Essays by F. Sionil Jose

At the outset of writing this column, I would like to make a public confession – that F. Sionil Jose has always been my favorite fiction writer. His books, especially the five-novel epic The Rosales Saga that encompass one hundred years of Philippine history, was a literary masterpiece that I could identify with.

I am aware that he was a controversial figure because he was fearlessly speaking his mind out all the time. That was one reason I also admired him. While he was alive, I had the privilege of knowing him and was even invited a couple of times to the second floor of his beloved Solidaridad Bookshop in Ermita. He would also occasionally send me letters when he would comment on my column.

Back in my college days in the 60s, I used to frequent his bookstore because it was relatively near my school, La Salle College, now De La Salle University.

In spite of his being controversial even with his literary circles, he was a multi-awarded writer. In 1980, he was conferred the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and the Creative Arts and named National Artist of the Philippines for Literature in 2001. He is one of the few Filipino literary figures that received prestigious foreign awards which included the Order of Sacred Treasure, Japan (2001); the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award (2004); officer in the French Order of Arts and Letters (2014) and the European Union Award in 2018.

I have read some of his essays individually but never a collection as in “Writing the Nation: Essays on Philippine Literature, Politics and Culture” published by Solidaridad Publishing House in 2021. The cover design is by the noted Filipino artist BenCab, today also a National Artist.

There are 54 essays in the book, grouped into 11 topics. These sections include “All About Literature,” “The Writing Craft,” “The Process of Literary Creation,” “Admonishing Writers and Cajoling Literature Teachers,” “Writers and Remembrances,” “Fostering a Fondness for Reading,” “Book Awards: Chasing the Glory of Recognition,” “From Page to the Stage,” “Two Events of Consequence” and “Miscellany: Hope for the Nation.”

It is difficult for me to decide which are my favorite essays. Perhaps one of my favorite chapters is on Literary Creation because it includes several essays on The Rosales Saga.

This semi-fictional town is really the author Sionil Jose’s hometown. I say semi-fictional because he included descriptions of the town which really did not exist, as he himself said.

In his essay on his hometown, one can sense the pride in his native land and, at the same time, his frustration. For example, he wrote: “We have many things to be proud of… a corrupt leadership? Ramon Magsaysay, Jose W. Diokno, Manny Pelaez, Raul Manglapus are just a few sterling names to wash away that perception…. We mounted the first Asian revolution against Western imperialism and set up Asia’s first Republic in Malolos in 1898. More than any country in Southeast Asia, we fought the Japanese bravely in World War II. Not just in Bataan, but in nationwide guerrilla war. All of this is forgotten. And Rizal. What country has ever produced someone like him – a poet, a novelist, a linguist, a medical doctor, an anthropologist and a martyr at 35?”

Another essay is “Why I Write.” This is what Sionil Jose says on this topic: “I do not really know. Maybe it is duty, a stubbornness, and pride. Maybe because a writer wants to reach out to others to help, to ease their pain, to make them laugh if he can for most of the time...Maybe I write because I am angry because I suffer. At this old age when my days are already numbered, I write to show that I have lived.”

In another essay, “Literature and the Nation,” he writes: “And finally, all of us know writing is hard labor. In this country, it does not pay and writers are not appreciated. Why then must we persevere, why write at all? I’ll tell you why: we will do it because it is compulsion, because it is duty to God and country.”

I also thought his essays on other Filipino writers were memorable. Of Nick Joaquin, he had high praise: “With his brilliant body of work, Nick is the first Filipino who can stand side by side with the world’s greatest.” He also pays tribute to women writers. He also admired Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, whom he called a “sterling, irreplaceable Filipino writer.” Of Gilda Cordero Fernando who once shared space to sell antiques beside Sionil Jose’s bookshop, he wrote: “Gilda’s fiction belongs to the finest; she could easily stand side by side with the world’s best, Joseph Conrad, Willa Cather, Doris Lessing – and this is not hyperbole; the truth of the matter is that we have already produced great literature in English – Gilda, Nick Joaquin, Kerima Polotan, Greg Brillantes, the poet Cirilo Bautista and coming up Charlson Ong, Criselda Yabes – their stature and that of so many brilliant writers in the so-called developing world are not globally recognized because we do not have the reach of Western writers who, in a sense, have colonized our cultures.”

F. Sionil Jose has three essays on books he would recommend. I beg to differ with him on some of his choices. However, this book “Writing the Nation” is definitely one I would recommend to anyone who wants to appreciate Philippine culture and literature.