all about a family who are mourning for the death of their
daughter, Victoria. In the end, they realize the value of life even
if the one you dear will be taken away from you.
• The Mats
- It is a story that highlights Filipino family values and pictures an
interesting character coping with the death of loved ones.

Common Theme of Arcellana's Literary Works

Remembering the living and the dead

Awards
National Artist of the Philippines in Literature on June 23, 1990
Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Short Story
 Impact made in the Philippine Literature
Arcellana kept alive the experiemental tradition in fiction, and had
been most daring exploring new literary forms to express the sensibility
of the Filipino people.

The pride of fiction is 'that is able to render truth, that is able to present
reality'.
'Write the story that only you can write.'
- Francisco Arcellana
CARLOS P. ROMULO
Born: January 14, 1898
Died: December 15, 1985 (aged 87)
Cause of death: Circulatory collapse, and was buried at the Heroes'
Cemetery Taguig, Metro Manila

• A Filipino diplomat, soldier, journalist and author

• He was a reporter at 16, a newspaper editor by the age of 20, and a
publisher at 32.
• He also serves as the President of the Fourth session of United
Nations General Assembly.
• The first Asian president to hold the position in UN
• Carlos Romulo 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.
 NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS

• Last Man off Bataan

- Romulo's experience during the Japanese Plane bombing

• I walked with Heroes (Autobiography)

- Carlos P. Romulo personal reviewed his boyhood, early life, school
days and career in which he presented the facts and events with
'frankness, intimacy, sense of person-to- person communication.
• I am a Filipino
-A famous literary work sheds light on National Identity through an
examination on the Filipino's fervent dream for freedom from colonial
rule.
Common Theme of Romulo's Literary Works

courage, integrity, patriotism

Awards
Pulitzer Price for Peace
Purple Heart
 Relevance of the Author's work

- All of the literary works of Carlos P. Romulo were based from his
experiences during the Japanese colonization, the World War II, the
challenges he faced during his stay in America
and how he fought for the freedom of his country.

Impact made in the Philippine Literature

- Carlos P. Romulo is a profound writer whose literary works show
not only one's love for his country and freedom but also of being
proud as a Filipino.
'Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man's
survival.'
- Carlos P. Romulo

'Nations will rise and fall, but equality remains ideal. The
universal aim is to achieve respect for the entire human race,
not for dominant few.'
-Carlos P. Romulo
JOSE GARCIA VILLA
 Pseudonym: DOVEGLION (Dove, Eagle, Lion)
Born: August 5, 1908
Died: February 7, 1997 (aged 88)
Cause of death: Cerebral stroke and multilobar pnuemonia,
and was buried in St. John's Cemetery in N.Y

 Jose Garcia Villa used the pen name 'Doveglion' based on the
characters he derived from himself.
 He was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer and painter.
 In 1929, Jose Villa published ' Man Songs', a series of erotic poems
which the administrators in UP found too bold and was even fined
Philippine peso for obscenity by the Manila court.
 He introduced a new rhyming scheme called 'reversed consonance'
 In 1949, Villa presented a poetic style called 'comma poems',
wherein commas are place after every word
 Jose Villa was considered as a powerful literary influence in the
Philippines throughout much in the 20th century.

Reversed consonance
The last sounded consonants of the last syllable, or the last principal
consonants of a word, are reversed for the corresponding rhyme.
Thus, a rhyme for near would be run; or rain, reign, green
For light — tell, tall, tale, steal, etc.
 NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS
Footnote to Youth
- It is a story that tackles the responsibilities and realities that come
with marriage and the family life.

The Anchored Angel

- It is a historical recovery project.
- It is a book which seeks to recover the works of a poet whose writings
undeservedly have lapsed into obscurity.

Appasionata: Poems in Praise of Love (1979)

- A collection of love poems..
 Common Themes of the Author's works

 Family values and love of the country

Awards
 Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Writing
 The American Academy of Arts and Letters
The Anchored Angel" with style using commas:

And, lay, he, down, the, golden, father,

(Genesis', fist, all, gentle, now)
Between, the, wall, of, China, and,
The, tiger, tree, (his, centuries, his,
Aerials, of, light) —
Anchored, entire, angel!
He, in, his, estate, miracle, and, living, dew,
His, fuses, gold, his, cobalts, love,
And, in, his, eyepits,
under, the, liontelling, sun —
The, zeta, truth — the, swift, red, Christ.
 Relevance of the Author's work
 The literary works of Jose Villa were based on his experiences
as well as his love for his country.

