F. Sionil José

Infobox Person
name = F. Sionil José


image_size = 120px
caption =
birth_date = December 3, 1924
birth_place = Philippines flagicon|Philippines
death_date =
death_place =
education =
occupation = Filipino novelist
spouse =
parents =
children =

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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3109471.stm Jose, F. Sionil. Sense of the City: Manila, BBC News, BBC.co.uk, July 30, 2003] , retrieved on June 14, 2007] [http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=14838 Author Spotlight: F. Sionil Jose, Random House, RandomHouse.com] , retrieved on June 14, 2007] [http://globalnation.inquirer.net/features/features/view_article.php?article_id=62431 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] [http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4741/Sionil-Jose-F-rancisco.html Yabes, Leopoldo Y. and Judson Knight, Francisco Sionil Jose Biography, Contemporary Novelists, Volume 16, Jrank.org] , retrieved on June 16, 2007] [http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/art_view.asp?newsIdx=1921&categoryCode=142 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] [http://bookasia.org/bbs/view.php?id=news&no=86 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]

Biography

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Works

"Rosales Saga" novels

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

* "Po-on" (Dusk) (1984) ISBN 9718845100
* "The Pretenders" (1962) ISBN 9718845003
* "My Brother, My Executioner" (1973) ISBN 971884516X
* "Mass" (December 31, 1974) ISBN 0868615722
* "Tree" (1978) ISBN 9718845143

Original novels containing the "Rosales Saga"

* "Dusk (Po-on)" (1993) ISBN 0375751440
* "Don Vicente" (1980) ISBN 0375752439 - "Tree" and "My Brother, My Executioner" combined in one book
* "The Samsons" ISBN 0375752447- "Mass" and "The Pretenders" combined in one book

Other novels

* "Gagamba (The Spider Man)" (1991) ISBN 971536105645
* "Viajero" (1993) ISBN 971884504689
* "Sin" (1994) ISBN 0517284464
* "Ben Singkol" (2001) ISBN 9718845321
* "Ermita" ISBN 9718845127
* "Vibora!" (2007)
* "Sherds" (2008)

hort 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

Children's books

*"The Molave and The Orchid" (November 2004)

Verses

* "Questions" (1988)

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)

In translation

* "Po-on" (Tagalog language, De La Salle University Press, 1998) ISBN 9715552676 and ISBN 978-9715552677
* "Anochecer (Littera)" (Spanish language, Maeva, October 2003) ISBN 8495354950 and ISBN 978-8495354952

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

In film documentaries

* "Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey" by Art Makosinski, 1996 [ [http://www.me.uvic.ca/~art/fsj.html 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]

Awards

*Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Awards for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts (1980)
*National Artist Award for Literature (2001) [ [http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about_cultarts/cultprofile/natarts/literature/jose.php Culture Profile: F. Sionil Jose, About Culture and Arts, National Commission for Culture and Arts, NCCA.gov, 2002] , retrieved on: June 16, 2007]
*Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004)
*Palanca Awards

Books and excerpts about F. Sionil José

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)

Reviews

*Quotation|"...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

*Quotation|"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

*Quotation|"...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

*Quotation|"...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 [http://www.engr.uvic.ca/~art/afsj.html Makosinski, Art. About Francisco Sionil José, Engr.Uvic.ca] , retrieved on: June 16, 2007]

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

# [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=F.+Sionil+Jose&srchst=nyt The Writings of F. Sionil Jose, Archives, The New York Times, NYTimes.com] , retrieved on: June 16, 2007
# [http://www.nypl.org/searchSum.cfm The Works of Francisco Sionil Jose, The New York Public Library, NYPL.org (Search Engine)] , retrieved on: June 16, 2007
# [http://www.amazon.com/s?rs=1000&rh=n%3A1000%2Cp%5F27%3AF.%20Sionil%20Jos%C3%A9&page=1 Books of F. Sionil Jose, Amazon.com] , retrieved on: June 16, 2007
# [http://fsioniljose.blogspot.com "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
# [http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/journey/letters_jose.html 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
# [http://www.eclectica.org/v1n2/gaborro.html Allen Gaborro, A book review about "Sins", a novel by F. Sionil Jose, Random House, 1996, Eclectica.org] , retrieved on: April 22, 2008

ee also

*Philippine literature in English
*Literature of the Philippines
*Philippine English
*The Thomasites
*Philinda Rand

External links

* [http://www.fsioniljose.tk] - new webpage on F. Sionil Jose
* [http://fitzvillafuerte.com/why-are-filipinos-so-poor.html Why Are Filipinos So Poor?] - an essay by F. Sionil José