''Ang Tala sa Panghulo'' ("The Bright Star at Panghulo") is a 1913 Tagalog-language

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

written by

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

novelist

Patricio Mariano Patricio Mariano y Geronimo (17 March 1877 at Santa Cruz, Manila – 28 January 1935) was a Filipino nationalist, revolutionary, pundit, poet, playwright, dramatist, short story writer, novelist, journalist, violinist, and painter. Mariano wa ...

. The 207-page book was published in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

by R. Martinez and was printed by the Imprenta at Litograpya Ni Juan Fajardo (Printer And Lithography By Juan Fajardo) during the American era in Philippine history. The novel is alternatively known as ''Ang Tala sa Panghulo: Nobelang Taga-ilog'' ("The Bright Star at Panghulo: A

Riverine A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

Novel"), which can also mean ''Ang Tala sa Panghulo: Nobelang Tagalog'' (the word '' Tagalog'' originated from the Tagalog-language word "taga-ilog" meaning ''riverine'' or ''river people''), thus the alternative English translation is ''The Bright Star at Panghulo: A Tagalog Novel''.

Characters

The main characters of the novel are Berta and Lucia. Berta is the stereotypic young woman from the

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

, while Lucia was the stereotypic lass from Manila. Being a barrio resident, Berta is presented by the author as shy and modest, while Lucia – being a city girl – was portrayed as impatient, devious, and disloyal. Berta is a vendor of local delicacies. The other characters in the story are Luciano, Tintoy, and Mang Pedro (literally "Mr. Pedro"). Luciano is a painter and an affluent customer of Berta. Tintoy is the husband of Lucia. Mang Pedro, as revealed at the end of the novel, turns out to be the wealthy father of Berta, Quote: ''"This is the same situation in Mariano's'' Tala sa Panghulo ''where the poor girl is shown to be the daughter of a rich man."'' and the owner of the house in Manila where Luciano resides.

Plot

In the story, Lucia – although married – falls in love with Luciano. Tintoy, because of jealousy, shot Luciano during a hunt. Berta, while gathering ''dampalit'' (a local plant used as an ingredient in pickling), heard the shots. Berta saves and nurses Luciano. Luciano becomes Lucia’s lover. Berta reunites with Mang Pedro. There was a happy ending for Berta and Luciano, but not for Lucia and Tintoy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ang Tala Sa Panghulo Philippine novels 1913 novels Tagalog-language novels Philippine romance novels Novels about artists Novels set in the Philippines

Characters

Plot

See also

References