CAHSS Faculty Articles

And Quiet Flows the Dawn

Publication Title

Philippine Studies

ISSN

2244-1093

Publication Date

Spring 1997

Abstract

In spite of its ranking as a landmark in every history of Philippine literature in English, Stevan Javellana's Without Seeing the Dawn has has a rather quiet reception in the literary community, as Reyes (1979, 71) noticed: "Only Leonard Casper has written on Without Seeing the Dawn in New Writing from the Philippines. No other serious study has been made of he novel." Although the latter remark is an exaggeration—at least two serious, in-depth studies had been published by 19701–Reyes' impression that too little had been done holds true, in spite of laudatory comments by early critics and reviewers, in both the United States and the Philippines. In the prestigious Encyclopedia of the Philippines, Volume 1, Manuel A. Viray wrote that "Without Seeing the Dawn" is a moving and beautiful book. Javellana possesses a style that is equal if not superior to some first American novels. Artistically, it is notches above His Native Soil and The Winds of April" (97). Florencia Flores (1949-50, 109) credited Javellana with "complete mastery over matter and medium" (109) and concluded that "The style shows subtlety of treatment, and in the handling of the dramatic situations, the writer shows restraint and mastery of technique" (111).

Volume

45

Issue

2

Link to Full Text
Peer Reviewed

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