Bienvenido Santos
Encyclopedia
Bienvenido N. Santos was a Filipino-American fictionist, poet and nonfiction writer. He was born and raised in Tondo
, Manila
. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga
, Philippines
. He lived in the United States
for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
at the University of Illinois
, Columbia University
, and Harvard University
. During World War II
, he served with the Philippine government in exile under President Manuel L. Quezon
in Washington, D.C.
, together with the playwright Severino Montano
and Philippine National Artist Jose Garcia Villa
.
In 1967, he returned to the United States to become a teacher and university administrator. He received a Rockefeller fellowship at the Writers Workshop of the University of Iowa
where he later taught as a Fulbright exchange professor. Santos has also received a Guggenheim
Foundation fellowship, a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature as well as several Palanca Awards
for his short stories. Scent of Apples won a 1980 American Book Award
from the Before Columbus Foundation
.
Santos received honorary doctorate degrees in Humanities and Letters from the University of the Philippines
, and Bicol University
(Legazpi City
, Albay
) in 1981. He was also a Professor of Creative Writing and Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Wichita State University
from 1973 to 1982, at which time the University awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in Humane Letters. After his retirement, Santos became Visiting Writer and Artist at De La Salle University
in Manila
; the University honored Santos by renaming its Creative Writing Center after him.
Tondo, Manila
Tondo is a district of Manila, Philippines. The locale has existed prior to the arrival of the Spanish, referred to as "Tundun" in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription. One of the most densely populated areas of land in the world, Tondo is located in the northwest portion of the city and is primarily...
, Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. His family roots are originally from Lubao, Pampanga
Lubao, Pampanga
Lubao is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the latest census, it has a population of 143,058 people in 23,446 households...
, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. He lived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for many years where he is widely credited as a pioneering Asian-American writer.
Biography
Santos received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the Philippines where he first studied creative writing under Paz Marquez Benitez. In 1941, Santos was a government pensionado (scholar) to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he served with the Philippine government in exile under President Manuel L. Quezon
Manuel L. Quezon
Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the Philippines...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, together with the playwright Severino Montano
Severino Montano
Severino Montano is considered as one of the Titans of Philippine Theater. He was a playwright, director, actor and theater organizer with an output of one novel, 150 poems and 50 plays in his 65-year lifetime...
and Philippine National Artist Jose Garcia Villa
José García Villa
Jose Garcia Villa was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken...
.
In 1967, he returned to the United States to become a teacher and university administrator. He received a Rockefeller fellowship at the Writers Workshop of the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
where he later taught as a Fulbright exchange professor. Santos has also received a Guggenheim
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
Foundation fellowship, a Republic Cultural Heritage Award in Literature as well as several Palanca Awards
Palanca Awards
The Palanca Awards or Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature is the Philippines' most prestigious and most enduring literary awards and is dubbed as the "Pulitzer Prize" of the Philippines...
for his short stories. Scent of Apples won a 1980 American Book Award
American Book Award
The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
from the Before Columbus Foundation
Before Columbus Foundation
The Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, Victor Hernández Cruz, Shawn Wong and Rudolfo Anaya to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.One of...
.
Santos received honorary doctorate degrees in Humanities and Letters from the University of the Philippines
University of the Philippines
The ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
, and Bicol University
Bicol University
Bicol University is a state university in Legazpi City, the Philippines. The administrative center of Bicol University is in the City of Legazpi while its colleges are in separated campuses of Polangui, Guinobatan, Daraga, Legazpi City and Tabaco of Albay province...
(Legazpi City
Legazpi City
The City of Legazpi is a first class city and capital of the province of Albay, Philippines. With 179,481 inhabitants according to the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the Bicol Region in terms of population, though not in land area...
, Albay
Albay
Albay is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Legazpi City and the province borders Camarines Sur to the north and Sorsogon to the south. Also to the northeast is Lagonoy Gulf....
