Culture Unveiled: A Compendium of Research-based Literary Criticisms and Beyond

This compilation of five research articles served as a Reader for research and literary enthusiasts. The materials are various literary genres from prose and poetry as well as prose narratives. The articles utilized various theories and approaches focused on identifying cultural aspects. The first article identified culture as an inherent factor in addressing the questions of gender roles in Philippine fiction. It employed Gadamer's Hermeneutics to discuss the binary opposition of marriage and infidelity, faithfulness, and unfaithfulness, along with its implication to the couple and the society in general. The second article intended to unravel reasons behind the strange affection of the Millennials to the literary works with deformed characters or scary themes. This paper used a descriptive- qualitative type of research anchored on the theories of the grotesque. It was used as an analytical tool to present the motives behind the Millennial's allure to the literary materials with scary or deformed characters. The third article employed qualitative-descriptive approach of literary criticism, anchored on the theory of New Historicism and formalist contextualist approach. The findings revealed that the poems are good sources of information about the image of the places in terms of physical and cultural milieu. Moreover, the fourth article focused on the study of legends as prose narratives. The paper attempted to study the classification, structure, and themes of the legends of Sorsogon City and their variants. The results emphasized the difference between the prose narratives from fiction, having its own distinct elements. Through an interpretative type of literary criticism, which was validated using the parameters of Manuel's vertical and horizontal tests. The last article considered water as both material and non-material culture of the community. It focused on the anthropological approach that deals with water utilization, valuation, and perspectives on water safety of the residents. Thematic analysis was employed from the informants' in-depth interviews. This paper found out that the socio-economic aspect of the community was affected by the availability of water, water use, and how people value water. It is therefore hoped that through this compilation of articles on culture, more scholars may develop the love of one's culture.