A brief survey of Iloko literature from the beginnings to its present development, with a bibliography of works pertaining to the Iloko people and their language, by Leopoldo Y. Yabes.

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

55

try, 1935); Mamerto R. Gacutano (Kari a natanem-Forgotten
Promise, 1930); Paulino B. de Peralta (Inatipa ni gasat!Hindered by Fate, 1930); F. A. Respicio (Sabsabong ken lulua —
Flowers and Tears, 1930); Mariano N. Gaerlan (Magdalena
ken Boanerges, 1932); Alberto Gruspe y de Veyra (Sion, 1932);
and Leon C. Pichay (Pagulidanan nga ayat-Model Love, 1934;
Apay a pinatayada ni Naw. Simon?-Why Did They Kill Don
Simon?, 1935; Puso ti ina-Mother's Heart, 1936).
Centeno's Taga aw-away gives an interesting portrayal of
barrio life. Respicio's Sabsabong ken lulua tells about the life
of an Iloko laborer in the sugar plantations of Calamba, Laguna, and was expressly written for the Iloko laborers there.
Pichay's Apay a pinatayda ni Naw. Simon? is to our knowledge
the first detective Iloko novel. None of these works have the
elements of great literature, and possibly, all except two or
three will no longer be read in a decade or two. Most of them
are ephemeral productions reeking with mushy, sticky romance.
If a future critic or literary historian, however, should
want to get a faithful picture of the life portrayed by these
novels, these second rate productions would be most helpful; because it has been truly said that minor authors express the
sprit of an age more faithfully than the major writers.
In the field of translation, a number of novels in other
languages have been rendered into Iloko. Santiago A. Fonacier has done most of this work. He has translated Rizal's No'i
Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. Voltaire's Candide and Le
Sage et l'Atheiste, Guzzoni's La Figlia del Cardinale, and a few
other works of fiction. Mauro A. Pefia has translated Enrique
Perez Escrich's El Martir de Golgota, Lazaro Francisco's Sa
Paanan ng Krus (At the Foot of the Cross), and a Japanese
novel from its Spanish version." Hugo's Le.s Miserables has
been translated by Tomas R. Abrajano. and Dumas pere's Le
Comte de Monte Cristo has been translated by M. A. Abaya.
Arturo R. Centeno, Narciso F. Gapusan, and M. A. Abaya have
translated Edgar Rice Borrough's Tarzan of the Apes.
The Iloko Novel in Hawaii:-Not less than ten Iloko novels
have been published in Hawaii during the last decade or soan indication of literary activity among overseas Ilokos. Among
the better known novels are Marcos Baguinon's Sungdo ni ayat
(Sincerity of Love), Francisco Farinias' Sudi ni avat (Love's
Sanctity), Francisco Gamboa's Bileg ni ayat (Strength of
Love), Franco Manuel's Victor, Jose Murillo's Ti ranggasmo
kaniak lak-amemto (You will Suffer for Your Cruelty to Me),
Agapito N. Patacsil's Balligi ni ayat (Triumph of Love), and
11-This translation was run in Aweng, May-August, 1933.