F. Sionil José | |
|---|---|
.jpg) José in 2017 | |
| Born | Francisco Sionil José (1924-12-03)December 3, 1924 |
| Died | January 6, 2022(2022-01-06) (aged 97) Makati,Metro Manila, Philippines |
| Pen name | F. Sionil José |
| Occupation | Filipino Novelist, Writer, Journalist |
| Nationality | Filipino |
| Alma mater | Far Eastern University University of Santo Tomas (dropped out) |
| Period | 1962–2022 |
| Genre | Fiction |
| Literary movement | Philippine literature in English |
| Notable works | The "Rosales Saga" Novels (1962–1984) |
| Notable awards |
|
| Spouse | Tessie Jovellanos Jose |
 Literature portal | |
Francisco Sionil José (December 3, 1924 – January 6, 2022) was a Filipino writer who was one of the most widely read in the English language.[1][2] ANational Artist of the Philippines for Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José'snovels andshort stories depict the social underpinnings of class struggles andcolonialism in Filipino society.[3] His works—written in English—have beentranslated into 28 languages, includingKorean,Indonesian,Czech,Russian,Latvian,Ukrainian andDutch.[4][5] He was often considered the leading Filipino candidate for theNobel Prize in Literature.[6][7]
José was born inRosales, Pangasinan, the setting of many of his stories. He spent his childhood in Barrio Cabugawan, Rosales, where he first began to write. José is ofIlocano descent whose family had migrated to Pangasinan prior to his birth. Fleeing poverty, his forefathers traveled fromIlocos towardsCagayan Valley through the Santa Fe Trail. Like many migrant families, they brought their lifetime possessions with them, including uprootedmolave posts of their old houses and theiralsong, a stone mortar for pounding rice.[1][2][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 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 schoollibrary to her students, which is how José managed to read the novels ofJosé Rizal,Willa Cather’sMy Antonia,Faulkner andSteinbeck. Reading aboutBasilio andCrispin in Rizal'sNoli 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 richmestizolandlords who knew how to work the system againstilliterates like his grandfather.[1][2][3]
José attended theUniversity of Santo Tomas afterWorld War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and journalism inManila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic publications, started a publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch ofPEN, an international organization for writers.[1][2] 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.[3]
José Rizal's life and writings profoundly influenced José's work. The five volume Rosales Saga, in particular, employs and integrates themes and characters from Rizal's work.[8] 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 authenticFilipino English and his anti-elite views.[1][2][3]
"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, 30 July 2003[1]
José also ownedSolidaridad Bookshop, located on Padre Faura Street inErmita, Manila. The bookshop offers mostly hard-to-find books andFilipiniana reading materials previously curated by his wife, Teresita, and foreign selections previously curated by himself. It is said to be one of the favorite haunts of many local writers.[1][2][3]
In his regular column,Hindsight, inThe Philippine STAR, dated September 12, 2011, he wrote"Why we are shallow", blaming the decline of Filipino intellectual and cultural standards on a variety of modern amenities, including media, the education system—particularly the loss of emphasis on classic literature and the study of Greek and Latin—and the abundance and immediacy of information on the Internet.[9]
Nominated on numerous occasions for theNobel Prize in Literature,[6][7] theNobel Library of theSwedish Academy possesses 39 copies of Sionil José's works in English and French translations.[10]
In May 2021, José stirred up controversy after publicly backing PresidentRodrigo Duterte amid hisPhilippine drug war. José referred to Duterte as someone who "may yet be, next to Magsaysay, the best president we ever had", adding that under Duterte's term, the Philippines, he claims, was safer. Around 30,000 Filipinos, including children, were killed under the drug war initiated by Duterte. The Philippines also fell to 138th in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index under his watch.[11][12] Duterte was later arrested by theInternational Criminal Court forcrimes against humanity in 2025.[13]
José died on the night of January 6, 2022, aged 97, at theMakati Medical Center, where he was scheduled for anangioplasty the next day.[14][15][16]
Five of José's works have won theCarlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature: his short storiesThe God Stealer in 1959,Waywaya in 1979,Arbol de Fuego (Firetree) in 1980, his novelMass in 1981, and his essayA Scenario for Philippine Resistance in 1979.[17]
Since the 1980s, various award-giving bodies have feted José with awards for his outstanding works and for being an outstanding Filipino in the field of literature. His first award was the 1979 City of Manila Award for Literature which was presented to him byManilaMayorRamon Bagatsing.[18] The following year, he was given the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.[19][20] Among his other awards during that period include the Outstanding Fulbrighters Award for Literature (1988)[20] and the Cultural Center of the Philippines Award (Gawad para sa Sining) for Literature (1989).[20]
By the turn of the century, José continued to receive recognition from several award-giving bodies. These include the Cultural Center of the Philippines Centennial Award in 1999, the prestigiousOrdre des Arts et des Lettres in 2000, and the Order of Sacred Treasure (Kun Santo Zuiho Sho) in 2001. In that same year, the Philippine government bestowed upon him the prestigious title of National Artist for Literature for his outstanding contributions to Philippine literature.[21] In 2004, José garnered the coveted Pablo Neruda Centennial Award in Chile.[22]
Afive-novel series that spans three centuries of Philippine history, translated into 22 languages:[23]
"...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[26]
"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[26]
"...America has no counterpart to José – 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[26]
"...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[26]
| The Rosales Saga |  | |
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| Other novels | ||
| Novellas |
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| Short stories | ||
