A Child of Sorrow
A Child of Sorrow
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Novel by Zolio Galang
A Child of Sorrow is a 1921 novel by the Filipino author Zoilo Galang. It is considered the first Philippine novel written in English. Critics have suggested that the novel was heavily influenced by the sentimentalism of the Tagalog prose narratives of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Modeled after popular nineteenth century romances written in Spanish and Tagalog, A Child of Sorrow is a classic coming of age tale engaged with themes of friendship, desire, and the loss of innocence. Simple and heartfelt, A Child of Sorrow remains a groundbreaking work of literature from an author who dedicated his career to education and the arts.
"In one of the rural and sequestered plains of Central Luzon, called the Fertile Valley, where the rice fields yielded the cup of joy to the industrious farmers, and where the harvest filled aplenty the barns of the poor, there lived simple, homely people, free from the rush and stir of city life." In this idyllic setting, Lucio and Camilo discuss their plans for summer vacation. While Lucio, a dreamer "who painted brilliant lives on the nice canvas of memory," wants to immerse himself in his collection of books, Camilo wants his friend to join him in the world beyond words.
America Is In the Heart
America Is In the Heart
Novel by Carlos Bulosan
America Is in the Heart, sometimes subtitled A Personal History, is a 1946 semi-autobiographical novel written by Filipino American immigrant poet, fiction writer, short story teller, and activist, Carlos Bulosan. The novel was one of the earliest published books that presented the experiences of the immigrant and working class based on an Asian American point of view and has been regarded as "the premier text of the Filipino-American experience."
Bulosan's America Is in the Heart is one of the few books that detail the migrant workers' struggles in the United States during the 1930s through the 1940s, a time when signs like "Dogs and Filipinos not allowed" were common. The struggles included "beatings, threats, and ill health". In this book, Bulosan also narrated his attempts to establish a labor union. Bulosan's book had been compared to The Grapes of Wrath except that the main and real characters were brown-skinned.
Despite the bitterness however, Bulosan reveals in the final pages of the book that because he loved America no one could ever destroy his faith in his new country.
Mga Ibong Mandaragit: Nobelang Sosyo-Politikal
Mga Ibong Mandaragit: Nobelang Sosyo-Politikal
Novel by Amado V. Hernandez
Mga Ibong Mandaragit or Mga Ibong Mandaragit: Nobelang Sosyo-Politikal (literally, Birds of Prey: A Socio-Political Novel) is a novel written by the Filipino writer and social activist, Amado V. Hernandez in 1969. Mga Ibong Mandaragit, hailed as Hernandez's masterpiece, focuses on the neocolonial dependency and revolt in the Philippines. The novel reflects Hernandez's experience as a guerrilla intelligence officer when the Philippines was under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945.
The narrative, illustrates Hernandez's yearning for change and the elevation of the status of Philippine society and living conditions of Filipinos. The setting is in the middle of 1944, when the armed forces of the Japanese Empire were losing. The novel acts as a sequel to Jose Rizal's historic Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo. The protagonist Mando Plaridel is tested by Tata Matyas, an old revolutionary, on his knowledge about Rizal and Rizal's novels. Similar to Rizal's novel, the main character examines the Philippines as an outsider while traveling in Europe.
Monumental testaments to the Filipino attitudes of perseverance and persistence!
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