Readings in contemporary criticism / edited by Isagani R. Cruz.

Includes references.

With the proliferation of texts on Philippine literary materials it is easy to get lost in a wilderness of words. A more formidable problem is the clash in the perspectives through which scholars and critics have viewed their objects of study. Adding to the problem is the difficulty of ascertaining the critical presuppositions and biases that have shaped these texts, for in most cases these writers have not made explicit their basic assumptions. Moreover, a number of authors seem to have simultaneously appropriated the functions traditionally assigned to literary theory, literary history and literary criticism within the texts. Such is the excess of energy that seems to characterize present literary studies. This article proposes an overview of the major trends in contemporary literary studies, especially those done in Manila, and indicates the critical values and assumptions that have influenced these texts. Within this reading of critical texts, which is necessarily schematic, certain limitations will have to be imposed. Thus, this article concerns itself mostly with selected books published between 1970 and 1985. (Articles are used to reinforce some findings which have not been fully explored in book form.)