philippine literature

hi there... im doing a research on the lives of jose rizal and francisco balagtas... part of this research is the study of their works (noli me tangere, el filibusterismo, florante at laura, ibong adarna)... i know this is a long shot... i was just wondering if any of you have read any of these books...
if you have read them, i have a few questions for you...
1. what do you think about them?
2. what lessons/ ideas/ insights have you gained from these books?
3. would you recommend that others read them? why/ why not?...
i would greatly appreciate your help on this. thanks!...

*sighs* ...there are so many literatures in the world...this is one of the many (far too many) I don't know anything about :(:(:(

Never heard of it

hmmm... man, i knew this was a long shot... okay... i guess now i'll just ask if you've heard of any filipino writers and if you have any favorites...

i never heard of any filipino writers.

didn't know filipinos were literate...just kidding i'm just a moron who has never read any of their works...no offense about the illiterate thing...i use elipses a lot...damn...lots o' elipses...

Hello!
I'm from the Philippines too. I've read Florante and Laura and Noli Me Tangere. I'm halfway through of El Filibusterismo but I know the ending is.
I like the Noli better that El Fili. El Fili has a sad ending compared to Noli Me Tangere. It's tragic.
Noli is good because it shows the love story between Ibarra and Maria Clara. In this book Maria Clara knew her true identity that she's the daughter of a priest, Padre Damaso and she thought that Ibarra died and she decided to enter the nunnery.
On the other hand, Maria Clara died in El Fili and Simoun( Crisostomo Ibarra) suicided. It is such a sad story because Simoun tried so hard to rescue Maria Clara from the Nunnery yet he was too late in rescuing her. A few hours before he attempots to rescue her, Maria Clara died. All his suffering and sacrifices mean nothing at all that it is better that he'll die.

... not all filipinos are illiterate... although i must admit that over 60 % of all filipinos don't finish school due to poverty...

it's nice to know that i took my chances for something after all... im glad you're in this too optional... i have also read the noli and im also halfway through the el fili... man... no wonder they call these things national treasures... elias was my favorite character in noli while im beginning to like isagani from el fili... who are your favorites??

This is an old thread, but I would pretty much like to revive it. As you see, I'm a relatively new member :)
What happened to Ibarra, then, after they all lost sight of him? He didn't really die, did he? It was mentioned in the book, though not within the original story. I haven't finished El Fili yet, but so far I haven't seen anything much about Ibarra's new life, only snippets regarding his history.

I read the children's edition of Florante & Laura and Ibong Adarna back when I was in elementary school. I read Noli and Fili - in Pilipino!! - in high school, it was required reading. I cannot make a comment on them anymore, I read them too long ago. I do remember that Maria Clara and Ibarra were star-crossed lovers; Crispin's mother went mad. And Maria Clara was a friar's daughter, was she not?

Among the more modern Filipino writers, I find that F. Sionil Jose is good. Jessica Hagedorn is American, if I'm not mistaken, but I think she's part Pinay and she knows her Philippines. I have read her Dogeaters. It's quite a relevant story.

You're right. Granting that the school drop-out rate is high because of poverty, that does not necessarily mean that the population would be mostly illiterate. The most recent statistics show that the literacy rate in the Philippines is around 92.6. That is remarkably high for a "third-world country."

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Originally Posted by bbq13

... not all filipinos are illiterate... although i must admit that over 60 % of all filipinos don't finish school due to poverty...

it's nice to know that i took my chances for something after all... im glad you're in this too optional... i have also read the noli and im also halfway through the el fili... man... no wonder they call these things national treasures... elias was my favorite character in noli while im beginning to like isagani from el fili... who are your favorites??

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Say, bouquin, you're Pinoy too? Wow. :D That makes... 7 active pinoy members!!! Or maybe even more... see for yourself, Calling All Filipinos thread :p

Well yeah, Maria Clara was Padre Damaso's daughter; he secretly took advantage on Pia Alba (Kapitan Tiago's wife) upon figuring that Kapitan Tiago was impotent. Ma. Clara never got to see her mother; quite unfortunately Dona Pia died while giving birth. Crispin's mother--that's Sisa--she went mad when all things went wrong in her life. Crispin was murdered and Basilio was in trouble.

The story is actually vague, I must admit. Nevertheless Rizal was able to convey his thoughts on the social cancer that the Philippines was then suffering from under Spain's rule.

Brrrhhh.... Those remind me of my high school days.

I know that there is a modern version of Noli Me Tangere called "Noli Me Tangere 2", a book written by Roger Olivares, which aims to rekindle the nationalistic hearts of Filipinos. Instead of the story set in 1887 (El Fili was set 13 years after Noli, could be 1900-1901), it is now set in the 2000s (i think 2005, the website says "At last, after 118 years"). The Elias in the story is now an advisor to the President (where he is unable to stand the corruption and ineptness around him so he quits his job and joins the underground), Maria Clara is now a physician living in the slums, and Crisostomo Ibarra is now called Cris and returns to the Philippines after his studies abroad and finds the country in a terrible mess. As in the earlier novel, Cris tries to do something about it and dies in the attempt.

