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Francisco Sionil Jose

Francisco Sionil Jose has been called a Philippine national treasure. Born on December 3, 1924 in Rosales, Philippines, he was introduced to literature in public school and later at the University of Santo Tomas. While working as a journalist in Manila, he moonlighted writing short stories and eventually novels. In the late fifties Jose founded the Philippine branch of PEN, an international organization of poets, playwrights, and novelists. In 1965 he started his own publishing house SOLIDARIDAD, and a year later he began publishing the remarkable Solidarity, a journal of current affairs, ideas, and arts, still going strong today. Jose wrote in English rather than in his national language Tagalog, or his native language Illocano. In 1962 he published his first novel The Pretenders. Today his publications include twelve novels, seven books of short stories, a book of verse, and five important books of essays. His works are available in 28 languages. He has been awarded numerous fellowships and awards, most notable being the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the most prestigious award of its kind in Asia, and most recently, and the 2004 Pablo Neruda Centennial Award from Chile. Jose lives and works in Manila where with his wife Teresita and a faithful staff he still runs the Solidardad Publishing House and the Solidarity Bookstore, still considered the best little bookstore in Asia. On occassion he leaves Manila for Japan, US, or Europe, where he finds the peace to write or teach. Random House has recently published Three Filipino Women, and the Rosales saga in three volumes: Sins, Dusk, and Don Vincente in North America. The last three are in the Modern Library Editions. In June of 2001, Jose was awarded the prestigious title of Philippine's National Artist for Literature in an official ceremony at Malacañang. In March 2002's issue of the Discovery magazine, Jose's book Ermita was rated as one of the top ten English-language novels set in Southeast Asia, along side Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness," Graham Greene's "The Quiet American," James Clavell's "King Rat."and others. Frankie's latest novel Vibora! was published in 2008. Below are some quotes from reviewers and literary critics.

What others say about Jose: ...I like to announce that we have among us the first great Filipino novels written in english and that the author, Francisco Sionil Jose, has spoken the awful truths and grappled with the fearful realities that centrally confront us, not in just one novel but in five books which, taken together, are the most impressive legacy of any writer to Philippine culture... Ricaredo Demetillo, University of the Philippines, Diamond Jubilee Lecture _________________________________________________ ...one of the best and most active writers of contemporary Philippine literature in English. His touch with language is rivaled, perhaps, only by N.V.M. Gonzalez or Nick Joaquin among contemporary writers in English in the Philippines and his stories are moving portraits of Philippine society. Joseph A. Galdon, SJ, Philippine Studies _________________________________________________ Sionil  Jose 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 _________________________________________________ One of the [Philippines] most distinguished men of letters... Time _________________________________________________ F. Sionil Jose writes with an urgency that recalls D.H. Lawrence and preoccupations resembling those of Hemingway. (His) prose has, at its best sustained intensity that is highly impressive. His work is an important part of the Filipinos' search for a nobler sense of themselves. David Burleigh, Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo _________________________________________________ His stories truly carry the reader into the petty, debilitating, nepotistic and often nightmarish world of politics and power. David McElveen, Asiaweek, Hong Kong _________________________________________________ In Filipino literature in recent years, the creative work of Francisco Sionil Jose occupies a special place...the advocate of Filipino originality (he) is a master not so much of cultural as of social analysis, uncovering the essence of contemporary processes in the Philippines... Jose is a great artist...as is often the case, the creative work of the artist is broader and deeper than his rigid artistic declarations. Igor Podberezsky, Institute of Oriental Studies, Moscow _________________________________________________ Sionil Jose has the ability to write evocatively...his descriptions of the rural environment have an intense glow and a lyrical shine...Linguistically and artistically he has developed his craft and is now the complete master of an American style...he is no longer an author depending on a language and psychology whose origins are in colonialism but is truly an emancipated stylist, an interpreter of character and analyst of society. Artur Lundkvist, The Swedish Academy, Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm _________________________________________________ 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, New York Review of Books _________________________________________________ Readers will be tantalized by these glimpses of lives...Joses elegiac tone complements his narratives... Publishers Weekly _________________________________________________ Francisco Sionil Jose is perhaps the most prominent contemporary Filipino novelist, as well as a noted journalist, editor, publisher and political activist... Jose's writing is simple and direct, appearing deceptively unsophisticated at times. But the stories ring true, and taken together, they provide a compelling picture of the difficulties of modern life and love in this beleaguered island nation. Steve Heilig, San Francisco Chronicle _________________________________________________            ...(Jose) never flattens his characters in the service of rhetoric... Even more impressive is Jose's ability to tell important stories in lucid, but never merely simple prose...itÕs refreshing to see a politically engaged writer who dares to reach for a broader audience..                                                                                   Laure Miller, San Francisco Chronicle _________________________________________________ Tolstoy himself, not to mention Italo Svevo, would envy the author of this story; Flaubert would resent the portrait of himself in the narrator, who tells us in the first person, never understanding it himself, how it is impossible to love another without loving, or at least liking oneself. This short...scorching work whets our appetite for Sionil Jose's masterpiece, the five-novel Rosales saga.       