) in 1981. He was also a Professor of Creative Writing and Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Wichita State University
Wichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
from 1973 to 1982, at which time the University awarded him an honorary doctorate degree in Humane Letters. After his retirement, Santos became Visiting Writer and Artist at De La Salle University
De La Salle University
De La Salle University is a private Lasallian university in Malate, Manila, Philippines. It was founded in 1911 by De La Salle Brothers as the De La Salle College in Paco, Manila with Blimond Pierre serving as its first director...
in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
; the University honored Santos by renaming its Creative Writing Center after him.
Novels
- The Volcano (1965)
- Villa Magdalena (1965)
- The Praying Man (1977)
- The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert TaylorThe Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert TaylorThe Man Who Looked Like Robert Taylor is a book written by Filipino-American novelist and short story author, Bienvenido Santos. The title basically imparts that the protagonist of the novel lived believing that he has a semblance to his idolized American actor, Robert Taylor...
(1983) - What the Hell for You Left Your Heart in San Francisco? (1987)
Short Story Collections
- You Lovely People (1955)
- Brother, My Brother (1960)
- The Day the Dancers CameThe Day the Dancers Came"The Day the Dancers Came" is a 1955 short story written by award-winning Filipino American author Bienvenido N. Santos. Set in 1950s Chicago, it is a classic work of the Filipino diaspora...
(1967, 1983) - Scent of Apples (1979)
- Dwell in the Wilderness (1985)
Nonfiction
- Memory's Fictions: A Personal History (1993)
- Postscript to a Saintly Life (1994)
- Selected Letters: Book 1 (1995)
- Selected Letters: Book 2 (1996)
Awards, Honors and Prizes
- Rockefeller FoundationRockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Fellowship at the University of IowaUniversity of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees... - Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
- Republic Cultural Heritage Award
- Carlos PalancaPalancaPalanca may refer to:*Palanca Awards*Palanca, Angola a comune in Luanda Province, Angola*Palanca, a commune in Bacău County, Romania*Palanca, a village in Floreşti-Stoeneşti Commune, Giurgiu County, Romania...
Memorial Awards for short fiction (1956, 1961 and 1965) - Fulbright ProgramFulbright ProgramThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
Exchange Professorship - American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
from Before Columbus FoundationBefore Columbus FoundationThe Before Columbus Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1976 by Ishmael Reed, Victor Hernández Cruz, Shawn Wong and Rudolfo Anaya to be "a multi-ethnic organizing dedicated to promoting a pan-cultural view of America," especially through the promotion of multicultural writers.One of... - Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Letters, University of the PhilippinesUniversity of the PhilippinesThe ' is the national university of the Philippines. Founded in 1908 through Act No...
- Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and Letters, Bicol UniversityBicol UniversityBicol University is a state university in Legazpi City, the Philippines. The administrative center of Bicol University is in the City of Legazpi while its colleges are in separated campuses of Polangui, Guinobatan, Daraga, Legazpi City and Tabaco of Albay province...
(Legazpi CityLegazpi CityThe City of Legazpi is a first class city and capital of the province of Albay, Philippines. With 179,481 inhabitants according to the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the Bicol Region in terms of population, though not in land area...
, AlbayAlbayAlbay is a province of the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Legazpi City and the province borders Camarines Sur to the north and Sorsogon to the south. Also to the northeast is Lagonoy Gulf....
, PhilippinesPhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
) - Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters, Wichita State UniversityWichita State UniversityWichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
(KansasKansasKansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, U.S.A.)
Critical studies
As of March 2001:- On Loss: Anticipating a Future for Asian American Studies By: Shiu, Anthony Sze-Fai; MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2006 Spring; 31 (1): 3-33.
- Bienvenido N. Santos By: Tensuan, Theresa M.. IN: Madsen, Asian American Writers. Detroit, MI: Gale; 2005. pp. 273–78
- Up from Benevolent Assimilation: At Home with the Manongs of Bienvenido Santos By: Bascara, Victor; MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, 2004 Spring; 29 (1): 61-78.
