The Rebirth of Freedom (1946-1970)

Historical Background in the Post War-Contemporary Period

• The Americans returned to the Philippines in 1945 to end the Japanese rule.
• The Filipinos were jubilant and the Guerillas who fled in the mountains joined the liberating
American Army.
• It is also known as the “Recovering Era.”
• It is a period when Philippines gained independence from both America and Japan.

The Philippine Literature during the Post War-Contemporary Period:

• It is the transitional period in Philippine literature from the American style to the modern style
of writing
• The post liberation period was marked by a “struggle of mind and spirit” posed by the sudden
emancipation from the Japanese rule and the strong desire to experience the freedom of
writing.
• The Filipinos learned to express themselves more confidently but post war problems in
connection to language and print – like economic stability, the threat of
new ideas and morality-had to be dealt with side by side.
• The newspapers like the Free Press, Morning Sun of Sergio Osmena
Sr., Daily Mirror of Joaquin Roces, Evening News of Ramon Lopez and
the Bulletin of Menzi, proved that there were more readers in English
than in any other vernaculars like Tagalog, Ilocano or Hiligaynon during this period.
• Published in 1946, Ginto Sa Makiling – a novel by Macario Pineda, is the first work of note
that appeared after the second world war.
• A famous Tagalog novelist named Lazaro Francisco produced three more novels, Sugat Sa
Alaala (1950) reflects the horrors of the war experience as well as the human capacity for
nobility, endurance, and love under the most extreme circumstances. Maganda Pa Ang
Daigdig (1956) deals with the agrarian issue, and Daluyong (1962) deals with the corruption
bred by the American-style and American-educated pseudo-reformers. Lazaro Francisco is a
realist with social and moral ideals. The Rizal influence on his work is profound.
• The poet Amado Hernandez, who was also union leader and social activist, also wrote novels
advocating social change. Luha ng Buwaya (1963) (Lumbera) deals with the struggle between
the oppressed peasantry and the class of politically powerful landlords. Mga Ibong Mandaragit
(1969) deals with the domination of Filipinos by American industry

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• Post-war poetry and fiction were dominated by the writers in English educated and trained in
writers’ workshops in the United States or England.
• Most of these writers returned to the Philippines to teach. With their credentials and solid
reputations, they influenced the form and direction of the next generation mainly in accordance
with the dominant tenets of the formalist New Critics of America and England.
• The Philippine novel, whether written in English or any of the native languages, has remained
social-realist.
• Sa Ngalan Ng Ina (1997) was written during this period by prize-winning poet-critic Lilia
Quindoza Santiago, is, to date, the most comprehensive compilation of feminist writing in the
Philippines.

The Challenges Faced by the Government:

• In the 1950s, the Guerilla warfare, also known as the HUKBALAHAP, (Hukbong Bayan Laban
sa Hapon) was causing problems in the government, but in the Magsaysay administration,
they vanished, neutralized, or were gone.

• During this period, journalists indulged in more militant attitude in their reporting. Gradually,
as peace and order were restored, the tones and themes of their writings turned to the less
pressing problems of economic survival.

The Characteristics of Philippine Literature during the Post War-Contemporary Period:

1. Romanticism
2. Nationalism
3. Independence
4. Nature
5. Expression of Feelings

Filipino Writers During the Post-War Period

1. N.V.M. Gonzales (1915-1999)
• Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez, better known as N.V.M.
Gonzalez, fictionist, essayist, poet, and teacher, articulated the
Filipino spirit in rural, urban landscapes.

• Born in the Philippines in 1915 in the province of Oriental Mindoro,

Gonzalez conveyed enthusiasm for music at a very early age. He
discovered to perform the violin and made his own guitars by
hand. For college, he studied at National University at Manila,
Philippines, but did not finish his degree.

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 • Gonzalez published his initial essay in the Philippine Graphic and his first poem was
printed in 1934. These early publications began Gonzalez’s literary career. He went to The
Diliman Review and worked as a member on the Board of Advisers of Likhaan: The
University of the Philippines Creative Writing Center and president of the Philippine
Writers’ Association.

• Gonzalez’ absence of college degree did not stop him from pursuing teaching, and he
received teaching positions at numerous universities in the Philippines, including the
University of the Philippines (U.P) and the Philippine Women’s University. In fact,
Gonzalez was one of only two faculty members at U.P. to teach without holding a college
degree. Since then, he has taught at several universities in California.

• During his writing career, Gonzalez wrote five novels, eight short fictions and multiple
essays, with his work translated into languages like English, Chinese, German, Russian,
and Indonesian.

