Friday, February 18, 2011

LITERATURE SHAPING OUR FUTURE

 Spanish colonization of the Philippines began in 1565 but it was not until the late 19th century that significant writing in Spanish by Filipino emerged. A key reason for the late development is that while printing was introduced in 1593 (with the first book printed in the Philippines, Doctrina Cristiana), the conditions for a "culture of literacy" - particularly, the rise of journalism and an educational system based on letters - developed only in the 19th century. Between 1593 and 1800, only 541 books were published in the Philippines. Before 1800, the only noteworthy Filipino writers in Spanish were those who wrote religious literature, usually in collaboration with the Spanish missionaries.The slow development of the Spanish language also drew from the ambivalence of Spanish authorities concerning its promotion. Racist and colonialist notions dictated the dominant view that the learning of the language by Filipinos would foster among the colonial subjects a spirit of assertiveness and rebellion.The late 19th century was a watershed because of political, economic, and social changes that "opened up" the colony to the world. While the first newspaper in the Philippines, Del Superior Gobierno, came out in 1811, it was the second half of the 19the century that saw the rise of popular journalism, with the publication of papers like Diario de Manila (1848-52,1860-98) and El Comercio (1869-1925). The increase in publishing outlets fostered the writing of fiction and poetry, particularly among Spanish and Creole citizens of the colonial capital. Equally important, the reforms of 1865 marked the beginning of a secular public school system and efforts in promoting teacher training.
An important vehicle was the nationalist "Propaganda Movement" carried out by Filipinos in Europe and the Philippines. The generation of the Propaganda Movement produced a major wave of literary activity. The most important figure is that of Jose Rizal (1861-1896), who produced, among many other writings, Noli me Tangere(1887) and El Filibusterismo (1891) which remain, to this day, the most important novels written by a Filipino. Important writers of Rizal's generation include Pedro Paterno (1858-1911), Marcelo H. del Pilar (1850-1896), Graciano Lopez-Jaena (1856-1896), and Mariano Ponce (1863-1918). The organ of the Propaganda Movement in Spain, La Solidaridad (1889-1895), was the leading medium for 19th-century nationalist writings in Spanish.  The end of Spanish rule in 1898 and the first decades of the American occupation saw a surge of literary activity in Spanish. Factors for this surge include the spread of secular and liberal ideas, advances in public education, and the expansion of journalism and book publishing. A key factor, too, was the language situation in the early 20th century. Three languages contended as medium for expression -- the native language (whether Tagalog, Iloko, Cebuano, or some other Philippine language), Spanish (the language of the educated elite), and English (then in the process of being propagated in the U.S. -sponsored public school system). In this transition, Spanish persisted as a medium, particularly for the generation schooled in the Spanish system.
As for now, I will go for it. Why ? It is because through literature, we learn more things and we can have the ideas about  our history.  So we can give our thoughts , opinions or comments for the fact of the story . We can also give meaning for those phrase. And for me, there is no such bad thnings for this issue. As we all know , literature can be communicate to us. It is simply implied the reality or fact of our yesterday.It is important for us to know our history. Therefore, the literature is used as a medium for us. Just try to catch up and try to learn something.It is good that somehow, you have a knowledge for our history,

1 comment:

  1. A short message for this is , i will not be against for that .

    ReplyDelete