- A Filipino Prufrock in an Alien Land: Bienvenido Santos's The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor By: Ty, Eleanor; Lit: Literature Interpretation Theory, 2001 Sept; 12 (3): 267-83.
- Bienvenido N. Santos (1911–1996) By: Mannur, Anita. IN: Nelson, Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood; 2000. pp. 317–22
- Themes in the Poetry of Bienvenido Santos By: Rico, Victoria. IN: Garcia, The Likhaan Book of Philippine Criticism. Quezon City, Philippines: U of the Philippines P; 2000. pp. 174–96
- Filipino Writing in the United States: Reclaiming Whose America? By: San Juan, E., Jr.. IN: Garcia, J. Neil C.; The Likhaan Book of Philippine Criticism. Quezon City, Philippines: U of the Philippines P; 2000. pp. 441–64
- The Novels of Bienvenido N. Santos By: Grow, L. M.. Quezon City, Philippines: Giraffe; 1999.
- Filipino American Literature By: Gonzalez, N. V. M.. IN: Cheung, An Interethnic Companion to Asian American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge UP; 1996. pp. 62–124
- You Lovely People: The Texture of Alienation By: Rico, Victoria S.; Philippine Studies, 1994; 42 (1): 91-104.
- Marriage in Philippine-American Fiction By: Manuel, Dolores de; Philippine Studies, 1994; 42 (2): 210-16.
- Themes in the Poetry of Bienvenido Santos By: Rico, Victoria; Philippine Studies, 1994; 42 (4): 452-74.
- Split-Level Christianity in The Praying Man By: Puente, Lorenzo; Philippine Studies, 1992; 40 (1): 111-20.
- The Myth and the Matrix in Bienvenido N. Santos' Scent of Apples: Searching for Harmony among Incongruities By: Valdez, Maria Stella; DLSU Dialogue, 1991; 25 (1): 73-86.
- The Poet and the Garden: The Green World of Bienvenido N. Santos By: Grow, L. M.; World Literature Written in English, 1989 Spring; 29 (1): 136-145.
- Echoes and Reflections in Villa Magdalena By: Vidal, Lourdes H.; Philippine Studies, 1987; 35 (3): 377-382.
- Can These, Too, Be Midwestern? Studies of Two Filipino Writers By: Bresnahan, Roger J.; Midamerica: The Yearbook of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature, 1986; 8: 134-147.
- Modern Philippine Poetry in the Formative Years: 1920-1950 By: Grow, L. M.; ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, 1984 July; 15 (3): 81-98.
- The Christian World-View of Bienvenido N. Santos By: Grow, L. M.; AUMLA: Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association, 1983 Nov.; 60: 234-251.
- The Midwestern Fiction of Bienvenido N. Santos By: Bresnahan, Roger J.; Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature Newsletter, 1983 Summer; 13 (2): 28-37.
- Augusto F. Espiritu, "Fidelity and Shame: Bienvenido Santos," in Five Faces of Exile: The Nation and Filipino American Intellectuals. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005. pp. 139–178.
External links
- Bienvenido Santos in infoplease
- People: Bienvenido Santos
- The Literary Encyclopedia
- Immigration blues
- Filipino-American literature
- A guide to literary criticism on the internet for Bienvenido Santos
- Up from benevolent assimilation: at home with the Manongs of Bienvenido Santos by Victor Bascara
- Filipino Writers Album
- Books of Bienvenido Santos
- Filipino-American Literature at Emory University
- PALH Books on Philippine Literature
- Introduction to Asian Pacific American Literature at the University of Oregon
- De la Salle University
- Rereading History, Rewriting Desire: Reclaiming Queerness in Carlos Bulosan's America is in the Heart and Bienvenido Santos' Scent Of Apples by Melinda L. de Jesus
- Wichita State University