''The Rosales Saga'', also known as the ''Rosales Novels'', is a

series Series may refer to: People with the name * Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series * George Series (1920–1995), English physicist Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Series, the ordered sets used i ...

of five historical and political novels written by

National Artist of the Philippines The Order of National Artists of the Philippines (Filipino: ''Orden ng mga Pambansang Alagad ng Sining ng Pilipinas'') is an order bestowed by the Philippines on Filipinos who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippin ...

F. Sionil José Francisco Sionil José (December 3, 1924 – January 6, 2022) was a Filipino writer who was one of the most widely read in the English language. A National Artist of the Philippines for Literature, which was bestowed upon him in 2001, José's ...

. Chronologically, it is composed of five interconnected novels, namely ''

Po-on ''Po-on A Novel'' is a novel written by Francisco Sionil José, a Filipino English-language writer. This is the original title when it was first published in the Philippines in the English language. In the United States, it was published under ...

'' (written in 1984), ''

Tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

'' (written in 1978), ''

My Brother, My Executioner ''My Brother, My Executioner'' is a novel by Filipino author Francisco Sionil José written in Philippine English. A part of the Rosales Saga - a series of five interconnected fiction novels - ''My Brother, My Executioner'' ranks third in terms ...

'' (written in 1973), ''

The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Fa ...

'' (written in 1962), and ''

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

'' (written in 1973).Yoser, Elizabeth G
Under the Balete Tree: F. Sionil José’s Rosales Novels
World Literature Today, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Winter, 1988), University of Oklahoma, pp. 82-84, jstor.orgYabes, Leopoldo Y. and Judson Knight

by F(rancisco) Sionil José, Contemporary Novelists, 2001, The Gale Group Inc., Farmington Hills, Michigan, encyclopedia.com The Rosales Saga traced the five generations of two families, namely the Samsons (poor farmers) and the Asperri (wealthy

mestizo (; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also r ...

s) through Spanish and American periods in the

history of the Philippines Earliest hominin activity in the Philippine archipelago is dated back to at least 709,000 years ago. ''Homo luzonensis'', a species of archaic humans, was present on the island of Luzon at least 67,000 years ago. The earliest known anatomically ...

until the period after

Philippine Independence The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

.Delmendo, Sharon
The Rosales Novels
The Star-entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the Philippines, books.google.com José begun writing the series in 1962 and completed it in 1984.

General description

All of José’s five novels are in set in

Rosales, Pangasinan Rosales, officially the Municipality of Rosales ( pag, Baley na Rosales; ilo, Ili ti Rosales; tgl, Bayan ng Rosales), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

Luzon, Philippines Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. José uses a variation of styles for the novels. José also focuses on different families with different social statuses. The object that connects and binds these families is the "giant Balete tree" located at the plaza of Rosales town. Among the common themes in the Rosales Novels are the intimate relationships and marriages between cousins, the father figure who is beaten up by the political and social structures, vengeful and aggressive attacks on persons who symbolize repression and subjugation, the love-hate relationship between the characters and the town of Rosales, as well as its

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

s such as Cabugawan, Carmay and Sipnget.

Narrative sequence

Po-on

The fifth and last novel in the Rosales series, ''

'', focuses on the Samson family. The novel is set during the Philippine–American War, when revolution and nationalism were presented as the solution to the social and political problems in the Philippines. ''Po-On'' is chronologically the first novel of the saga.

Tree

The fourth novel, ⁣''

'', pursues the life of the unnamed grandson of Don Jacinto, the overseer of the Asperris and protector of the Samsons in ''Po-on''. The unnamed narrator witnesses the adversity of the Filipino peasants under the ''

encomienda The ''encomienda'' () was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. The labourers, in theory, were provided with benefits by the conquerors for whom they laboured, including military ...

'' system during the Spanish colonial regime, as well as the resulting uprisings created by the peasants. However, the nameless storyteller is unable to free himself from his own position that carries cultural and economic benefits. ''Tree'' is chronologically the second novel of the saga. The succeeding three books after ''Tree'' reinforce the existing strain between Philippine colonial heritage and bona fide patriotism.

My Brother, My Executioner

The third novel, ''

'', concentrates on the life of Luis Asperri and his half-brother Victor during the 1950s, a time that was plagued with the

Hukbalahap The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (), better known by the acronym Hukbalahap, was a Communism, communist Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to Philippine resistance against Ja ...

rebellion. Luis Asperri is the illegitimate son of Don Vicente Asperri. Don Asperri takes Luis Asperri as an heir due to the absence of a legitimate son by the former. Luis abandons his peasant roots in order to embrace the status of a landowner. His half-brother Victor warns Luis that if the peasantry does not receive economic justice, the Hukbalahap insurgents would annihilate the elite class. In the end, Luis expects his demise at the hands of the Hukbalahap rebels. ''My Brother, My Executioner'' is chronologically the third novel of the saga.

Mass

In the second Rosales novel, ''

'', the timeline jumps forward into the 1970s, to narrate the life of Pepe Samson, the illegitimate son of Antonio Samson and his cousin Emy. Pepe Samson moves to

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

to attend college. He becomes a member of a revolutionary group called The Brotherhood. The novel ends with a scene with Pepe leaving Manila to adhere to the cause of the mountain guerrillas. ''Mass'' is chronologically the fifth novel of the saga.

The Pretenders

The first novel, ''

The Pretenders (novel) ''The Pretenders'' is a 1962 historical novel written by Filipino National Artist F. Sionil José. It is the second to the last novel composing José's series known as ''The Rosales Saga''. Description F. Sionil José's ''The Pretenders'' por ...

'', recalls the life of Antonio “Tony” Samson. Antonio Samson obtains a PhD degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. By marrying a rich Filipina mestiza, Antonio Samson becomes an

Ilustrado The Ilustrados (, "erudite", "learned" or "enlightened ones") constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century. Elsewhere in New Spain (of which the Philippines were part), the term ''gente de r ...

and works for his father-in-law. As a result, Antonio Samson is unable to marry his true love and cousin, Emy, with whom he sired an illegitimate son. Feeling undeserving of Emy and his son because of his denunciation of his peasant origins, Antonio Samson commits suicide. ''The Pretenders'' is chronologically the fourth novel of the saga.

Connection with ''Viajero''

In José’s separate novel ''

Viajero ''Viajero'', Spanish for "The Wanderer"Delmendo, SharonThe Rosales Novels The Star-entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the Philippines, books.google.com or "The Traveller", is a 1993 English-language novel written by Filipino author ...

'', which is not a part of the Rosales Saga series, Pepe Samson reappears as a full-fledged insurgent, while some other Rosales Novels characters also resurface.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosales Saga Historical novels Political novels Novel series Historical novels by series Philippine English-language novels Novels set in the Philippines