LITERATURE DURING THE AMERICAN REGIME

AMERICAN ENGLISH ( A NEW LANGUAGE )

- Americans went into intensive effort to propagate their language
- American Teachers were sent to the Philippines to teach English to the Filipinos

EGALITARIAN PUBLIC-SCHOOL SYSTEM

- EPBS was an added factor that facilitated the linguistic change
- Were open to anyone who could afford it – rich or poor alike

The University of the Philippines (1908)

initially had American Professors who taught many Filipinos to write in English.
In less than two (2) decades, Filipinos were writing literary works about the daily lives of
the Filipinos using the English language as their medium.

The Philippine Collegian, a U.P School Organization

– provided an outlet for the literature produced by the students and the faculty as well.

NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

- The Philippine Review (1916)
- The Citizen (1918)
- Philippine National Weekly (1917) Filipino-owned periodicals
- The Rising Philippines (1918)
- The Philippine Republic (1923)

The College Folio

- published by the students of the College of Philosophy, Science, and Letters of U.P.
was the first student publication of the State University. It contained some of the
better production of the Filipino Writers in 1920’s
The Philippine Free Press
- was the most popular periodical publication in English. It was the first magazine that
gave serious attention to the development of the short story
PERIOD OF IMITATION, CHANGES IN CONTENT, AND STYLE
- The early literary outputs were characterized as parochial in content.
- Fiction and Drama dealt with one’s self and romantic love affairs
- Writers tried to imitate models both from England and the United States such as
Hemingway, O. Henry, Saroyan, etc.
Dr. George Pope Shannon
Writing in The Literary Apprentice of 1982 listed the “inexcusables” imputed to the
nascent Filipino Literature in English as follows: slovenly versification, bad grammar,
and idiom inappropriate or meaningless diction, vague or confused imagery.

A STEADY GROWTH IN FORM

Novel Writing
Was among the first arts to be attempted by the Filipino Writers. Among the early
writers were:
1. Steven Javellana – “Without Seeing the Dawn” published in 1947
2. N. V. Gonzales – “The Winds of April” in 1941