The Last Timawa was both a literary text and a historical account about the events in Philippine history in the first four decades of American rule. The novelist could pick out events, embellish certain realities, and heighten the moments for various reasons. The novel deftly and unambiguously deployed the term “timawa” to refer to the oppressed and the need to emulate the ideals of the nation’s heroes, through a collective effort, to liberate themselves from slavery and tyranny. But as a fictional construct, The Last Timawa never claimed the power to effect immediate change in society. Instead, Servando de los Angeles offered an interpretation of the nation’s colonial past and, in weaving a chronicle, made it clear that history was always in a flux, a process that needed to be completed, through time and its vagaries by people themselves.

• Servando de los Angeles, Author

  Servando de los Angeles (1885–1972) studied at the Ateneo de Municipal de Manila and Liceo de Manila where he graduated with a degree in pharmacy. Early in his career, he joined the ranks of committed journalists actively involved in socio-political issues in the first two decades of the American period. He wrote for newspapers such as ‘La Patria’, ‘Watawat’, and ‘Kalayaan’. A staunch defender of culture then under threat in the massive social engineering, he demonstrated a fierce love of the values inherited from the past in zarzuelas such as ‘Ang Kiri’, ‘Bituing Marikit’, ‘Alamat ng Nayon’, and ‘Ararong Ginto’. Gaining wide popularity, the zarzuelas assured his place in the history of Philippine theater.

• Soledad S. Reyes, Translator

  Soledad S. Reyes has authored books on the Tagalog novel, critical trends, popular culture, and women’s writing. She has also edited several journals and a number of anthologies. Since 2010, she has translated Tagalog novels and short stories into English. Her translation of Lingat’s novel, What Now, Ricky? (2013) received the A.L. Becker Prize for Translation (2016). Dr. Reyes is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University.