Literature and society ~ by National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose
Literature and society HINDSIGHT (The Philippine Star) By National Artist for Literature F Sionil Jose On the invitation of Shiela de Leon, literature teacher, I was at the University of Bulacan in Malolos last week speaking to students, some of whom I knew wanted to be writers. My topic was “Literature and Society” — the same topic discussed fully by the late Salvador Lopez in the 1930s. For this book, he won the Commonwealth Literary Prize, a cool one thousand pesos. It doesn’t look much now but in 1935 the salary of government clerk was P18 a month. In this book SP postulated that the writer has a great responsibility to society. This in contrast to the view held by the poet Jose Garcia Villa, that art is absolute — the artist’s responsibility is to art alone. I cited SP’s book primarily to show that the subject is not particularly fresh — the discussion on the purpose of art, or in this case literature — was made in ancient Greece long before Christ was born.