F. Sionil José

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F. Sionil José

Born December 3, 1924
Philippines Flag of the Philippines
Occupation Filipino novelist

F. Sionil José or in full Francisco Sionil José (born December 3, 1924) is one of the most widely-read Filipino writers in the English language. His novels and short stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles and colonialism in Filipino society. José's works - written in English - have been translated into 22 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Russian, Latvaian, Ukrainian, Dutch.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Childhood

José was born in Rosales, Pangasinan, the setting of many of his stories. He spent his childhood in Barrio Cabugawan, Rosales, where he first began to write. Jose was of Ilocano descent whose family had migrated to Pangasinan before his birth. Fleeing poverty, his forefathers traveled from Ilocos towards Cagayan Valley through the Santa Fe Trail. Like many migrant families, they brought their lifetime possessions with them, including uprooted molave posts of their old houses and their alsong, a stone mortar for pounding rice.[1][2][3][4]

“"You ask me why I write. Many of our people do not realize how important the arts are. They think writers are entertainers. But what writers do is create the cultural foundation of a nation. I want to relive our history. I want to give our people memory. My tradition is the village. My tradition is this small town. In many ways, I never really left Barrio Cabugawan."- F. Sionil José, Global Nation, Inquirer.net, April 25, 2007[3]

One of the greatest influences to José was his industrious mother who went out of her way to get him the books he loved to read, while making sure her family did not go hungry despite of poverty and landlessness. José started writing in grade school, at the time he started reading. In the fifth grade, one of José’s teachers opened the school library to her students, which is how José managed to read the novels of José Rizal, Willa Cather’s My Antonia, Faulkner and Steinbeck. Reading about Basilio and Crispin in Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere made the young José cry, because injustice was not an alien thing to him. When José was five years old, his grandfather who was a soldier during the Philippine revolution, had once tearfully showed him the land their family had once tilled but was taken away by rich mestizo landlords who knew how to work the system against illiterates like his grandfather.[1][2][3][4]

[edit] Life as a writer

José attended the University of Santo Tomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and journalism in Manila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic publications, started a publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization for writers. José received numerous awards for his work. The Pretenders is his most popular novel, which is the story of one man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence of his wife's wealthy family.[1][2][3][4]

Throughout his career, José's writings espouse social justice and change to better the lives of average Filipino families. He is one of the most critically acclaimed Filipino authors internationally, although much underrated in his own country because of his authentic Filipino English and his anti-elite views.[1][2][3][4]

"Authors like myself choose the city as a setting for their fiction because the city itself illustrates the progress or the sophistication that a particular country has achieved. Or, on the other hand, it might also reflect the kind of decay, both social and perhaps moral, that has come upon a particular people."-F. Sionil José, BBC.com, July 30, 2003[1]

Sionil José also owns Solidaridad Bookshop, which is on Padre Faura Street in Ermita, Manila. The bookshop offers mostly hard-to-find books and Filipiniana reading materials. It is said to be one of the favorite haunts of many local writers.[1][2][3][4]

[edit] Works

[edit] Rosales Saga novels

A five-novel series that spans three centuries of Philippine history, widely read around the world and translated into 22 languages

[edit] Original novels containing the Rosales Saga

[edit] Other novels

[edit] Short story collection

  • The God Stealer and Other Short Stories (2001) ISBN 9718845356
  • Puppy Love and Other Short Stories (March 15, 1998) ISBN 9718845267 and ISBN 978-9718845264
  • Olvidon and Other Stories (1988) ISBN 9718845186
  • Platinum: Ten Filipino Stories (1983) ISBN 9718845224 (now out of print, its stories are added to the new version of Olvidon and Other Stories)
  • Waywaya: Eleven Filipino Short Stories (1980) ISBN 999228840X
  • Asian PEN Anthology (as editor) (1966)
  • Short Story International (SSI): Tales by the World's Great Contemporary Writers (Unabridged, Volume 13, Number 75) (co-author, 1989) ISBN 1555730426

[edit] Children's books

  • The Molave and The Orchid (November 2004)

[edit] Verses

  • Questions (1988)

[edit] Essays and non-fiction

  • In Search of the Word (De La Salle University Press, March 15, 1998) ISBN 9715552641 and ISBN 978-9715552646
  • We Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our Heroic Heritage
  • Soba, Senbei and Shibuya: A Memoir of Post-War Japan ISBN 9718845313 and ISBN 978-9718845318
  • Heroes in the Attic, Termites in the Sala: Why We are Poor (2005)
  • This I Believe: Gleanings from a Life in Literature (2006)
  • Literature and Liberation (co-author) (1988)

[edit] In translation

[edit] In anthologies

  • Tong (a short story from Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Philippine Literature in English by Luis Francia, Rutgers University Press, August 1993) ISBN 0813519993 and ISBN 978-0813519999

[edit] In film documentaries

  • Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey by Art Makosinski, 1996[7]

