La Literatura Filipina en Español Durante la era Barroca (Philippine Literature in Spanish during the Baroque Age)

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive description of the Literature written in Spanish in the Philippine Archipelago from the 16th century to mid-18th century. Philippine literature has been divided in the 20th century by a political historiography that distinguishes between what is considered national from non-national literature. Literary Criticism has not been able to build a holistic picture of Philippine Literature, as it has tended till now to create independent islands and fragmented traditions. The literature written in the Philippines during the Baroque period, together with its aesthetics, constitutes one of the most neglected of these traditions. This paper aims to enrich Philippine corpora recovering a huge heritage, composed of relaciones, poemas, loas, pasiones, sermones, doctrinas, and the first novels and narratives in the country. Being the product of an international society, the Baroque period exposes the genesis of the Philippines as exceptional culture within the global world. This is the first general study undertaken about this topic.

Keywords: Historiography, Criticism, Baroque, Crónicas, Loas, Blancas de San José, Gaspar de San Agustín, Vicente Alemany