| The Rosales Saga | |
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Book covers for F. Sionil José's novel series The Rosales Saga. |
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| Author(s) | F. Sionil José |
| Country | Philippines |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fiction |
| Publisher | Solidaridad Publishing House, Inc. (Philippines) |
The Rosales Saga, also known as the Rosales Novels, is a series of five historical and political novels written by Filipino National Artist F. Sionil José. Chronologically, it is composed of five interconnected novels, namely Po-on (written in 1984), Tree (written in 1978), My Brother, My Executioner (written in 1973), The Pretenders (written in 1962), and Mass (written in 1973).[1][2] The Rosales Saga traced the five generations of two families, namely the Samsons (poor farmers) and the Asperri (wealthy mestizos) through Spanish and American periods in the History of the Philippines up until the period after Philippine Independence.[3] José begun writing the series in 1962 and completed it in 1984.[1]
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All of José’s five novels were in set in Rosales, Pangasinan in Luzon, Philippines. José used a variation of styles for the novels. José also focused on different families with different social statuses. The object that connected and bound these families was the “giant Balete tree" located at the plaza of Rosales town.[1]
One of the common themes in the Rosales Novels were intimate relationships and marriages between cousins, the father figure who was beaten up by the political and social structures, vengeful and aggressive attacks on persons who symbolized the repression and subjugation, the love-hate relationship among the characters against the town of Rosales, as well as the barrios in it such as places named Cabugawan, Carmay, and Sipnget.[1]
The first book in the Rosales series, Po-on, focused on the Samson family. The time period was during the Philippine-American war when Filipino revolution and nationalism were presented as a solution for the social and political problems in the Philippines.[3]
The second novel,Tree, pursued the life of the unnamed heir of the Asperri clan. The unnamed narrator witnessed the adversity of the Filipino peasants under the encomienda system during the Spanish colonial regime, as well as the resulting uprisings created by the peasants. However, the nameless story-teller was unable to free himself from his own position that carried cultural and economic benefits.[3]
The succeeding three books after Tree reinforced the existing strain between Philippine colonial heritage and bona fide patriotism.[3]
The third novel, My Brother, My Executioner, concentrated on the life of Luis Asperri and his half-brother Victor during the 1950s, a time that was plagued with the Hukbalahap rebellion. Luis Asperri was the illegitimate son of Don Vicente Asperri. Don Asperri took Luis Asperri as an heir due to the absence of a legitimate son by the former. Luis abandoned his peasant roots in order to embrace the status of a landowner. His half-brother Victor warned Luis that if the peasantry did not receive economic justice, the Hukbalahap insurgents would annihilate the elite class. In the end, Luis expected his demise at the hands of the Hukbalahap rebels.[3]
The fourth novel, The Pretenders, recalled the life of Antonio “Tony” Samson, the son of Victor, the half-brother of Luis Asperri in My Brother, My Executioner (Victor was imprisoned for life for murdering Luis Asperri). Antonio Samson obtained a PhD degree from Harvard University in the United States. By marrying a rich Filipina mestiza, Antonio Samson became an Ilustrado and worked for his father-in-law. As a result, Antonio Samson was unable to marry his true love and cousin, Emy, with whom he sired an illegitimate son. Feeling undeserving of Emy and his son because of his denunciation of his peasant origins, Antonio Samson committed suicide.[3]
In the fifth and last Rosales Novel, Mass, the timeline jumped forward into the 1970s, to narrate the life of Pepe Samson, the illegitimate son of Antonio Samson and his cousin Emy. Pepe Samson went to live in Manila in order to study in college. He became a member of the revolutionary group called The Brotherhood. The novel ended with the scene when Pepe left Manila to adhere to the cause of the mountain guerrillas.[3]
In José’s separate novel Viajero, which is not a part of the Rosales Saga series, Pepe Samson reappeared as a full-pledged insurgent, while some other Rosales Novels characters also resurfaced.[3]
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