F. Sionil Jose
F. Sionil Jose
Francisco Sionil Joséis 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, Czech, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch...
NationalityFilipino
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth3 December 1924
art arts expressed noblest perhaps
You perhaps know me as a novelist. Literature is one of the arts - in fact, the noblest of the arts. That is not my opinion; it was first expressed by the ancients. As art, literature has many similarities with the other art forms.
clearly easily eight fails images keen last recall responses sensory though
At 86, I can easily look back to the last eight decades. Though memory often fails me now, so many images of the past are still clearly polished, and I can yet recall not just an abiding sense of place, but the keen smells, the sensory responses to the events of that past.
died elite grave hebrew latin replaced studied
From antiquity, Latin died but is still studied in seminaries and elite universities. So did Sanskrit in Asia. iI was replaced by Pali, but even Pali died, too. Linguists say the only ancient language which was resuscitated from the grave was Hebrew of Israel.
aspiring draw felt oldies
I find it always pleasurable talking with young people, particularly those aspiring to be writers, out of nostalgia, and because I've always felt that we oldies can learn so much from them and draw from them inspiration in our flagging and rickety years.
food
I said that if I were an industrialist or entrepreneur, I would invest in agriculture-based enterprises, for there is so much that can be done in manufacturing, in food preservation.
art artificial distrust judging visual
In the visual arts, particularly painting, I distrust all those abstractions, those artificial constructions. I have a very simple way of judging them: if I can do them, they are not art.
among explains
The ethnic differences among Filipinos are very real. The paucity of arable land, for instance, explains the industry of the Ilokanos and the Cebuanos.
arts harsh ignore nation truth understand work
This is the harsh truth about us: not only do Filipinos ignore books, literature - we do not understand how important the arts are - not just to those of us who work at it, but to the nation as a whole.
equally history meant people
A weak people and its equally debilitated leaders are bludgeoned by history. It maims them into the cripples that they are meant to be.
broke eastern far high japan school university war
I was a senior high school student at the Far Eastern University when the war with Japan broke out in 1941.
creates liberate people provides
The past could liberate or imprison - it creates a nation's character, provides the nourishment or the poison a people imbibe in their very marrow.
middle
Contemplation is a luxury of the middle class, the very rich.
written
I regret that I have not written more, shouted louder, and acted out my beliefs.
prince reports sang vastly western writers
In the Western tradition, the first writers were teachers and historians, vastly traveled, who spiced their reports with fantasies. They were also poets who sang and entertained prince and pauper.