Isagani Cruz Critique on 21st C

21st Century Literature Mini Critique by Isagani Cruz, 24 October 2013  The proposed curriculu !or "enior "enior #igh #igh "chool "chool $"#"% $"#"% contai contains ns t&o lit literat eratur ure e sub'e ub'ect cts s ( )2 )21s 1stt Cent Centur ury y *ite *itera ratu turres o! the the +orld orld  and and )2 )21s 1stt Century *iteratures !ro the $-hilippine% .egions/ egions/  $It $It has been been sugges suggested ted that that the latter be changed to )Conteporary -hilipp -hilippine ine *iterat *iterature ure and the rts rts !ro !ro the .egions/% .egions/%  These are deried !ro the t&o litera literatu turre su sub'e b'ect cts s in the the old old ene enera rall duc ducat atio ion n Curr Curric iculu ulu  $C $C%, %, nae naely ly,, )*iteratures o! the +orld an d )*iter )*iteratu atures res o! the -hi -hilipp lippines ines/ / In the ne& C, these t&o literature sub'ects are no longer included, because the ne& core core su sub' b'ec ects ts are are all all inter interdi disc scip ipli lina nary ry rather then disciplinal/  The t&o sub'ects in "#" are disci dis cipl plina inal/ l/ They They are are ean eantt to ensur ensure e that that all ilipino ilipino high high school school gradua graduates tes hae hae a good good unde unders rsta tand ndin ing g o! &hat &hat is happening today in the 5eld o! literature, and by e6tension, in the arts/ +hy +hy 21 21st st cent centur ury y only only7 7 "ip "iply ly because "#" students &ere all born in or  'ust be!ore the 21st century/ century/ This century is thei theirr cent centur ury y/ or the the,, the the 20 20th th century is &hat the 18th century is to us teachers/  There is also another reason/ 9ust as the :ritish &riter &ri ter ;irginia +ool! said o!  the the turn turn o! the the 20 20th th cent centur ury, y, nae naely ly,, that )on or about 5rst  T&enty>5rst Century +ritings, +ritings, based in the ?nier iers sity o! :righton, puts it succinctly= )The 5rst decade o! the ne& illenniu &itnessed a range o! e6citing

deelopent deelopents s in conteporary conteporary &ritings in nglish, !ro innoations in recog ecogni nise sed d !or !ors su such ch as the the noe noel, l, poe, play and short story to deelopents in digital &ritings, creatie &rit &ritin ings gs and and genr genres es// lon longs gsid ide e thes these e deelop deelopen ents ts,, the publis publishin hing g indust industry ry also chan hanged, & it h technological adances giing rise to the da&n o! the e:o e:oo@ and corp corpo orat rate sponsorship igniting debates about the use!ulness o!  literary prizes and !estials/  9ust thin@ o! the ost recent literary te6ts done in the -hilippines/ +e hae )te6tula, a poetry genre astered by ran ran@ .ie .iera ra== enti entirre poe poes s are are &rit &ritte ten n and and read ead on obi obile le phon phones es// raphic noels are becoing as respe espect ctab able le as pros prose e no noels els aon aong g lite litera rary ry crit ritics ics/ -oes oes eant eant to be recited in !ront o! large audiences hae becoe becoe ore ore !ashio !ashionab nable le than than poes poes eant eant to be read read sile silent ntly ly by a sing single le reader $!ul5lling one o! Cirilo :autistaAs prophecies about the !uture o! poetry, by the &ay%/ lse&here in the &orld, &riters are doing things they did not do uch until rece recent ntly ly// Thin@ Thin@ o! pros prose e noe noels ls bein being g serialized on blogs, &ith readers sugg su gges esti ting ng to auth author ors s $and $and auth author ors s obediently accepting% that the plot or the characters should be changed/ Thin@ o!  hype hypert rte6 e6tu tual al poe poes, s, &her &here e reade eaders rs oe !ro one &ebs ebsite to another because o! ebedded lin@s in the &ords, soeties not returning to the original pages at all/ Thin@ o! enhanced e:oo@s, &here readers are treated to audioisual clips that not only support the narratie in a noel, noel, but actually actually are crucial to the deelopent o! plot and character/ Thin@ o! Bash 5ction, &hich has been brought to an e6tr e6tree ee &ith &ith si6>&o si6>&ord rd and een one>&ord short stories/

O! course, none o! these !ors o!  literature &ere born only in the 21st century/ #yperte6t, !or e6aple, has been around !or at least t&o decades/ >&ord short stories hae been around !or a long tie/ The best>@no&n is rnest #eing&ayAs si6>&ord story= )or sale= baby shoes, neer &orn/ ?rban legend $&hich ay actually be true% says #eing&ay called it his best &or@/

-re>21st century &riters li@e Margaret t&ood hae &ritten such stories/ t&ood, !or e6aple, &rote this= )*onged !or hi/ ot hi/ "hit/ eil aian $perhaps the best e6aple o! a 20th century &riter &ho has success!ully trans!ored hisel! into a 21st century &riter% &rote this= )IA dead/ IAe issed you/ Diss E7  There is a gro&ing body o! literary criticis on 21st century literature/  There is, !or e6aple, an entire 'ournal deoted to it, )C21 *iterature= 9ournal o!  21st Century +riting/  There hae been seeral pro!essional con!erences on the topic, such as )>reading bet&een the lines= 21st century literature, digital plat!ors and literacies last 9uly in :righton/ The paper titles reeal soe o! the ain trends in the eergent 5eld= )
 Theory on *iterature .eading *ists, The 5rst century7 In our country, graphic noels such as erdinand :enedict / Tan and  9onathan / :aldisioAs )Trese H= Midnight Tribunal and Carlo ;ergaraAs )sazsa aturnnah sa Dala@hang Maynila 1 are challenging the traditional de5nition o! 5ction/ en ore in>your> !ace is lan aarraAs )ng -anliang las ay a@abaon sa Iyong coe>lately Creatie on5ction, aarraAs &or@ still does not quite 5t in/% "ince curricular re!or happens only eery decade, the "#" curriculu &ill still be in place by the year 2022/ :y that year, the 20th century &ill no longer be in the eory o! our students/ +e pre>digital teachers o! the t&o literature sub'ects ust ensure that their !rae o!  re!erence &ill be theirs and not ours/

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