[edit] Awards

[edit] Books and excerpts about F. Sionil José

[edit] Titles

  • Frankie Sionil José: A Tribute by Edwin Thuboo (editor) (Times Academic Press, Singapore, January 2005) ISBN 9812104259 and ISBN 978-9812104250
  • Conversations with F. Sionil José by Miguel A. Bernard (editor) (Vera-Reyes Publishing Inc., Philippines, 304 pages, 1991
  • The Ilocos: A Philippine Discovery by James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly magazine, Volume 267, No. 5, May 1991
  • F. Sionil José and His Fiction by Alfredo T. Morales (Vera-Reyes Publishing Inc., Philippines, 129 pages)

[edit] Reviews

  • "...the foremost Filipino novelist in English... his novels deserve a much wider readership than the Philippines can offer. His major work, the Rosales saga, can be read as an allegory for the Filipino in search of an identity..." - Ian Buruma, The New York Review of Books[9]

  • "Sionil José writes English prose with a passion that, at its best moments, transcends the immediate scene. (He) is a masterful short story writer..." - Christine Chapman, International Herald Tribune, Paris[9]

  • "...America has no counterpart to Jose - no one who is simultaneously a prolific novelist, a social and political organizer, and a small scale entrepreneur...José's identity has equipped him to be fully sensitive to the nation's miseries without succumbing, like many of his characters to corruption or despair...- James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly[9]

  • "...The reader of his well crafted stories will learn more about the Philippines, its people and its concerns than from any journalistic account or from a holiday trip there. José's books takes us to the heart of the Filipino mind and soul, to the strengths and weaknesses of its men, women, and culture. - Lynne Bundesen, Los Angeles Times[9]

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Jose, F. Sionil. Sense of the City: Manila, BBC News, BBC.co.uk, July 30, 2003, retrieved on June 14, 2007
  2. ^ a b c d e f Author Spotlight: F. Sionil Jose, Random House, RandomHouse.com, retrieved on June 14, 2007
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Macansantos, Priscilla Supnet. A Hometown as Literature for F. Sionil José, Global Nation/Features, Inquirer, Inquirer.net, April 25, 2007, retrieved on: June 14, 2007
  4. ^ a b c d e f Yabes, Leopoldo Y. and Judson Knight, Francisco Sionil Jose Biography, Contemporary Novelists, Volume 16, Jrank.org, retrieved on June 16, 2007
  5. ^ Garcia, Cathy Rose. “Author F. Sionil Jose’s Insight on Philippines” (an article about F. Sionil Jose’s novel, Ermita – published in Korean), Arts & Living, The Korea Times, KoreaTimes.co.kr, April 27, 2007
  6. ^ Garcia, Cathy Rose. “Author F. Sionil Jose’s Insight on Philippines” (an article about F. Sionil Jose’s novel: Ermita – published in Korean), BookAsia.org (Korean website), April 27, 2007
  7. ^ Makosinski, Art. Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey, documentary, color, 28min, 16mm., Winner of the Golden Shortie for Best Documentary at the Victoria Film and Video Festival, ME.UVIC.ca, 1996), retrieved on: June 16, 2007
  8. ^ Culture Profile: F. Sionil Jose, About Culture and Arts, National Commission for Culture and Arts, NCCA.gov, 2002, retrieved on: June 16, 2007
  9. ^ a b c d Makosinski, Art. About Francisco Sionil José, Engr.Uvic.ca, retrieved on: June 16, 2007

[edit] Bibliography

  1. The Writings of F. Sionil Jose, Archives, The New York Times, NYTimes.com, retrieved on: June 16, 2007
  2. The Works of Francisco Sionil Jose, The New York Public Library, NYPL.org (Search Engine), retrieved on: June 16, 2007
  3. Books of F. Sionil Jose, Amazon.com, retrieved on: June 16, 2007
  4. Filipino English: Literature As We Think It (from F. Sionil Jose's Keynote Lecture at the Conference on "Literatures in Englishes" at the National University of Singapore), F. Sionil Jose: National Artist for Literature, Foremost Novelist, and Stanford.edu, March 19, 2006, retrieved on: June 6 2007
  5. Jose, F. Sionil. "We Who Stayed Behind (Many fled the Philippines during the Marcos years, writes F. Sionil Jose. But what about those who remained?)", Asian Journey, Time Asia magazine (18-25 August 2003 issue), Time.com, 11 August 2007, retrieved on: 21 June 2007
  6. Allen Gaborro, A book review about Sins, a novel by F. Sionil Jose, Random House, 1996, Eclectica.org, retrieved on: April 22, 2008

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Books by F. Sionil José
The Rosales Saga:
Po-on (1984) | Tree (1978) | My Brother, My Executioner (1973) | The Pretenders (1962) | Mass (1974)
Other novels/works:
Gagamba (1991) | Viajero (1993) | Sins (1994) | Ben Singkol (2001) | Ermita (1988) | Vibora! (2007) | Sherds (2007)
Languages