Frankie Sionil José of the Philippines is among Asia's leading fictionist. In a career spanning more than half a century that included editing Solidarity, which promotes writing in and about Southeast Asia, he has produced a remarkable body of fiction. Apart from winning various prizes, he was a Ramon Magsaysay awardee (1980) and a National Artist for Literature (2001). This tribute, in commemoration of José's 80th birthday, brings together reminiscences, poems, a substantial number of essays, all published for the first time. The comprehensive bibliography is indispensable to all who wish to study his work. By leading scholars of Filipino literature, the essays examine such themes as nation, history and society in José's works, and his use of English, of myth, through an examination of single or groups of texts of which the quintet that form the Rosales Saga is the most notable. They provide a challenging explication and assessment that, together with the other contributions, make the volume an authoritative, stimulating introduction to José, and to Filipino and Asian literature in English(es). It should be in all major libraries.

With Dusk (originally published in the Philippines as Po-on), F. Sionil Jose begins his five-novel Rosales Saga, which the poet and critic Ricaredo Demetillo called "the first great Filipino novels written in English." Set in the 1880s, Dusk records the exile of a tenant family from its village and the new life it attempts to make in the small town of Rosales. Here commences the epic tale of a family unwillingly thrown into the turmoil of history. But this is more than a historical novel; it is also the eternal story of man's tortured search for true faith and the larger meaning of existence. Jose has achieved a fiction of extraordinary scope and passion, a book as meaningful to Philippine literature as One Hundred Years of Solitude is to Latin American literature. "The foremost Filipino novelist in English, his novels deserve a much wider readership than the Philippines can offer."--Ian Buruma, New York Review of Books "Tolstoy himself, not to mention Italo Svevo, would envy the author of this story."--Chicago Tribune

Winner of the PEN/Open Book Award At university in Manila, young, bookish Soledad Soliman falls in with radical friends, defying her wealthy parents and their society crowd. Drawn in by two romantic young rebels, Sol initiates a conspiracy that quickly spirals out of control. Years later, far from her homeland, Sol reconstructs her fractured memories, writing a confession she hopes will be her salvation. Illuminating the dramatic history of the Marcos-era Philippines, this story of youthful passion is a tour de force.

12 noveller fra Filippinerne - af forfatter hvis oprindelige sprog er ilocano