Who is Salvador P. Lopez?
Salvador Ponce Lopez (May 27, 1911 – October 18, 1993) was an Ilokano
writer, journalist, educator, diplomat, and statesman.
He studied at the University of the Philippines and obtained a Bachelor
of Arts degree in English in 1931 and a Master of Arts degree, also in
philosophy, in 1933.
In 1940, Lopez' essay "Literature and Society" won in the
Commonwealth Literary Awards.
He was appointed by President Diosdado Macapagal as Secretary of
Foreign Affairs and was ambassador to the United Nations for six years before
reassigned to France for seven years.
Lopez was the president of the University of the Philippines from 1969
to 1975.
Source: Wikipedia.com
Theme 1: Art for Art’s Sake vs. Proletarian Literature
Lopez believed that “the word has soul as well as body.”
Furthermore, he considers the word as “the most potent instrument known
to man.”
Lopez adds that writers who use only language for its beauty are like
“a decadent asthete who stubbornly confuses literature with paintings.”
Literature and Society can be viewed as Lopez’s reaction to the growing
literary movement led by Jose Garcia Villa (1908-1997).
Lopez described Villa as “the one Filipino writer today who it would be
futile to deride and impossible to ignore ... the pace-setter for an entire
generation of young writers, the mentor laying down the law for the whole
tribe, the patron-saint of a cult of rebellious moderns.” (Source:
Wikipedia.com)
Villa believed that poetry is
“written with words, not ideas.” (Source: Wikipedia.com)
What is Art for Art's Sake?
“Art for art's sake” condenses the notion that art has its own value.
First surfacing in French literary circles in the early 19th century,
it was a reflex of the Romantic movement's desire to detach art from the
period's increasing stress on rationalism.
“Art for art's sake” was an important impetus behind the development of
abstract art and Abstract Expressionism.
Source: theartstory.org
What is Proletarian Art?
The proletarian arts movement was an international political arts
movement that flourished in the 1920s and 1930s.
Proletarianism believes that class-based struggle is necessary because
capital was controlled by the few at the expense of the many.
Anguish and optimism made proletarianism seem not only possible but
crucial.
Proletarian arts address the most important issues: the transformations
of the world through capitalism, the possibilities of democracy, job security,
nationalism, imperialism, sweatshops, torture, living wages, child care,
relations between the sexes, the social function of the family, the arts and
media, war, peace and empire, and so much more.
Source: Japanfocus.org
Theme 2: Growth of a Writer
Lopez mentions in his essay that “a young writer is almost certain to
start his career by writing mushy poetry and sophomoric philosophy.”
However, writers experience some changes as they mature, “there comes
over his writing a change not only his subject-matter but in his general temper
and attitude.”
As an example, Lopez uses Teodoro Kalaw.
Who is Teodoro Kalaw?
Teodoro M. Kalaw (1884-1940) was one of the most outstanding trilingual
writers and historians of the Philippines. He was born on March 31, 1884 in the
town of Lipa, Batangas .
He finished his law degree in Manila and became the youngest editor of El Renacimiento, an extreme nationalist
newspaper.
At 25 years old, Kalaw won a seat at the Philippine
Assembly.
In 1920, He assumed the Secretary of Interior in 1920.
Subsequently, Kalaw became director of the National Library, writing in his
spare time historical essays.
The October 30, 1908 editorial thundered:" The Eagle, symbolizing
liberty and strength, had found the most admirers--and men collectively and
individually, have desired to copy and imitate this most rapacious of birds in
order to triumph in the plundering of their fellowmen. But there is a man who,
besides being like the eagle, also has the characteristics of a vulture, the
owl and the vampire. He ascends the mountains of Benguet ostensible to classify
and measure Igorot skulls, to study and to civilize the Igorots but at the same
time he also espies during his flight, with the keen eye of the bird of prey,
were the large deposits of gold are, the real prey...and then he appropriates
these all to himself afterwards, thanks to the legal facilities he can make and
unmake at will, always however redounding to his benefit."
Dean Worcester, the Secretary of Interior and the Chief of
the Bureau of Non-Christian Tribes, sued Kalaw and his publisher as the
American believed he was the subject of the scathing editorial. The two
Filipinos were found guilty and were ordered to pay Php 60,000.
El Renacimiento was
forced to close down because of banckr, but immediately the duo of Ocampo and
Kalaw started another nationalist newspaper, La Vanguardia.
Years later, Teodoro Kalaw would reveal that he had never
even written the editorial. It was his fellow journalist Fidel Reyes.
Source: wikifilipinas.org
Theme 2: Growth of a Writer (Part II)
Lopez states that there are two paths a young writer will have to face,
“Indifferentism and the other misanthropy.”
Lopez describes indifferentism as
“an inherent vice.” Further, he believes
that there is little people can do to correct indifferentism especially if it
comes from a deeply-rooted twisted point of view.
On the other hand, Lopez describes writers who “suffer from cynicism
and misanthropy” as people who have “a
profound and sensitive spirit.” These writers experienced a life event that
made them question their long-held view of the world. Nevertheless, having just
a” profound and sensitive spirit” is not enough; it must be paired with an
“undeviating principle” or “indestructible faith.” People can only know a
thing’s true value when it has been taken away from them.
For Lopez, the writer must abandon the ‘the ivory tower of pure
literature.” He must allow himself to be swept by the “social and political
currents swirling around him.”
“The only true basis of lasting
beauty in literature is—power.” This power is not equivalent to political or
economic power exercised by a president or an industry leader. Lopez equates power with change. The writer,
with his works, can affect positive change in society and this can only be
fulfilled when the writer cannot live outside society. To reinforce his point,
Lopez cites the Dreyfus Affair.
What is the Dreyfus Affair?
Émile Zola risked his career and
more on 13 January 1898, when his "J'accuse"[6] was published on the
front page of the Paris daily L'Aurore. Émile Zola's "J'Accuse"
accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and
anti-Semitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life
imprisonment on Devil's Island.
The 1898 article written by Émile Zola is widely marked in France as
the most prominent manifestation of the new power of the intellectuals
(writers, artists, academicians) in shaping public opinion, the media and the
state.
Theme 3: The Great Artist
For Lopez, a great artist must have “greatness of heart and mind and
soul.” A writer can only develop his emotional, spiritual, and intellectual
qualities through life experiences.
What is most important for a writer is that he or she believes in
progress. Lopez uses the word “progress” not in the economic or material sense
rather it refers to man’s development collectively. The writer must not lose
faith in mankind regardless of the man-made conflicts and disasters that highlight man’s
destructive and greedy side.
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