• Gonzalez has received numerous awards including the City of Manila Medal of Honor in
1971, the Cultural Center of the Philippines award in 1990, and the role of Regents
professor at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1988-9.

• Gonzalez passed away in 1999 at the age of 84, leaving behind his wife, four children,
and five grandchildren. In 2016, Gonzalez’s son, Dr. Michael Gonzalez, led an N.V.M.
Gonzalez Workshop in Oriental Mindoro. This workshop was in honor of the 2015
centenary of Gonzalez’s birth and was held in the province of Gonzalez’s childhood.

Source: https://english.colostate.edu/news/filipino-american-history-month-n-v-m-gonzalez/
Retrieved July 10, 2020

The Bamboo Dancers

N.V.M. Gonzalez
Summary

The Bamboo Dancers is a historical novel by Filipino novelist NVM Gonzalez. Published
in 1959 by Bookmark, this novel follows the travels of an Americanized Filipino man and his
struggles to embrace his own roots in rural culture. Praised for its subtlety and careful handling
of culture clashes, The Bamboo Dancers is one of a series titled Filipino Literary Classics. Prior
to his death in 1999, Gonzalez received both the 1960 Philippine Cultural Heritage Award for
Literature, and the 1961 Rizal Pro-Patria Award. He received National Artist status in 1997.

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 The narrative follows the journey of protagonist Ernie Rama.
Ernie is a sculptor with a study grant in the United States. He is aloof
and avoids becoming involved with anyone. He has only a passing
understanding of his Filipino roots and does not have any clear
identity. As part of his journey, Ernie receives the opportunity to
travel. His travels and his work bring him into contact with other
Filipinos who, like him, have left the rural culture behind and are
fulfilling their ambitions in the West. Firstly, while still in the US, Ernie
meets an old acquaintance – a girl working in the US on a writers’
fellowship.

Ernie and this young girl begin an affair. They spend a week living together in a borrowed
New York apartment. Because of their sexual relationship, the young girl questions her morality,
and the pair decide to marry. However, it is not long before she changes her mind. She instead
becomes engaged to a young and emerging American writer, Herb Lane, who joins the USIS
and has an interest in the Far East. They begin their travels to the Philippines, so they can be
married. However, Herb dies on the way and the girl is referred to a hospital on obstetric
grounds.

Meanwhile, Ernie learns his brother is in California. He works as a resident physician in

a local hospital. After leaving his wife and child in Manila, he pursued a sexual relationship with
a young nurse. The relationship, however, does not last long, and he sets off home to reunite
with his family. When he goes home to Manila, he returns with many luxury goods, including a
car and a television. After being apart for so long, he finds he no longer has a functional
relationship with his wife, and he does not feel any real affection towards her. He is also not on
good terms with a housemaid, who feels threatened by him sexually and goes out of her way
to avoid him. Again, the reader observes all of this through Ernie’s perspective, but is left with
the sense none of it affects him as it perhaps should.

While in New York, Ernie meets three other Filipinos – a young man and his two
girlfriends with which he shows restrained public affection. There is a sense that all these
characters are inherently disconnected and floating through life on the surface. Ernie travels to
Japan where he learns of the tragedies around Hiroshima. Again, he seems unmoved by the
bomb casualties and does not let anything affect him. Furthermore, Ernie learns Herb is not the
gentleman he believes him to be. Herb, who dies in Taipeh, attacks his fiancé in a drunken
brawl and subsequently runs over a Chinese girl. His actions, combined, cause an anti-
American demonstration.

Ernie continues to show no genuine interest in his brother’s problems or his old fiancé’s
plight. He shows no remorse and is seemingly unaffected by the breakdown of their own
relationship. To make matters worse, at the end of the novel, Ernie suffers a near-death
experience. He almost drowns. Surprisingly, no one seems to notice or be affected by it, and

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Ernie does not tell anyone. There is a sense that Ernie questions his identity, but this is a
question left unresolved by the end of the story. Death in this context may be a metaphor for
the death of one cultural identity and the embracing of another, with no real harmony between
the two.

Throughout, Gonzalez uses bamboo dancing as a symbol.

Bamboo dancing, or tinikling, is a traditional Filipino dance which
involves the beating of bamboo sticks together. This symbolizes
the clashing of two ideologies – local Filipino culture and imported
Western elements. It may also serve as a reminder of the dangers
inherent in traveling and losing a sense of identity. In the Bamboo
Dancers, Gonzalez deliberately uses a detached narrative
perspective to reinforce Ernie’s personality problems and the
overall apathy experienced by the characters in the book.
Readers are left with the feeling that these characters could be anyone suffering a similar
cultural disenchantment.

