There Are Too Many Stories Waiting For Us To Tell:
Francisco Sionil Jose, the Philippine Master

Date: August 12, 2006
Place: Meeting Room, 3rd floor, ¡®Solidaridad¡¯ Bookstore Building
Interviewer: Bang Hyun-seok (Editor-in-chief, Asia)


According to Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology, ¡°Francisco Sionil Jose (1924- ) stands out as the one representative of his generation who cultivated a consistently political outlook on the realities in Philippine society.¡± I met Jose at the bookstore ¡®Solidaridad¡¯ near the Philippine National University on August 12, 2006. ¡®Solidaridad,¡¯ a bookstore that Jose established in 1965 and has managed to keep alive ever since, is small in size, but big in substance. Its bookshelves were filled with literary works of serious nature as well as books in humanities and social sciences, books that could not find spaces in bigger bookstores or got pushed out from them. This is perhaps the only bookstore in the Philippines, where we can encounter books about other Asia-Pacific region countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Australia.
The second floor of this bookstore used to be an office for the publishing company ¡®Solidaridad,¡¯ also established by Jose. After passing through this second floor office, which now manages only Jose¡¯s books, I went into the meeting room on the third floor and sat face-to-face with Jose across a table. It is in this very room that Jose has been working on organizing conferences for Asian writers as well as on activities and events related to PEN.

Bang: The main character in your short story ¡°The Mistress¡± claims that writers and priests cannot serve any other master or mistress other than their profession. Then how could you, a writer, organize writers¡¯ associations, get involved in social activities, establish a publishing company, and even edit and publish a magazine?

Jose: (slapping the table in front of him with his hand) Oh, them! She (pointing to his wife Tessie) is the one who has been working on all of them. My wife is my closest colleague and my strongest supporter.

It is well known in the Philippines that when Jose was invited to England for the first time, he requested that his host exchange the business class airplane ticket they sent him for two economy class tickets so that he could travel with his wife. Jose emphasized that his wife had been an equal partner in his work of establishing and managing the bookstore and publishing company ¡®Solidaridad.¡¯ While Jose drops by the bookstore only once a week these days, his wife Tessie is still coming there everyday.

Bang: The Philippines have been colonized by Spain, the US and Japan. When you were born in 1924, your country had already been sold to the US at the meager price of 20 million dollars. Later, during your late teen years, your country became colonized by Japan. What influences did these foreign invasions and rules have on you personally?

Jose: To be occupied is a miserable thing. My memories about the times of Japanese occupation are especially horrific. At about age twenty, I spent each and every day fearing that death might take me by surprise at any moment, like all other young people in my country then. Unbearable hunger as well as murderous anger and hatred dominated our youth.

His wife Tessie chimed in with her own horrific memories of Japanese colonization. As she lived near a Japanese military base, everyday she could hear loud cries of pain from the Philippine victims of Japanese military torture. Once, when she was about twelve, she saw dead bodies of Philippine torture victims sent out from the Japanese base.

Bang: You joined the US army as a non-combatant member in January 1945, less than a year before the end of World War II. Did this have anything to do with your enmity towards the Japanese?

Jose: I didn¡¯t actually say it, but my wish was that once the US landed in Japan, as a member of the US military I could probably kill as many Japanese as possible.

Bang: You have since visited and stayed in Japan many times. Especially in 1971, you received a fellowship from the Asian and Pacific Council for your project ¡°A Study on Japanese Modernization and Southeast Asia.¡± Many of your novels, including Ermita, are staged in Japan. I understand your attitude towards Japan changed after the war?