Francisco Sionil Jose

Francisco Sionil Jose
Born: December 3, 1924

"Authors like myself choose the city as a setting for their fiction because the city itself illustrates the progress or the sophistication that a particular country has achieved. Or, on the other hand, it might also reflect the kind of decay, both social and perhaps moral, that has come upon a particular people."-F. Sionil José,

Is 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. Jose's works - written in English - have been translated into 22 languages, including Korean, Indonesian, Russian, Latvian, Ukrainian, Dutch.

José attended the University of Santo Thomas after World War II, but dropped out and plunged into writing and journalism in Manila. In subsequent years, he edited various literary and journalistic publications, started a publishing house, and founded the Philippine branch of PEN,an international organization for writers. Jose received numerous awards for his work. The Pretenders is his most popular novel, which is the story of one man's alienation from his poor background and the decadence of his wife's wealthy family

Throughout his career, Jose's writings espouse social justice and change to better the lives of average Filipino families. He is one of the most critically acclaimed Filipino authors internationally, although much underrated in his own country because of his authentic Filipino English and his anti-elite views.

WEB RESOURCES:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Sionil_Jose)
(http://gopangasinan.blogspot.com/2007/01/francisco-sionil-jose-called-philippine.html)

SOURCE OF PHOTO:
(http://totomel.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/amihan_a_varsitarian_memoir1.jpg)

Nick Joaquin

Filipino Author by name of Nicomedes Joaquin

born May 4, 1917, Paco, Manila, Philippines.

died April 29, 2004, San Juan, Philippines.

A Filipino novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, and biographer whose works present the diverse heritage of the Filipino people.

Joaquin was awarded a scholarship to the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong after publication of his essay “La Naval de Manila” (1943), a description of Manila’s fabled resistance to 17th-century Dutch invaders. After World War II he traveled to the United States, Mexico, and Spain, later serving as a cultural representative of the Philippines to Taiwan, Cuba, and China.

Starting as a proofreader for the Philippines Free Press, Joaquin rose to contributing editor and essayist under the nom de plume “Quijano de Manila” (“Manila Old-Timer”). He was well known as a historian of the brief Golden Age of Spain in the Philippines, as a writer of Short Stories suffused with folk Roman Catholicism, as a playwright, and as a novelist.

He dropped out of high school and did odd jobs on Manila's waterfront and elsewhere. He taught himself by reading widely at the National Library of the Philippines and the library of his father, Leocadio Joaquín, who had been a lawyer and a colonel in the Philippine Revolution. This developed further his interest in writing. His mother was named Salome Marquez Joaquin. Joaquín was first published in the literary section of the Pre-World War II Tribune under writer and editor Serafín Lanot.

Joaquín served as a member of the Philippine Board of Censors for Motion Pictures under President Diosdado Macapagal and President Ferdinand E. Marcos. According to writer Marra PL. Lanot, Joaquín was untouched by Marcos' iron fist. Joaqun's first move as National Artist was to secure the release of imprisoned writer José F. Lacaba. Later, at a ceremony on Mount Makiling attended by First Lady Imelda Marcos, Joaquín delivered an invocation to Mariang Makiling, the mountain's mythical maiden. Joaquín touched on the importance of freedom and the artist. As a result, for the remainder of the Marcos regime, Joaquín no longer received invitations to address important cultural events.

WEB RESOURCES:

(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/304268/Nick-Joaquin)

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Joaquin)

SOURCE:

(http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/ImgAwardees/ImgJoaquinNic.jpg)

Book Lover

1st Blog for HUM014
LITERATURE: what it is, and why is it important?

According to some books that I have read, Literature is "Art of written works." I personally took this photograph of a book with a heart shape, in which I realized that we should love literature because it gives us brimming knowledge on our daily lives like a book which gives us knowledge. I do believe that literature has a big influence to each individual wherein it inspires us and teaches us that Literature is playing a big role in our lives, because without the works of these great authors who shares their simple writings has aided the lives of many people, through the ink on the paper of every pages that they write in, can change many lives, because some of the works of these authors involves their past encounters on their lives, which gives them a lesson from that experience. that is why literature for me is the redeemer of Art, History, etc. and specially, the lives of people.

The page of the book forming the heart and the book itself for me is the best symbol to love LITERATURE and the book is where most LITERATURE is written.

Photo by: Mark Lester J. Berris
(http://www.markberris.multiply.com)