Literature Delights: Quezon

Quezon: Brief History

Map of Quezon

Quezon Provincial Capitol

Quezon (Tagalog pronunciation: [ˈkɛson]) is a province of the Philippines in the Calabarzon region of Luzon island. The province was named after Manuel L. Quezon, the second President of the Philippines, and its capital is Lucena City.

As the last province of the CALABARZON Region, Quezon is not the least in terms of literature. It definitely owns its own face in the field of literature, jointly built by its writers.

Writers

Horacio de la Costa

Horacio de la Costa

Horacio de la Costa (May 9, 1916 – March 20, 1977) was the first Filipino Provincial Superior of the Society of Jesus in the Philippines, and a recognized authority in Philippine and Asian culture and history.

De la Costa was the author of a number of books, particularly on Philippine culture and history, which revealed his nationalistic bent, among which are:

The Jesuits in the Philippines, 1581–1768

The Trial of Dr. Rizal, an edited translation of W.E. Retana’s transcription of the official Spanish documents

Recent Oriental History

Readings in Philippines History

The Background of Nationalism, and Other Essays

Asia and the Philippines

He also contributed numerous articles on these subjects to various local and foreign scholarly publications, such as Philippine Social Sciences and Humanities Review, Bulletin of the Philippine Historical Association, Hispanic American Historical Review, Comment, Science Review, Theological Studies, and Philippine Studies. The Catholic Encyclopedia carries his article on the Philippines.

In 1965, he was presented the Republic Heritage Award by the then Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal for his historical writings. In 1971 he became General Assistant to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Pedro Arrupe, in Rome.

Fr. de le Costa was one of the founding members of the Philippine Academy of Science and Humanities, as well as the International Association of Historians of Asia. He was also a member of the National Research Council of the Philippines, Philippine Bibliographical Society, Philippine Historical Association and the National Historical Society of the National Historical Commission.

Paz Marquez-Benitez

Paz Marquez-Benitez

Paz Márquez-Benítez (1894–1983) was a Filipina short-story writer.

Orlando Nadres

Orlando Nadres (born November 1938 in Tayabas, Quezon - died July 14, 1991) was a stage, film, television writer, director and actor.

Nadres first wrote professionally for Komiks, together with Mars Ravalo doing layouts and writing stories for the publication and in 1968 became the managing editor of the same publication. In the 1960s, he worked for G. Miranda and Sons Publishing Co. which later inspired him to write Paraisong Parisukat. Later he became the editor of “Sixteen Magazine” the job which introduced him to the world of Film. He became involved in theater because of his involvement with the infamous Lino Brocka, who introduced him to PETA.

After Martial Law was declared, he helped sustain PETA, as an actor, playwright and Trainer in CITASA.

In the late 1980s, when he decided to stay in his hometown Tayabas, Nadres formed the theater group SUSI (Sanayan at Ugnayan sa Sining), which revived the traditional performances of Carillo, Santacruzan and Sarswela.