Here's the website.
http://www.noli2.com

wow didn't realize there was a modernized cersion of the old classic *cough: headache*

didn;t have the chance appreciate florante at laura. ibong adarna i didn;t get to really maximize; same with noli.. the reason for all of this being the language barrier; yes i'm pinay and i grew up here but i started speaking filiino in only first year (high school) so i didn;t get the lessons in school. el fili i really got to appreicate though, since we had a really good teacher and i was reading an english translation, which was well-written: The Reign of Greed, Charles Derbyshire. i felt like i was reading Les Mis, Victor Hugo. Derbyshire also has a version of Noli, The Social Cancer, which i havent really had the opportunity to crack open (let alone find).

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Originally Posted by amanda_isabel

wow didn't realize there was a modernized cersion of the old classic *cough: headache*

didn;t have the chance appreciate florante at laura. ibong adarna i didn;t get to really maximize; same with noli.. the reason for all of this being the language barrier; yes i'm pinay and i grew up here but i started speaking filiino in only first year (high school) so i didn;t get the lessons in school. el fili i really got to appreicate though, since we had a really good teacher and i was reading an english translation, which was well-written: The Reign of Greed, Charles Derbyshire. i felt like i was reading Les Mis, Victor Hugo. Derbyshire also has a version of Noli, The Social Cancer, which i havent really had the opportunity to crack open (let alone find).

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Whew. I am currently making a modern version of el filibusterismo, which will be either a film or a blog story. If you want to contribute. please state the modern counterparts of the characters (including the places, vehicles, events and even objects), include the modernized versions of the names if necessary. Thank you.

hi there! :) it's my first post here.. and I intend to make it useful.. I stumbled upon your post. and I think that I can share my ideas to you..
I think that the two famous authors did a good job in writing those novels. IT clearly depicts mostly about the Philippine history and culture. There are several life lessons which I learned from these books. The glory of finding true love, honesty, fairness, justice, the fruit of vengeance, etc.
I will surely recommend these books to others, all of them were really good! Especially El Filibusterismo. Once you get the chance to read it, you'll also feel the hate that Simon felt during those times when the country is being oppressed. :)

Kaya mo yan!
Patunayan mong isa kang Pinoy tulad ni Manny Pacquiao ipaglaban mo ang iyong katwiran.
Lolo M.

Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are compulsory reads in HS but I graduated without finishing those two novels. They're great ones but I think I have problems when it comes to the translations. These two novels (for the sake of non-Filipinos) are written in the Spanish language. (Being a Spanish major, I have tasked myself to read these two in Spanish but I have yet to find copies.)

Of the two, I must say that I like Noli better, with the tragic ending and all. (I read summarized versions and I listened well to my teachers that's why I know the story, despite not being able to read the two in their entirety.)

Just a brief summary of Noli and El Fili:
Crisostomo Ibarra returns home from years of study in Europe, and learns that his father was branded as a heretic, jailed, and was not given a Christian burial in death despite his being a decent and upright man. The reason was because of a dispute with a Spanish Friar, Padre Damaso. This friar would turn out to be the true father of Maria Clara, the love of Crisostomo's life, thus the two never married. (Of course I left out many important events...) Anyway, Crisostomo meets Elias, another unfortunate soul who suffered from the Spaniards. The two become friends. Because of the dispute between Damaso and Ibarra, the latter would be imprisoned on false charges. He escapes with the help of Elias who died.

The second novel begins with Ibarra, his name changed to Simon, on the ship bound to the Philippines. Now a bitter and disillusioned man, he plans on having revenge against those who made his life miserable, even willing to take the lives of the innocent people. He plans a revolution but ultimately fails and dies after confessing to a priest.

These are very brief summaries of the book. It would be best to read them to get to know all the hateful characters like Doña Victorina, a Filipina who pretends to be a of Spanish descent, Doña Consolacion, a fat ugly woman who covers her face with thick makeup making her look uglier and who mocks Sisa the crazy and of course Padre Damaso.

With these two novels, Rizal aimed to portray what he calls social cancer, the ills of his society during his time, as well as the abusive Spanish authorities, with special focus on the clergy.

Does anybody here read Bob Ong? He's the only Filipino writer whose works I read more than willingly. I like his style; he writes as though he were just narrating past experiences to a friend with a non-formal style. I like his funny comments on just about anything in the Philippine society, he's witty and satirical, not afraid to voice out his opinions.

I've read ABNKKBSNPLAko, which made me laugh so hard that my sisters thought I was going crazy, and Stainless Longganisa. Will be reading more of his works if I have the time.

ABNKKBSNPLAko is actually "Aba nakakabasa na pala ako???" ("Wow, so I can read now???") written in popular SMS Filipino style. It recounts Bob Ong's experiences as a student, told in a humorous way.

Stainless Longganisa (longganisa is a local sausage.) is about Bob Ong's life as a writer.

Yes, Jose Rizal is a classic. Much more profound and far reaching than one might expect. Noli inspired much of Benedict Anderson's early notions of formative nationalism in his outstanding book Imagined Communities. Check out also Vicente Rafael's book Contracting Colonialism. Write the paper! If your interested in more recent literature, there a great new collection of short stories out on the Philippines and the Diaspora called While the Blanket is Short, Learn to Curl Up, good, edgy stuff.