Ramon L. Muzones (+)
National Artist for Literature (2018)
(20 March 1913-17 August 1992)
Ramon Muzones was 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 Maambong Nga 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 his 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. Muzones tried his hand at a variety of types and proved adept in all as literary fashions. In the process, he not only extended with remarkable versatility and inventiveness the scope and style of the Hiligaynon novel, but he also enriched Hiligaynon literature’s dramatis personae.
Notable Works:
- Shri-Bishaya (1969)
- Malala nga Gutom (Malignant Hunger,1965)
- Babae Batuk sa Kalibutan (Woman Against the World,1959)
- Ang Gugma sang Gugma Bayaran (Love with Love Be Paid, 1955)
- Si Tamblot (1948)
- Margosatubig (1946)
