philippine studies Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines Angela Manalang Gloria: The Writer and Her Milieu Stella Pagsanghan Philippine Studies vol. 39, no. 3 (1991): 303–320 Copyright © Ateneo de Manila University Philippine Studies is published by the Ateneo de Manila University. Contents may not be copied or sent via email or other means to multiple sites and posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s written permission. Users may download and print articles for individual, noncom- mercial use only. However, unless prior permission has been obtained, you may not download an entire issue of a journal, or download multiple copies of articles. Please contact the publisher for any further use of this work at
[email protected]. http://www.philippinestudies.net Fri June 27 13:30:20 2008 Philipptne Studies 39 (1991):303-20 Angela Manalang Gloria. The Writer and Her Milieu STELLA PAGSANGHAN You shall not forget, for I am past forgetting.' An imperious presence first made itself felt in The Literary Appren- tice in 1928. It was the presence of Angela Manalang Gloria who was to display all through her life a powerful sense of self, a lean, iron spirit that would conquer illness, the death of a husband, the devas- tation of war. In an era of experimentation with English, Manalang Gloria's verses showed complete mastery of the language. At a time when students fought for membership in the U.P. Writers' Club, she remained distant and contemptuous of its members. In an era of sexual taboos, she wrote hymns to Hymen.