The S/subjects of the nation in Philippine kritika: Dis-courses from Lucilla V. Hosillos, Bienvenido L. Lumbera, Gemino H. Abad, Soledad S. Reyes, Virgilio S. Almario, and E. San Juan, Jr.

The present study is guided by two goals: (1) to represent the theory-in-praxis-towards-theory of six major Filipino critics - Lucila V. Hosillos, Bienvenido L. Lumbera, Gemino H. Abad, Soledad S. Reyes, Virgilio S. Almario, and Epifanio San Juan, Jr. - on the national question of Philippine literature and (2) to argue the political usefulness of this quest to the trajectory of inquiries and understandings of this subject called national literature, as well as to the S/subjects who have been and will be called to this process of literally production, consumption, definition, and re-definition. In pursuit of the national category of the Philippine via the dis-courses of six Filipino critics, the present project seeks to contribute to the construction of a history of the subject and the many S/subjects of Philippine-nation. After a representation of the Philippine critical ground as characterized by what Isagani R. Cruz calls the phenomenon of the other Other, as well as re-inscription of the term in the event and eventually of critical-in-difference. each subsequent chapter focuses on one critic and locates his/her central trope in the dis-courses of the nationality of Philippine literature: Hosillos on her notion of originality as vengeance in Philippine literature along a concentric-comparativist framework Lumbera on his definition of the national literature as a construct and a staging in the various stages of national assertion against colonization Abad on his native clearing of Philippine literature, specifically, poetry in and from English Reyes on her deconstruction and reconstruction of the popular room of enchantment with the modality of romance Almario\u27s on his critical act c/siting of the native literary tradition as a weapon of engagement with colonial hegemony on the ground of Piedras Platas and San Juan on his mediation of history and nation to the Filipino people in the belly of the beast. The study sumps up the interventions of the six Filipino critics and concludes with a provisional paradigm for Philippine kritika