Summary of Philippine Literature in English: Tradition and Change

Due to the influence of the Americans after the Spanish-American War in 1898, Filipino writers started using English as the medium in writing literature. Main reasons for this were that English was not only used in all the schools in our country but it was also by people of high stature and by foreigners that come in and out of our country.

Filipinos also became proficient with several languages as an advantage of being colonized by several countries for almost four centuries. This opened them up to the works and advancements of the different countries of the world. But not everyone was pleased with this. Some scholars claim that the Filipinos are becoming too westernized thus making them neglect their Asian values. English not only changed our medium of communication but also our way of life. And as a countermeasure for this, the government demanded the writers before to establish their own identities as Filipinos and to not be bound by the principles of Romanticism. Unfortunately writers still continued developing their skills in English thus resulting to them being truly westernized.

Marcos’ political regime, EDSA revolution and the “Cory Miracle” were events that happened years after that not only influenced the Filipino’s history, but also their literature. Today, writers realized that enhancing their skill can aid them in the field of politics. The faction between those who prefer writing in their own tongue and those who write in English were also born. We are not certain as to how long will Philippine Literature in English continue to exist, but surely, it has become part of our cultural history.

Several writers today improved their craft by not brooding too much on the issue concerning language but instead, gave importance to