Instituto Cervantes releases Antonio Abad’s unpublished novel

MANILA, Philippines - El campeón, an unpublished novel by Filipino writer Antonio M. Abad, will be launched tomorrow, 4:30 p.m., at Ateneo de Manila University. The book will be presented at the basement of the Manuel V. Pangilinan Center for Student Leadersip (MVP) of Ateneo de Manila University.

This novel will be the third installment in the collection Clásicos Hispanofilipinos, an initiative by Instituto Cervantes to preserve the works by Filipino authors written in Spanish. The publication of this book was made possible through the collaboration of Instituto Cervantes, the Embassy of Spain, UnionBank, Ateneo de Manila University, and Colegio de San Luis, A.C. (Mexico).

Antonio M. Abad (1894-1970) is a poet, playwright, essayist and novelist born in Cebu and is frequently referred to as “the greatest Hispanic Filipino novelist after Rizal.” In 1927, he published his first novel El último romantico and two years after, he won the Premio Zobel, said to be the most prestigious award in the field of Filipino literature for the novel La oveja de Nathan.

Before this project was conceived, El campeón, although a recipient of the Commonwealth Literature Prize in 1940, had remained unpublished.

Clásicos Hispanofilipinos has since produced two titles, Cuentos de Juana, a collection of stories about the Philippine archipelago told by Aledina Gurrea and Los pájaros de fuego, a novel by Jesús Balmori written about the Japanese invasion of Manila in the 1940s.

Unbeknownst to many, majority of what can be considered classical Filipino literature created in the early 20th century was written in Spanish. During the onset of American colonization in the Philippines, many perceived the introduction of English as a medium of communication to be the end of Spanish as the lingua franca in the archipelago. However, what happened was quite the contrary. If anything, it even strengthened the status of Spanish as the language of intellectuals like Teodoro M. Kalaw and Claro M. Recto who wrote for independence from the USA.

Unfortunate as it is, this tradition of writing, referred to as Hispano-Filipino literature, has slowly disappeared not only from the bookshelves but also from the consciousness of many — high school and university students, literary scholars and even advocates of the preservation of cultural heritage. Clásicos Hispanofilipinos is a push towards reviving these works and creating for them a space wherein they can be rediscovered and reintroduced in the field of literary academe not only in the country but also in the entire Spanish-speaking world. 

 El campeón will be available at the Ateneo University Press as well as in other selected bookstores as well as at Instituto Cervantes located at 855 T.M. St., Ermita, Manila (Cultural Department tel. 526-1482 loc. 115).

For information, visit www.manila.cervantes.es or call the Cultural Affairs Department of Instituto Cervantes at 526-1482 loc. 115.