Impact made in the Philippine Literature

 His ideas on literature were provocative. He stirred strong feelings
and was thought to be individualistic.
LAZARO A. FRANCISCO
 'Lazaro Francisco y Angeles'
Pen name: Zaro
Born: February 22, 1898
Died: June 17, 1980 (aged 82)
Cause of death: (Not Stated)

Lazaro A. Francisco was a novelist, essayist and playwright.

• He was the recipient of National Artist of the Philippines of Literature
• He started writing in 1925, with five of his novels took him to fame.
• In 1958, he established the 'Kapatiran ng Alagad ng Wikang Pilipino',
roughly translated as 'Brotherhood of the Disciples of the Filipino Language'
- a society that campaigned the use of Tagalog as the national language
of the Philippines.
 • Lazaro was also called as the 'Master of the Tagalog Novel'.

NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS

 Bayang Nagpatiwakal (Country that Commited Suicide)
 Maganda Pa ang Daigdig - was written in the year 1955 and published
as a series under the Liwayway Magazine
- The novel was all about the problems and issues of the agriculture and how
it affects the life of Lino Rivera.
• Ama (Father)
- A novel that features the issue of agrarian reform, the treatment of the poor,
the forced labour of the child, and the pursuit of such events in the lives
of the two siblings.
COMMON THEME OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK

 Filipino Nationalism

RELEVANCE OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK

 His writings embody the spirit of |Nationalism

 The social injustice during his time leads him to write a literary work
that talks about the unfair treatment of the government and the farmer.
 IMPACT MADE IN THE PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

 He contributed to the enrichment of the Filipino language and literature

 Most of his writings were focused on small farmers and their current
conditions with foreign businessmen.
 Some of his literary works were all about the Filipino struggles for
national identity.
'
FRANCISCO BALAGTAS
 'Francisco Baltazar y de la Cruz'
Nickname: 'Kiko'
Born: April 2, 1788
Died: February 20, 1862 (aged 73)
Cause of death: Pneumonia, and was buried at Libingan ng mga Bayani

 Francisco was a prominent Filipino poet, and is widely considered

one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino
literature.
 The surname 'Baltazar' sometimes misconstructed as a pen name but
it was actually a legal surname Balagtas adopted after
Governor-General Narcisco Claveria y Zaldua mandated that the native
population should adopt Spanish surnames instead of native ones.
 He learned to write poetry from Jose de la Cruz (Joseng Sisiw) in
return for chicks.
 Francisco was recognized as the 'Prince of Tagalog Poets' and was
bestowed as an equal to William Shakespeare for his contribution and
influence on Philippine Literature.
 Upon his deathbed, he asked a favor that none of his children
become poets like him, who had suffered under his gift as well as
under others.
 NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS
(No orginal manuscript in Balagtas' handwriting of any his works has
survived to the present day due mainly to two great fires that razed Udyong
(Orion Bataan now) that destroyed much of his poet's work.)

Florante at Laura - famous epic and regarded as his defining

work
- The story begins in a dark Albanian forest where the main character
is tied to at tree after being exiled from his kingdom. Florante is in
a state of despair after receiving news that his father was murdered
, and his beloved Laura was forced to marry his childhood rival Adolfo.
  La India elegante y el negrito amante
- A short play in one part
 Kay Selya
- It is a Filipino poem written in Florante at Laura by Francisco
for his beloved Maria Asuncion Rivera (M.A.R)

AWARDS
Balagtasan - the term for Filipino debate in extemporaneous verse
named for him.
He was also honored by an elementary school that was named
after him, the Francisco Balagtas Elementary School (FBES)
COMMON THEME OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK
lost of love, imprisonment and love of his country

RELEVANCE OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK

His literary works reflect the abuses of the Spanish colonists

as well as his imprisonment and the love of his life.
 IMPACT MADE IN THE PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
 Francisco dedicate his life to his passion of being a poet, even
though it caused him much grief and pain. He wanted to share his
gift with the world, and to represent Filipino literature at its best, even
the cost of his own suffering.
FAMOUS LINE
Ngunit, sa aba ko. Sawing kapalaran!
'

Ano pa ang halaga ng gayong suyuan,

Kung ang sing-ibig ko'y sa katahimikan
Ay humihilig na sa ibang kandungan?'
NICK JOAQUIN
 'Nicomedes Marquez Joaquin'
Pen name: Quijano de Manila
Born: May 4, 1917
Died: April 29, 2004 (aged 86)
Cause of death: Cardiac arrest, and was buried at the Libingan ng Bayani

Nick Joaquin was a Filipino writer, historian and journalist.

