LITERATURE AFTER EDSA

1986-1995

The year 1986 demarcates the beginning of

new scene in the unfolding narrative of
contemporary Philippine Literature.
It saw the fall of the dictatorship that
President Marcos set up on September 21,
1972, when he placed the Philippines under
martial rule, initiating a regime that did not
only suppress the writers right to free
expression but also created conditions that
made collaboration and cooptation
convenient choices for artists struggling for
recognition and survival.
- Writing under the Martial Law Regime was
characterized by militancy and belligerence,
even when it showed up in the legal press.
Especially after the assassination of Ninoy
Aquino in 1983, the temper of poetry and
theatre derived much of its heat and direction
from the political culture of the underground
national democratic movement.
However, when the enemy were overthrown
in 1986, the literary activity showed a certain
disorientation manifesting itself in a
proliferation of concerns taken up by
individual writers and groups.
Post EDSA: 2 Creative Writing centers

Academic institutions where Creative

Writing is a part of the curricular
offerings.
Writers organizations that periodically
sponsor symposia on writer and/or set
up workshops for its members and
other interested parties

Through these centers that writers get to hear

about new developments in writing, and
derive
enthusiasm for their crafts.
Writers Organizations
- UMPIL (Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng
Pilipino)
- GAT (Galian sa Arte)
- Katha
- LIRA (Linangan sa Imahe, Retorika at Anyo)

- GUMIL (Gunglo Dagiti Manunurat nga

Ilokano)
- LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya)
- PEN ( Pen, Essay and Novel)
- PANULAT (Pambansang Unyon ng
Manunulat)

mga

- Panday Lipi
Post EDSA
La Tondea, sponsors of the venerable Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature, has
made the name Palanca a synonym for
quality literary works in both English and
Filipino.
The National Commission for Culture and the
Arts (NCAA) was created by law in 1992. It
has a Committee on Literary Arts which funds
workshops, conferences, publications and a
variety of projects geared towards the
production of a national literature. The
committee has the aim of developing writing
that is multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and truly
national.
Non-governmental organizations have helped
hand in hand with some institutions in giving
recognition to writers from specific sectors in
the society. These NGO's includes the Amado
V. Hernandez Foundation; the GAPAS
foundation, and the KAIBIGAN.
Campus publications are another group of
outlet that is of importance as a source of
non-traditional, experimental writing. These
campus publications could either be a weekly
student newspapers, quarterly magazines, or
annual literary journals.
Overall, the character of the Philippine
literary scene after "EDSA" maybe pinpointed
be referring to the theories that inform
literary production, to the products issuing
from the publishers, to the dominant concerns
demonstrated by the writers' output, and to
the direction towards which literary studies
are tending.

LITERATURE AFTER EDSA

1986-1995

Characteristics of Post EDSA Literature

1. There is in the academe an emerging
critical orientation that draws its concerns and
insights from literary theorizing current in
England and the United States
2. Post-EDSA publishing has been marked by
adventurousness, a willingness to gamble on
"non-traditional" projects.
3. The declining prestige of the New Criticism,
whose rigorous aesthetic norms has
previously functioned as a Procrustean bed on
which Filipino authors and their works were
measured, has opened a gap in the critical
evaluation of literary works.
4. The fourth and final characteristic of postEDSA writing is the development thrust
towards the retrieval and the recuperation of
writing in Philippine languages other than
Tagalog.
Characteristics of Contemporary
Literature
English and Filipino continue to be the major
media of literature.
Literature as a venue for socio-politicoeconomic-religious discussions and a vehicle
for personal thoughts and feelings has
become more marked.
Literary themes cover a wide range of
subjects most outstanding among which are
existentialism and the search for identity in
varying levels and settings, deception and
violence perpetuated by those in power,
grinding poverty especially in the countrysides and in some cities, nationalism, tenantlandlord relationship, human rights violation
and the search for the desaparecidos, and the
Filipino diaspora and the experiences of
overseas Filipino workers(OFWs) and
migrants.
The Anglo-American tradition, which includes
the free verse and the blank verse, gained
acceptance among writers.

The Euro-Hispanic tradition was blended with

the tradition of propaganda and revolutionary
literature to become a truly Filipino tradition.
The 60s and the 70s saw the resurgence of
cause-oriented literature. This militancy,
although markedly toned down, has continued
to the present.
Further development of regional literatures
has been given a stronger impetus through
the inclusion of regional literary masterpieces
in the college curriculum.
Filipino writers have become more conscious
of their craft as shown by the regular conduct
of writing workshops (Godinez-Ortega 6).

Contemporary Literary Types

Modern Poetry This is a new style of poetry
writing in Tagalog, a deviation from the highly
rimed, declamatory tradition known for many
centuries.
Modern Short Story These are stories set in
the Philippines in the English language
The Novel
Essay
Drama
FAMOUS AUTHORS AND THEIR NOTABLE
WORKS

Lilia Quindoza Santiago - a writer

and editor. Her works focus on
feminism in the lives of the indigenous
people, the Ilocanos, and other ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines.

One of the famous Poetry that Lilia

Santiago popularized during her time is
the "Tula Sa Sanaysay"

Charlson L. Ong - resident fellow of

the Institute of Creative Writing and
fictionist,scriptwriter and singer
extraordinaire.

LITERATURE AFTER EDSA

1986-1995

The Blue Angel, White Shadow, a

popular novel written by Charlson Ong.

Jose Dalisay Jr. -. Dalisay was a writer

whose expertise is cover upon Fiction,
poetry, drama, nonfiction and
screenplay.

Killing Time in a Warm Place, a novel

popularized by Jose Dalisay.

Ricardo Lee - Ricky Lee is a Filipino

writer.He has written more than 150
film scripts since 1973, earning him
more than 50 trophies from various
award-giving bodies. Lee is also a
fictionist, a journalist, and a playwright.

Sa wakas, nagbalik na ang nawawala.

Famous line of Ricardo Lee in his novel,
the Kabilang sa mga Nawawala.

Danton R. Remoto - is a Filipino

writer, essayist, reporter, editor,
columnist, and professor. Remoto was a
first prize recipient at the ASEAN LetterWriting Contest for Young People.

Popularized the poem Antipolo Vender.

Marjorie Evasco - is an awardwinning Filipino poet. She writes in two

languages: English and CebuanoVisayan and is a supporter of women's
rights, especially of women writers.
Marjorie Evasco is one of the earliest
Filipina feminist poets.

Segada Stills In A Floating World, one

of the poetry popularized by Marjorie
Evasco during the post literature period.

Ruth Elynia S. Mabanglo - is a

professor at the Center for Southeast
Asian Studies at the University of
Hawaii at Manoa. She is the coordinator
for the Department of Hawaiian and
Indo-Pacific languages and literatures
as well as the Filipino and Philippine

Literature Program. Her most recent

publications were "Balada ni Lola
Amonita" and "The Ballad of Lola
Amonita" in Babaylan
Joi Barrios - She is the author/editor of
more than a dozen books, among them,
her canonical work, To Be a Woman is
To Live at a Time of War, and Savage
Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater
Company. For her contributions to
literature, she was among the 100
women chosen as Weavers of History
for the Philippine Centennial
Celebration. In 2004, she received the
TOWNS (Ten Outstanding Women in the
Nations Service) Award in the
Philippines. Kasalo is popularized by
her.

LITERATURE AFTER EDSA

1986-1995

Pinlac, Jaimielyn
Guilalas, Rishia
Limueco, Mariel
Roda, Mary Angelyn
Vendivil, Apple Jane
BIT-FT 3A
Reporter :