Source: https://www.supersummary.com/the-bamboo-dancers/summary/
Retrieved July 11, 2020

2. Macario Pineda (1912-1950)

• Macario Pineda was born on April 10, 1912 in Malolos, Bulacan.
His parents, Felisa de Guzman and Nicanor Pineda are
established poetical debater. Macario Pineda married Avelina
Reyes and they had seven children. He finished his high school
studies at Bulacan High School and worked afterwards in the
municipality office.

• Macario Pineda is a well-known Filipino writer. He is a renowned

author because of his Tagalog works. Even though he wrote
some stories in English, all his writings in Filipino were much
appreciated by the readers. He also authored works in
Liwayway, Malaya, Bulaklak, Ilang-ilang, Daigdig, at Sinag-tala.

• His works shows distinctive characterization and remarkable

narration. Readers are astounded with his works because he uses native contexts,
excellent use of the Filipino language which reflects traditional Filipino customs. His works
were always included in the list of the anthology of the great writers, Ang 25
Pinakamabuting Maikling Kathang Pilipino ng 1943 and Maikling Kuwentong Tagalog,
1886-1948.

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 Ginto sa Makiling
Macario Pineda
Summary
Nagsimula ang kwento sa pagtatakda sa isang mamahayag na alamin ang pagkawala
ng isang matandang dalaga sa paraang di maipaliwanag. Ang naatasan ay matagal nang
nadinig ang kwento na itinuturing palang isang kwento ng pag-ibig sa lugar. Agad nitong
pinuntahan ang tiyuhin na si Doro na nakasaksi sa kaganapan na ito mula pa nang pagkabata.
Si Edong ay isang binatang umiibig sa dalagang si Sanang nang habang nangunguha
ng bulaklak na Dapong sa isang napakarikit na hampas ay nakapinsala sa pugad ng ibon. Sa
kagandahang loob ni Edong at pagnanais sagipin ang inakay na nawalay, ay nahulog ito sa
mataas na bangin. Hinanap ng mga kasamahan nito si Edong o ang bangkay nito, ngunit wala
silang nakuha at pinagpalagay nang patay ito. Nagdulot ito ng labis na kalungkutan kay
Sanang. Sa ikalawang linggo ng pagluluksa ni Sanang na kinasaksihan ng buong baryo, sa
unang pagkakataon ay nagpasya siya muling lumabas ng tahanan. Bigla sa araw ding iyon
lumitaw si Edong, maayos ang kalagayan liban sa kaunting pag ika- ika ng paglakad. Ito ay
ikinagulat ng lahat maging ni Sanang.
Dito pinagtapat ni Edong kay Sanang ang pangyayaring sumagip sa buhay nito at
babago sa kanilang buhay. Kinailangang bumalik ni Edong sa Makiling at sa pagkakataong ito
ay isinama nya ang musmos na si Doro sa mahiwagang bayan na tanging musmos lang at
mga karapat dapat ang makatutuntong. Dito nananahan si Maria Makiling kasama ang iba pang
kinapal na nakaambag sa kabutihan ng lahi.
Ito’y mundong di nalalayo sa panahong iyon
liban sa ang mga suliraning binubunga ng
kasakiman ng tao ay di umiiral. Dito na
mananahan si Edong na kung tutuusin ay
kinuha na ng kamatayan ngunit dahil sa
kagandahang loob ay nabigyan ng pagkakataong mabuhay muli sa mahiwagang bayang ito.
Dito pumapasok ang suliranin ng kwento pagkat ang hinahayaan lang mamuhay dito ay ang
piniling ilan at natapos na ang buhay sa natural na mundo. Gaano man kamahal ni Edong si
Sanang at gaano man ang kabutihan nito ay di maaaring manahan sa bayan ng Makiling, liban
sa kung malalampasam nito ang pagsubok na itinakda ni Maria Makiling.Bumalik si Edong at
Doro dala ang regalo nila Maria Makiling at ng isa pang mahiwagang babae na si Urduha para

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 kay Sanang, regalong babago sa buhay di lamang ng buhay ni Sanang kundi kasabay ng
pamilya nito(isang bayong ng ginto). Dito nasubok ang katatagan at karupukan ng mga tauhan
sa kwento, naglitawan ang mga suliraning hindi gumambala noong payak pa ang pamumuhay
ng pamilya. Mula rin nito ay di na makikita ni Sanang ang kasintahan hanggang malampasan
ang pagsubok na itinakda.
Source: https://brainly.ph/question/1003058
Retrieved July 12, 2020

3. Stevan Javellana (1918–1977)

Stevan Javellana was a Filipino novelist and short story writer in the
English language. He is also known as Esteban Javellana.

