24/01/2024
Ramon L. Muzones
(National Artist For Literature)
Ramon Muzoneswas a Hiligaynon poet, essayist, short
story writer, critic, grammarian, editor, lexicographer,
and novelist who authored an unprecedented 61
completed novels.
A number of these represent groundbreaking “firsts’ in Hiligaynon literature such as the feminist Ang Bag-ong Maria Clara, the roman a clef MaambongNga Sapat (Magnificent Brute,1940), the comic Si Tamblot (1946), the politically satirical Si Tamblot Kandidato Man (Tamblot is Also a Candidate, 1949), the 125- installment longest serialized novel Dama de Noche (1982-84), etc
Hailed by peers as the longest reigning (1938-1972)
among “the three kings of the Hiligaynon novel,”
Muzones brought about its most radical changes while
ushering in modernism. With a literary career that
spanned fifty-three years (1938-1990), his evolution
covers the whole history of the Hiligaynon novel from its
rise in the 1940s to its decline in the 1970s. He did not
only extend the remarkable versatility and inventiveness
of the Hiligaynon novel but also enriched Hiligaynon
literature.
Muzones' awards included the Gawad Bonifacio sa Panitikan Centennial Award given by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (1997). In 2018 he was honored as an Ilonggo National Artist of the Philippines for Literature.
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