Skip to main content

F. Sionil Jose rebuts critics re: on Filipino shallowness

Perhaps I have a teeny weeny bit of right, by right as the English would have it, to comment on things about National Artist Sionil Jose's essays, novels, short stories and plays. I will have to confess, I have read all his books and I have all his books, save one "Vibora" which some idiot of a friend never returned (Never lend books. There was a legit reason why in medieval England they had them chained to the desks!). This is a fact that my mother was so proud of  during one formal cocktail shindig at the US Embassy's historic Chuck Parson's ballroom. Mom, my sister and myself had been Fulbright grantees and so was F. Sionil Jose. During the usual literati banter that accompanies these events, my mother told Mr Sionil Jose that "My son has read all your books". To which Sionil Jose replied "Give my condolences to your son". This I heard within earshot since I was at a nearby cocktail table talking to then  US ambassador Kirstie Kenney! (Kenny has been leaked out on Wikileaks since then!)

Today, Sionil Jose replies to his critics, one of them is yours truly. After all I have posted on Facebook that his essay was one of his shallowest, compared to "Our Moral Malaise" which is at the deep end of the Sionil Jose " Why we are Shallow" essay's theme. But perhaps the old man of letters had a didactic aim.

Nonetheless, I have publicly argued and got ad hominem FB posts from saying that all those "shallow" critics never got what Sionil Jose meant since many of the critics never got beyond "The Pretenders" (a part of the English lit canon at UP)... well some to their credit got to "Mass" but I doubt it if they got as far as "Ermita", with the "Gagamba" and then to "Ben Singkol"..... "Sherds" and one of my favourites "Sin"!

The critics failed to see that Sionil Jose's "Shallow" comment can be only understood in the nationalist ideology he proposes, which they will only find out if they read most of his works.  Sionil Jose has called for Revolution in of all places, UP's FC conference hall! Some people took him seriously and many did not. It seems that age is a liability to calls for Revolution. Read the reactions here. His speech to UP Tacloban grads in 2003 is here.

The Lefties at UP won't be amused by Sionil Jose since his nationalist revolution ideology calls for the Army to take lead, not the masses idolized by the Left which Sionil Jose rightly or wrongly says are easily fooled. Nonetheless, a close reading of Sionil Jose will reveal that the Army is composed of soldiers who originally came from the masses. Sionil Jose points out that the masses had it almost right but they put Erap into power who ironically is not from the masses or even if he was not, he never shared any of the hardships of the masses except as mere illusion. He accuses the Revolution of Jose Maria Sison of the same thing. I can go on discussing Sionil Jose's ideology but it would be better for the reader to read Sionil Jose.

And so today, for his "shallow" critics Sionil Jose teaches them. He did have a didactic aim.

" So you out there who were outraged by the truths I flung before you — I said nothing new; I merely emphasized the obvious which is a writer’s traditional chore. You should be outraged at the gross obscenities in our country — the callous oligarchs who exploit us, our apathetic poor who whine and expect the government to feed them. Why don’t you be outraged at the politicians who lie to you, the corrupt police who condone the rampant crimes against us, the crooked judges who sell justice to the highest bidder. Why rage against this tired, old hack who merely confirmed what all of you know? The truth is out there for all of us to see but can’t, because we are blissfully wallowing in the shallows."


And so when the Revolution triumphs, you know what the brooms will sweep away!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kung bakit dapat maging wikang pambansa din ang Ingles

Isang kakatwang eksena ang nasaksihan ko sa isang pribabdong opisina kamakailan lang. Dalawang empleyado ang inatasang bigyan ng solusyon ang isang isyu tungkol sa logistics. Ang isa ang tubong Davao at ang isa ay taga Iloilo. Ang unang wika nila ay Cebuano (Bisaya) at Hiligaynon (Ilonggo). Ang dalawang wika ay halos pareho ngunit may mga katagang iba ang kahulugan sa isa't isang wika. Ginamit nila ang wika nilang kinalakihan at hindi sila nagkaintindihan. Ang nangyari tuloy ay gumamit na lang sila ng wikang Ingles! Yung na nga rin ang sabi ko. Mag-English na lang kaya kayo! At bakit di wikang Filipino ang ginamit nila? Sa totoo lang, marami pa rin ang hindi bihasa sa Filipino upang gamitin ito sa mga larangan tulad ng logistics. At hindi lamang sa mga larangang teknikal, sa mga biyahe ko sa ibat-ibat lugar sa Pilipinas, ang mga naka-paskel sa mga CR o palikuran tungkol sa pagtitipid ng tubig ay naka sulat sa 1)Wika ng rehiyon 2) Wikang Ingles 3) at minsa'y sa wikang Filipino S

Simoun's lamp has been lit, finally.. not by one but by the many!

"So often have we been haunted by the spectre of subversion which, with some fostering, has come to be a positive and real being, whose very name steals our serenity and makes us commit the greatest blunders... If before the reality, instead of changing the fear of one is increased, and the confusion of the other is exacerbated, then they must be left in the hands of time..." Dr Jose Rizal "To the Filipino People and their Government" Jose Rizal dominates the Luneta, which is sacred to the Philippine nation as a place of martyrdom. And many perhaps all of those executed in the Luneta, with the exception of the three Filipino secular priests martyred in 1872, have read Rizal's  El Filibusterismo . Dr Rizal's second novel is a darker and more sinister one that its prequel but has much significance across the century and more after it was published for it preaches the need for revolution with caveats,  which are when the time is right and who will in

President Manuel Luis Quezon's Code of Ethics

Being a denizen of Kyusi, in honour of the man who gave my city its name and for being the most colourful prez the Philippines ever had, I have the pleasure to post Manuel L Quezon's Code of Ethics on his birthday. Let us profit from the wisdom of the Kastila. 1. Have Faith in the Divine Providence that guides the destinies of men and nations. 2. Love your country for it is the home of your people, the seat of your affection and the source of your happiness and well-being. It's defense is your primary duty. Be ready to sacrifice and die for it if necessary. 3. Respect the Constitution which is the expression of your sovereign will. The government is your government. It has been established for your safety and welfare. Obey the laws and see that they are observed by all and that public officials comply with their duties. 4. Pay your taxes willingly and promptly. Citizenship implies not only rights but obligations. 5. Safeguard the purity of suffrage and abide by the decisions of