Javellana was born in 1918 in Iloilo. He fought as a guerrilla during the

Japanese invasion of the Philippines. After World War II, he graduated
from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1948. He stayed
in the United States afterwards but he died in the Visayas in 1977 at the
age of 59.

Javellana was the author of a best-selling war novel in the United States
and Manila, Without Seeing the Dawn, published by Little, Brown and Company in Boston in 1947.
His short stories were published in the Manila Times Magazine in the 1950s, among which are
Two Tickets to Manila, The Sin of Father Anselmo, Sleeping Tablets, The Fifth Man, The Tree of
Peace and Transition. Without Seeing the Dawn, also known as The Lost Ones, is his only novel.
The novel is also a requirement for the Grade 7 students of the University of the Philippines Rural
High School.

Source: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/843434.Stevan_Javellana
Retrieved July 12, 2020

Without Seeing the Dawn

Stevan Javellana
Summary

Set in a small farming village called Manhayang, Sta. Barbara, somewhere in Negros.
Like most rural baranggays, the hardworking and closely-knit village folk there had simple
needs, simple wants, and simple dreams. They were living their own simple lives when the
violence of war reached their place and brought death to their village, their homes and their
hearts.

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 Here revolves the story of Ricardo "Carding" Suerte, son of Juan Suerte. An industrious,
strong and sometimes quick-tempered young man, he aspired to marry Lucia, the daughter of
the teniente del barrio. Though his father thought he was not yet prepared and had wished to
send him to school, he gave his blessing to the decision of his son. He consented to asking
Lucia’s hand from her parents in the traditional pamamanhikan, accompanied by the village’s
best orator and the godmother of the lass. After agreeing to the conditions of the village chief,
the marriage was set. Tatay Juan gathered up almost all of his hard-earned savings for the
dowry and expenses for the wedding feast. In the meantime, Carding excitedly built their house
despite the advice of the elderly- that building one’s house in May will bring misfortune to its
inhabitants.
And so it came to pass that after the grand wedding and the feast that followed- which
was even attended by their representate- the newlyweds lived happily on the land entrusted to
Tatay Juan by Don Diego, but not for long. Misfortune struck early when their first child was
stillborn. A more difficult trial came when Lucing disgraced herself, her family and her husband
by having an affair with Luis, the son of their landlord. Caught naked, he was beaten up by the
strong, angry husband whose honor and pride were hurt. The couple patched things up, but
the land that Carding and Juan Suerte had been tilling for a very long time was given to another
tenant. With no land to till, the pair tried their luck in the city. There, in Iloilo, Carding met Rosing
and Nestong. The latter was his fellow stevedore and union member, and the former, a
prostitute besotted with him, and also the reason why his wife left him and returned to their
barrio. Soon, Carding followed Lucing with news that the representante entrusted them with
land to till in Badlan. Lucing too, had news for her husband: she was again pregnant.
They moved to Badlan and worked harder than ever. They were blessed not only by a
promise of a bountiful harvest, but also with a healthy son they named Crisostomo. Sadly, their
landlord sold the land, and they were given time to harvest what they sowed. Misfortune was
like a shadow though. A great flood destroyed everything that they had- harvest and carabao
as well.

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 Wanting to own their own piece of land, they were convinced to move to Mindanao, but
Carding was drafted for military service. When he returned, he found his wife heavy with
another child. At first, the truth was kept from him. What he knew was
that his father and his son died of some illness. But later it was revealed
that the Japanese soldiers who attacked their village killed his father
and son and raped his wife. He was enraged when he learned the truth.
As his neighbors, relatives and friends in barrio Manhayang were
tortured, raped and massacred by the Japanese soldiers, Carding too
became an executioner to his enemies, and not even his friend nor the brother of his mother-
in-law were spared. He also almost killed the child that his wife had just delivered, were it not
born dead. For that, Lucing was so enraged that she sent him away.
The Japanese ordered everyone to enter a collective barrio or else be considered
guerrilla supporters and be shot. But the villagers of Manhayang also refused to be considered
enemies of their own sons, and so they decided to evacuate in barrios farther away. However,
Lucing was hesitant to go. She was waiting to see her husband despite everything, knowing
that he will be leading the suicide attack to the Japanese garrison. When they did see each
other, Carding asked for her forgiveness and left her what cash he had as he bade her farewell.
In the end, Lucing refused to flee for she knew that she was still his wife, duty-bound to receive
the corpse of her beloved husband.
Source:
http://ice-wherethegreengrassgrow.blogspot.com/2010/09/summary-of-stevan-javellanas-
without.html?m=1
Retrieved July 12, 2020