 He was best known for his short stories and novels in English Language
 He was also been considered as one of the most important Filipino
writers whose masterpieces were written in Spanish.
 Before becoming a writer, Nick was a seminarian in Hong Kong -
who later realised that he could better serve God and humanity
through writing.
 At the age of 17, he published his first poem in English about
Don Quixote, in the literary section of the pre- World War II
Tribune.
 In 1937, he also published his first story in the Sunday Tribune
magazine, 'The Sorrows of Vaudeville' telling the story of the
vaudevilles in Manila- a city he was endlessly enamored by.
 NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS

May Day Eve

- It is a short story written after World War II, it became one of
Joaquin's signature stories that became a classic in Philippine literature
in English.
The Summer Solstice or also known as 'Tatarin'/'Tadtarin'
- It is a short story that narrates a ritual performed by women to invoke
the Gods to grant the blessing of fertility by dancing around a Balete
tree that was already a century old.
Three Generations
- It is a story that talks about Celo Monzon, whose unhappy childhood
still haunts him even if he is already a father. At the beginning of the
story, his wife tells him about their son's plan to enter priesthood.

AWARDS
National Artist for Literature
His work 'Three Generations' was awarded Best Short Story
published in the Philippine Review
Journalist of the Year in the 11th National Press Club- Esso
Journalism
 COMMON THEME OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK
In a critical study, the subjects depicted his nostalgia for the past,
church rituals, legends, the mysterious the different shades of evil, the
power of the basic emotions over culture, and the freedom of the will
against fate.

RELEVANCE OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK

Nick Joaquin gives emphasis the need to restore national consciousness
through important elements in Catholic Spanish Heritage and revive
interest in Philippine national life through literature.
 IMPACT MADE IN THE PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Nick presented objective realities about different events and people

capturing both their good and bad qualities. His literary works also
mentioned how he was able to preserve the culture of the Filipinos
through the use of mother tongue.
'Identity is the history that has gone into bone and blood and
reshaped the flesh. Identity is not what we were but we have become
what we are at this moment.'
- Nick Joaquin, Culture and History

'The identity of the Filipino today is a person asking what is his

identity.'
- Nick Joaquin
ALEJANDRO ROCES
 Alejandro 'Anding' Roces
Born: July 13, 1924
Died: May 23, 2011 (aged 86)
Cause of death: Complications from pneumonia, and was buried at
Libingan ng mga Bayani

Alejandro Roces was a Filipino author, essayist, dramatist and National

Artist on the Philippines for Literature.
 He served as the Secretary of Education from 1961 to 1965.
 In 2001, he was appointed as Chairman of the Movie and Television
Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
 He was also noted for his short stories.
 Alejandro was known as the 'Father of Maria Clara Awards'

NOTABLE LITERARY WORKS

My Brother's Peculiar Chicken- was listed as Martha Foley's Best
American
- It is a humorous story of a chicken which will lead us to ak, is it a hen
or a rooster?
Of Cocks and Kites - earned him the reputation as the country's best
writer humorous stories
- A short story. Cocks have significance in Church, and
also with the Sabungeros.
Something to Crow About - a collection of Roces' short stories.
-The staged version of Something to Crown About is the first Filipino
zarzuela in English. It's all about the story of a poor cockfighter named
Kiko who, to his wife's chagrin, pays more attention to the roosters than
her.

AWARDS

Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award

Rizal Pro Patria Award
 COMMON THEME OF THE AUTHOR'S WORK

Patriotism, people's point of view and the neglected aspects of the

Filipino Cultural Heritage.

IMPACT MADE IN THE PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Changing the date of Philippine Independence Day from July 4 to
June 12
Recovers the stolen original manuscripts of Noli Me Tangere,
El Filibusterismo and Mi ultimo Adios
Preservation of the neglected Filipino Cultural Heritage
His unflinching love of country led him to become a guerilla during
World War II, to defy Martial Law and to found the major opposition
party under the dictatorship.

FAMOUS QUOTE
'

'You cannot be a great writer, first, you have to be a good person.'

- Alejandro Roces
THE END ... THANK YOU :)