Joseph Coates, Chicago Tribune _________________________________________________ He has readers in 22 languages, with his popularity greatest in Russia and the Netherlands, where his novel Mass was a bestseller. Vernon Loeb, Philadelphia Inquirer _________________________________________________ The only writier who had produced a series of novels that constitutes an epic creation of a century of Philippine life...a rich, composite picture. Contemporary Novelists _________________________________________________ Jose's collection is an incisive comment on the Philippines powerful matriarchal foundation. ...His reputation was built largely on the marvelous "Rosales Saga"— a series of novels published in the Philippines spanning nearly a century— "Three Filipino Women" represents  slight shift...a contemporary, introspective, and "quieter" work, where history and politics—the manipulation and oppression of the poor by generations of elites—although present, are less pronounced. Peter Bacho, The Christian Science Monitor _________________________________________________ I am impressed with the complex interweaving of the personal and the public in these stories...I admire the vigor of the writing. Kathye S. Bergin, Houston Chronicle _________________________________________________ The reader of this slim volume of 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. Jose's book 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 _________________________________________________ ...an outstanding saga writer. If ever a Nobel Prize in literature will be awarded to a Southeast Asia writer, it will be F. Sionil Jose... The Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo _________________________________________________ Considered by many to be Asia's most likely candidate for the Nobel Prize for Literature... The Singapore Straits Times _________________________________________________ F. Sionil Jose could become the first Filipino to win the Nobel Prize for Literature...he's a fine writer and it would be welcome recognition of cultural achievement in his troubled country. (He) is widely known and acclaimed in Asia. John Griffin, The Honolulu Advertiser _________________________________________________ Francisco Sionil Jose, Asia's white hope (or tan stand?) for the Nobel, has been translated into every major language, including the Scandinavian, and is, hands down, the most widely read Filipino author. Nick Joaquin, Philippine Graphic _________________________________________________ America has no counterpart—no one who is simultaneously a prolific novelist, a social and political organizer, an editor and a journalist, a small-scale entrepreneur...Jose's identity had equipped him to be fully sensitive to his nation's miseries without succumbing, like many of his characters, to corruption or despair. James Fallows, The Atlantic _________________________________________________ (Sionil Jose) captures the spirit of his country's sullen and corrupt bureaucracy (and) tells the readers far more about Philippine society than many, far lengthier works of non-fiction... Steve Vines, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong _________________________________________________ If we had to choose only one set of literary texts to represent the 20th century, it might arguably—vociferously arguably—be the only prose epic of our time, F. Sionil Jose's Rosales Novels and perhaps Viajero the only sustained modern narrative in novel form, following and keeping alive the ancient epic tradition of heroes unable to achieve heroism without the active help of the community, an achievement that in small measure owes its success to its continuing the Rizal tradition of romantic realism or realistic romanticism. Isagani R. Cruz, Playwright, critic _________________________________________________ VIAJERO...is a moving account of Filipino history and as such, a valuable contribution to the French-speaking world. Fernando Ainsa, UNESCO, Paris _________________________________________________   By remaking the history of the Philippines, Jose (in VIAJERO) remakes the history of modernism to allow a place for Filipino identity. John McLaren, Editor, OVERLAND, Melbourne _________________________________________________ Seldom has a writer reflected so well the qualities and the failing of his people. Francisco Sionil Jose is one of the best-known writers in his country and abroad. He crossed this century embracing the hopes and the disillusions of his land: his essays and his articles as well as his novels are inseparable from the modern history of the Philippines. Philippe Pons, Le Monde des livres, Paris _________________________________________________ What surprises at first glance is the historical density in Francisco Sionil JoseÕs writings, as if his aim were to write a fragmentary chronicle of the history of the Philippines. Didier Garcia, Le Marticule de anges, Paris _________________________________________________                                                                                                                  My Brother, My Executioner (of the Rosales Saga) stands out as, perhaps, the most politically sophisticated Filipino novel in English... Bienvenido Lumbera, Magsaysay Awardee in Literature _________________________________________________ The (five-novel saga) about the people of Rosales is the closest you can get to a Filipino national epic. Jan Eklund, Dagens Nyheter _________________________________________________ Moving and richly textured, this great Philippine novel (PO-ON) is possessed of a grand, brooding material and metaphorical imanence that seems to guide all of Sionil Jose's work...the tale is suspenseful and gripping, invested as it is with an Old Testament sense of tribulation and destiny... Reamy Jansen, The Bloomsbury Review _________________________________________________ Don Vicente' is)...accessible...vivid David Walton, The New York Times _________________________________________________  Like Dickens, Jose is a master storyteller, breeding characters from setting and social condition. Like Donne, Jose is a poet, seeking the spiritual ramifications of his subjects. (In Don Vicente) so powerful is Jose's sense of soul that he infuses not only his characters with it, but his readers as well. The Baltimore Sun _________________________________________________ Fascinating and worthwhile introduction to a culture and history too often ignored in the West. Christopher Atamian, The New York Times Book Review _________________________________________________ The mere mention of his name provokes the most partisan debates, but because of his prodigious output and the singeing social and moral vision that animates his best fiction, Jose (born 1924) is deserving of the National Artist Award. No Filipino novelist in English has written as adeptly, movingly, and in a language that is its own sole, freshly created universe about the Filipino's quest for a just moral order. Jose's fiction—limn and define a shining vision of today's Filipino: a future that is more fair, more just, more caring and ultimately more creative. Editorial, Philippine Daily Inquirer _________________________________________________ With the novels of Graham Greene, Andre Malraux, Joseph Conrad, Han Suyin, Yukio Mishima, F. Sionil Jose's Ermita is "one of the top ten novels written in Southeast Asia." Ron Rennard, Discovery Magazine, March 2002