Revitalizing the Existent but Forgotten Bataan Literary Legacy

Abstract

The current paper is an initial attempt to revitalize the extant and available Bataan literature that for centuries have been kept but forgotten. The province of Bataan in the Philippines has borne the three-fold Spanish, American and Japanese conquests. It is interesting to explore how the Bataeños have manifested their character and identity through their writings. To date, no anthology on Bataan literature has been published, hence; this paper responds to an urgent need on reviving regional literature. In a wider perspective, the study of Bataan literature would disclose a racial context of the early and the present-day Bataeños. The previous collection of Bataan literature was completed in 1953 but has remained kept and uncirculated. They are found to be mostly folklores while the works of the 20^th century homegrown writers have become mostly inaccessible until the present time. This study aims to resurface this literary legacy by employing its own retrieval process to recover the existing but elusive Bataan writings. Findings show that the retrieved folklores existed even before the pre-colonial period and the early writers had bequeathed a literary heritage that merits restoration and a long-delayed gratitude towards these Bataeños who have mirrored a cultural peculiarity.