Manuel Viray Letters and Papers Donated to Center for Pangasinan Studies

Cultural Renaissance in Pangasinan

Recently a cultural renaissance has begun in Pangasinan. With the enthusiastic support and encouragement of Mrs. Maria Luisa Amor-Elduayan, Provincial Tourism and Cultural Affairs Officer, the Center for Pangasinan Studies is actively conducting research and archival work on its collections.

This month the collections were enhanced by the arrival of a donation from Lynn Grow of 472 pages of manuscript and printed material by and about Manuel Abalos Viray. Mr. Viray, born in Lingayen, was a seminal figure in Philippine literature in the crucial formative period of English language poetry, short stories, and literary criticism, the 1930's through 1960's. He was a first-ranking poet, an excellent short story writer, and arguably the greatest literary critic the Philippines has ever produced. Mr. Viray also rose through the ranks of the diplomatic corps to become Ambassador to Cambodia.

The manuscript material includes Mr. Viray's epistolary exchanges with Bienvenido N. Santos, himself a great Philippine poet and fiction writer, Leonard Casper, a renowned American critic of Philippine literature, and Lynn Grow. Mr. Viray's annotations of incoming letters and outgoing responses reveal the mind of a distinguished literary talent at work.

Another contribution to the cultural activity in Pangasinan is the new journal Donong na Anacbanua: A Journal of Pangasinan Studies and Philippine Cultures, founded and edited by Mr. Erwin S. Fernandez. As the main tittle Donong na Anacbanua (“Wisdom of the Children of the Earth”) might suggest, the journal welcomes contributions of previously unpublished scholarly articles in a wide range of subject matters, and its primary scope of interest extends to all of northern Luzon.

In sum, Pangasinan, thanks to the unstinting support of the provincial government, is establishing itself as a cultural mecca.