Philippine & world literature essentials

Why this matters for the LET

The General Education English portion regularly asks you to match an author to a work, identify a literary period, or recognize a world masterpiece and its author. These are recall items with no computation: the reward is fast, guaranteed points if you memorize the anchors below. Focus on names, exact titles, and one or two identifying facts each.

José Rizal and the two novels

Rizal is the single most tested Filipino author. Know these cold:

• Noli Me Tangere (1887, published in Berlin): Latin for "Touch Me Not," taken from the Bible (John 20:17). It exposes the abuses of Spanish friars and colonial society. Central character: Crisóstomo Ibarra; his love interest is María Clara; the tormented madwoman is Sisa, mother of Basilio and Crispín; the mysterious Elías represents the oppressed masses.
• El Filibusterismo (1891, published in Ghent): the darker sequel, dedicated to Gomburza (Fathers Gómez, Burgos, and Zamora). Ibarra returns disguised as the wealthy jeweler Simoun, plotting revolution. Padre Florentino delivers the closing moral that freedom is not won through corruption and violence.

Other Rizal facts that appear: his farewell poem "Mi Último Adiós" ("My Last Farewell"), written on the eve of his execution (December 30, 1896); and his essay "The Indolence of the Filipinos" (Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos).

Francisco Balagtas and early Tagalog literature

• Francisco Balagtas (Baltazar): "Prince of Tagalog Poets," author of "Florante at Laura" (c. 1838), an awit set in fictional Albania that allegorically criticized Spanish rule.
• Older forms to recognize: the epiko (ethno-epics) such as Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilocano), Hinilawod (Panay-Visayan), Hudhud and Alim (Ifugao), Darangen (Maranao, source of the Singkil dance); the awit (12-syllable lines) and korido (8-syllable lines); and Andrés Bonifacio's poem "Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa."

National Artists for Literature (frequently tested)

Author	Known for
Amado V. Hernández	Mga Ibong Mandaragit; social-realist novels/poems
Nick Joaquin	The Woman Who Had Two Navels; "May Day Eve"
N.V.M. Gonzalez	The Bamboo Dancers
Bienvenido Lumbera	poet, critic (Filipino literature)
F. Sionil José	the Rosales Saga (e.g., Po-on [English title Dusk], Mass)
Virgilio Almario (Rio Alma)	poet; former Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino chair
Carlos P. Romulo	I Walked with Heroes; Pulitzer Prize journalist

Also remember Lope K. Santos ("Father of Tagalog Grammar" / Ama ng Balarila, wrote the first Tagalog social novel Banaag at Sikat) and Severino Reyes ("Father of Tagalog Zarzuela," wrote Walang Sugat and the Lola Basyang stories).

Philippine literary periods (in order)

1. Pre-colonial: oral: epics, riddles (bugtong), proverbs (salawikain), folk songs.
2. Spanish (1565-1898): religious and secular verse; pasyon, awit/korido, Balagtas, the Propaganda Movement (Rizal, del Pilar, López Jaena's La Solidaridad).
3. American (1898-1946): English introduced; Paz Márquez-Benítez's "Dead Stars" (1925) is regarded as the first modern Filipino short story in English.
4. Japanese (1941-1945): Tagalog revived; underground and haiku/tanaga writing.
5. Post-war / Contemporary (1946-present): Palanca Awards, protest literature, regional writing.

World masterpiece highlights

• Greek epics: Iliad and Odyssey by Homer.
• Epic of Gilgamesh: oldest known epic (Mesopotamia).
• The Divine Comedy: Dante Alighieri (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso).
• Don Quixote: Miguel de Cervantes (often called the first modern novel).
• Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth: William Shakespeare.
• The Odyssey of ideas: Iliad = the Trojan War (Achilles' wrath); Odyssey = Odysseus's journey home.
• Mahabharata / Ramayana: Indian epics (the Ramayana influenced Southeast Asian dance-drama and has a Maranao retelling, Maharadia Lawana).
• Noli/Fili's genre cousin: Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: a social-protest novel often paired conceptually with Rizal's work.

Memory tip: the LET loves author-to-work matching. Drill "who wrote ___?" in both directions until each pairing is automatic.

Quick self-check

1. Who is the disguised protagonist of El Filibusterismo, and what is his profession? (Simoun; a wealthy jeweler: Crisóstomo Ibarra in disguise.)
2. What awit by Francisco Balagtas is set in fictional Albania? ("Florante at Laura.")
3. Which 1925 work is considered the first modern Filipino short story in English, and who wrote it? ("Dead Stars" by Paz Márquez-Benítez.)
4. Match: Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Iliad. (Dante Alighieri; Miguel de Cervantes; Homer.)