{"id":10354,"date":"2022-01-21T22:39:50","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T08:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/?p=10354"},"modified":"2022-01-21T22:53:33","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T08:53:33","slug":"book-review-the-rosales-novels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/2022\/01\/21\/book-review-the-rosales-novels\/","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: The Rosales Novels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

by Rose Churma<\/em>

The Rosales Novels consist of five novels that use Philippine history as its backdrop \u2013 from the last days of the Spanish colonial period in the 1880s to the imposition of Martial Law in the 1970s.

The novels were authored by F. Sionil Jose who passed away last Jan. 5. Born in Rosales town in Pangasinan in 1924, he was educated at the University of Santo Tomas and held various positions involving writing or editing.

He is the recipient of various awards and grants such as the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation Award (1980) and the Carlos Palanca Award (1981). He also was awarded an East-West Center Fellowship in 1980 and has been a featured speaker in local venues such as the Honolulu Museum of Arts in the 1980s.

A prolific writer, he may be the only Filipino writer in English who has produced a series of novels that depicted a century of Philippine life as shown in the five-volume\u00a0The Rosales Novels.

He is considered the most widely known contemporary writer in foreign countries, where his writings have been translated into several languages: Japanese, Chinese, Russian, German, Dutch, Ukranian, Slovak, Czeck, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Hindi, Latvian \u2013 including Tagalog and Ilocano.

The first in the chronology of the Rosales novels is\u00a0Po-on<\/em>, set in the latter decades of the nineteenth century.\u00a0The novel documents the flight of a tenant family from the Ilocos to the plains of Eastern Pangasinan.

The novel serves as context to two historical events: Apolinario Mabini\u2019s visit to Rosales, Pangasinan and the\u00a0battle of Tirad Pass where General Gregorio del Pilar met his end after skirmishes with the American forces.

The second in the collection is\u00a0Tree<\/em>, where relationships between the native landowners\/employers and tenants\/hirelings are explored, showing how the American policies instituted through legislation (such as free trade) impoverished the tenants of the land and the laborers of small-scale industries.

But despite the injustices suffered during the American colonial regime, the Filipinos opted to fight the Japanese invaders hoping for better conditions after the war.

My Brother, My Executioner<\/em>, the third in the series is considered \u201cthe most dramatic.\u201d\u00a0Against the backdrop of the Hukbalahap uprising in the 1950s, the conflict between two half-brothers and their different worlds are explored.

It is noted in the book\u2019s back cover that this publication was banned in 1973 by the Martial Law regime because it depicted events that were reminiscent of the times.

Antonio Samson is the main protagonist in\u00a0The Pretenders<\/em>, the fourth novel in the series.\u00a0This novel is the author\u2019s most translated work \u2013 the story of Antonio Samson who overcame the disadvantages of rural birth, who manages to go on advanced schooling in the US and has to move in social circles different from what he had prepared himself to do.

His is the story of many Filipinos who find themselves lost \u2013 a fate that is often their own doing. He symbolizes the modern Filipino \u201cwho fails to act in a society bereft of decency and justice\u201d as described in the book\u2019s back cover.

The major character in\u00a0Mass<\/em>, the fifth in the series, is Pepe Samson, the illegitimate son of Antonio Samson.\u00a0Set during the years before and a little after the proclamation of martial rule in the Philippines, Pepe Samson escapes from his village in Pangasinan to live in Manila\u2019s sprawling slum called Tondo.

His journey may be likened to thousands of young Filipinos of that era who found meaning in their lives. Pepe\u2019s story could also be an \u201caffirmation of faith in the future” as envisioned by today\u2019s Filipino youth. The author wrote this last book in the series in Paris in 1976 and first translated in Holland in 1982 where it became a best seller.

\u201cSionil Jose writes evocatively,\u201d Arthur Lundkvist of Stockholm notes in\u00a0Svenska Akademien\u00a0<\/em>in his review of the author\u2019s works.

\u201cLinguistically and artistically, he is \u00a0no 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.\u201d\u00a0

Leopoldo Y. Yabes who was professor emeritus at University of the Philippines\u2013 Diliman observes that the Philippines has been under colonial rule for some four centuries with the fourth century depicted in\u00a0The Rosales Novels, but despite this fact, the Philippines has survived as a national form and \u201c\u2026in the face of all the tragic events that happened in their lives, the people in Sionil Jose\u2019s epic are felt to say, \u2018we shall overcome\u2019.\u201d

In reading through his novels, especially the first one \u2013 Po-on<\/em>, I can\u2019t help wonder how it would resonate if initially written in Ilocano, the protagonists’ native language, rather than in English, the Filipinos\u2019 borrowed language.

The prose is complex and the dialogue sometimes stilted. However, the sentence structure of the characters\u2019 conversations and monologues become more \u201ccontemporary\u201d \u2013 short, casual sounding and more relatable in the last novel in the series,\u00a0Mass<\/em>.

The five novels are available in a boxed format or can be acquired singly as stand-alone novels. \u00a0For inquiries, please send an email to kalamansibooks@gmail.com<\/a>.

ROSE CHURMA\u00a0<\/strong>established a career in architecture 40 years ago, specializing in judicial facilities planning.\u00a0\u00a0As a retired architect, she now has the time to do the things she always wanted to do: read books and write about them, as well as encourage others to write.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rose Churma The Rosales Novels consist of five novels that use Philippine history as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,4,7],"tags":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=192%2C300&ssl=1",192,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C570&ssl=1",417,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C600&ssl=1",417,600,true],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=417%2C500&ssl=1",417,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1",417,653,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=373%2C340&ssl=1",373,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?resize=232%2C250&ssl=1",232,250,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Featured<\/a> Features<\/a> Philippines<\/a>","tag_info":"Philippines","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Book-Review.jpg?fit=417%2C653&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10354"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10355,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10354\/revisions\/10355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thefilipinochronicle.com\/backup\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}