Teodoro Kalaw lee a Gomez Carrillo: Hacia la Tierra del Zar (1908), un ejemplo de cronica modernista filipino

Abstract

One of the most outstanding travel books ever written by a Filipino was Hacia la Tierra del Zar [Towards the land of the Czar] (1908), by a young journalist from Lipa named Teodoro Kalaw. The present research explores the literary ancestry of Kalaw, his political and cultural work in El Renacimiento, criticizing the abuses of the U. S. government and promoting Modernismo, and his strong desire to emulate the Modernista prose from Gmez Carrillo, a popular travel writer during those years in the Spanish speaking literary world. The final product, however, will be, despite his efforts, a very different one, where the political tones turned out to overpass his aesthetic affiliation.