Ilustrado.

Abstract

The novel, Ilustrado, and this exegesis Autoplagiarist, seek to create a clear understanding of the development, challenges and limitations of Philippine literature, with a focus on its fiction in English, and its relationship with Philippine society. They seek to demonstrate: that Philippine literature in English (PLE) is as Filipino as writing in the native languages; that in today’s world a novel can, and in many cases should, be rich enough to appeal to a local and international audience; and that Ilustrado fits comfortably within that tradition and points a way forward. Ilustrado, the novel, was written expressly with the issues of Philippine literature and society in mind and addresses questions of authenticity, relevance, language, thematic recurrence, meta-narrative and the current place of PLE in international writing. Autoplagiarist, the exegesis, looks briefly at Philippine history and the societal forces that have acted on its culture, surveys Philippine literature with a focus on writing in English, examines the tradition and Ilustrado’s place within it and finishes with a discussion of the novel Ilustrado and the creative issues it sought to address. Research and analysis conducted for Ilustrado and Autoplagiarist yielded clear patterns exhibiting the enduring effects of social and historical events upon the development of PLE. Further, recurring themes and issues Filipino writers regularly address in their work became apparent. From these, possible pathways into the future were posited for a tradition often weighed down by its past. This thesis argues that inertia and rootedness have come about through the literary tradition’s preoccupation with authenticity, nationalism, causality, didacticism and angst. It also attempts to demonstrate how Ilustrado faced these challenges within the novel’s implicit and explicit exploration of structure, verisimilitude, scope and the recurring themes that persistently characterise the Philippine novel in English.