Professional Documents
Culture Documents
World Literature
World Literature
LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Some of the contemporary writers nowadays are quite adept at portraying their cultures
through fiction.
Some of these are:
a. Charlson Ong’s epic novel Banyaga, which narrates the plight of Chinese Filipino boys and
their hardships in the country
b. Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is set in Afghanistan and tells the story of two
women who are placed in a situation that leaves them no choice but to depend on each other
c. Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle tells the story of a man searching for
something and his tales of another world
d. and Chinua Achebe’s classic Things Fall Apart is all about a tribe in Africa that chronicles
its societal issues and battles against outside colonizing forces.
THE FILIPINO-CHINESE IN WORLD LITERATURE
• Ethnic Chinese and Native Filipinos have interacted with each other since the 9th century, when the
Chinese sailed toward the Philippines to barter and trade items.
• Some of them stayed in the islands and got married with the daughters of prominent tribes. Thus, the
history of the Chinese and Filipinos is very much intertwined not only in local history.
Throughout the history of the Philippines, an island located in the Pacific Ocean, their languages have
been influenced by many other language groups. The position of this country, made the opportunities for
trade of their neighbor countries in Asia much easier.
The Filipinos had their own literature, which has been passed from generation to generation orally.
Their oral literature prominently figures in community life and the subjects are common people experiences
such as their day to day situations, activities, and encounter with the nature.
Starting from the past, until today, some social events in the country have been accompanied by
poetry and music such as riddles or bugtong, proverbs or salawikain, songs or kundiman, fables, folktales,
myths, and legends.
LET US DISCUSS THESE ONE BY ONE.
Moving on to the next one, we have the songs. As the Filipinos are known to be music lovers,
music became a way for Filipinos to express their feelings and aspirations in life. Even the most
common people have their own music. Filipino folks clearly and lucidly express their experiences
and dreams through folk songs. Among the most popular traditional folk songs include “Bahay
Kubo”, “Paroparong Bukid”, “Magtanim ay ‘Di Biro”, and many others.
Undoubtedly, the most popular traditional Filipino folk song is “Bahay Kubo” (Nipa Hut). The
song tells of a small hut surrounded with a variety of vegetables. It was composed by Felipe de
Leon.
• Bahay kubo, kahit munti, ang halaman duon ay sari-sari. Singkamas at talong, Sigarilyas at mani.
Sitaw, bataw, patani. Kundol, patola, upo't kalabasa. At saka meron pa…
PROVERBS