Ang Singsing nang Dalagang Marmol ("The Ring of the Marble Maiden"), contemporarily rendered as Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol in the Tagalog language, is a historical novel written by Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 novelist, scholar, and labor leader Isabelo Florentino de los Reyes (also known as Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr.) before 1905. It is one of the first historical novels written in the Philippines during the first decade of the twentieth century (1900 to 1910). It was also one of the first novels during the period that was written using the technique of blending fact and fiction. Through the novel, De los Reyes revealed his knowledge of the actual events during the Philippine–American War, making the subject as "integral elements" of the book. Based on the original 1912 bookcover for the novel, Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol is alternatively titled Si Liwayway ng Baliwag ("Liwayway of Baliwag").

History

The novel was originally written by De los Reyes in Tagalog, and was published in the Ang Kapatid ng Bayan (literally "The Sibling [Brother or Sister] of the Country") newspaper. De los Reyes translated the Tagalog version into the Spanish language. The Spanish version was published in El Grito del Pueblo ("The Cry of the People") in 1905. After the disappearance of the original Tagalog manuscript, the Spanish version was translated back into Tagalog by Filipino translator Carlos B. Raimundo. The Tagalog translation made by Raimundo was published in 1912 with 32 pages by Tip. Santos Y Bernal in Manila during the American period (1898-1946).

In 2004, the Ateneo de Manila University

Ateneo de Manila University

The Ateneo de Manila University is a private teaching and research university run by the Society of Jesus in the Philippines. It began in 1859 when the City of Manila handed control of the Escuela Municipal de Manila in Intramuros, Manila, to the Jesuits...

 Press republished Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol by pairing it with Precioso Palma

Precioso Palma

Precioso Palma was a distinguised novelist and playwright in the Philippines. He wrote the novel Ipaghiganti Mo Ako…! . He authored the 1919 zarzuela entitled Paglipas ng Dilim ....

's Ipaghiganti Mo Ako...!

Ipaghiganti Mo Ako...!

Ipaghiganti Mo Ako...! is a 1914 Tagalog-language novel written by Filipino novelist and dramatist Precioso Palma. The 207-page book was published in Manila by Limbagang Banahaw during the American era in Philippine history . The 1914 version of the novel has an afterword written by Julian C...

("Avenge Me...!"). The combined short novels or novelette

Novelette

A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...

s have similarities. Both tackles romance and relationship during wartime, wherein the characters "deal with forked road of separation" and reunion after the revelation of secrets.

Description

There are three main protagonists in Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol. One is the unknown narrator, the second is Colonel Puso (literally "Colonel Heart"), and third is Liwayway, the colonel's girlfriend. The narrator was a survivor of the Battle of Kingwa (also known as the Battle of Quingua), a battle between Filipino revolutionaries and American soldiers that occurred on 23 April 1899 in Kingwa, Bulacan (Quingua, Bulacan; now known as Plaridel, Bulacan). The battle was a part of the Philippine-American War. In the story, the unnamed narrator met Colonel Puso, a wounded Filipino soldier. Colonel Puso confided with the narrator his relationship with Liwayway, a woman from Baliwag, Bulacan. Liwayway’s foster mother was against the relationship and took her away from Colonel Puso. Colonel learns that Liwayway became the wife of an American. However, it turns out that the news was not true – Liwayway did not marry - because in the end Colonel Puso and Liwayway met again eventually. Liwayway disguised herself as an old woman. She reached the military camp where Colonel Puso was staying. Liwayway nursed Colonel Puso and revealed her true identity to her lover.

External links

• Ang Singsing nang Dalagang Marmol at Project Gutenberg
• Ang Singsing nang Dalagang Marmol at Filipiniana.net
• Ang Singsing ng Dalagang Marmol (The Ring of the Marble Maiden) at iTunes.apple.com (Apple Inc.)