View source for Po-on

{{Short description|Novel by F. Sionil José}}
{{Other uses|Poon (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name =
| image = Po-on by F. Sionil José Book cover.jpg
| caption = Book cover for F. Sionil José's ''Po-on A Novel''
| author = [[F. Sionil Jose]]
| country = [[Philippines]]
| language = English: ''Po-on'' (Philippines) or ''Dusk'' (USA), [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]: ''Po-on'', French: ''Po-on''
| genre = [[Historical fiction]], [[War]], [[Romance (love)|Romance]]
| media_type = [[Hardcover]]
| publisher = Solidaridad Publishing House, Inc. ([[Philippines]]), Random House, Inc. (United States), De La Salle University Press (Philippines), Fayard (France)
| release_date = [[1984 in literature|1984]], [[1998 in literature|1998]] {{efn|name=fn1}}
| pages = 307
| isbn = 971-555-267-6
| isbn_note = <br>{{ISBN|978-971-555-267-7}}<br>{{ISBN|978-0-375-75144-8}}<br>{{ISBN|0-375-75144-0}}
| congress = MLCME 98/00084 (P)
| oclc = 41452533
}}
'''''Po-on: A Novel''''' is a 1984 novel written by Filipino English language writer, [[Francisco Sionil José|F. Sionil José]]. 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 the title '''''Dusk: A Novel'''''. It was translated by Lilia F. Antonio into Tagalog.<ref name=Manoa>{{cite journal |last1=Jose |first1=F. Sionil |title=Spirit and Literature |journal=Manoa |date=2006 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=51–57 |doi=10.1353/man.2006.0030 |s2cid=144709210 |id={{Project MUSE|201354}} }}</ref><ref name=Amazon1>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375751440 Editorial Reviews, Amazon.com], retrieved on: April 17, 2008</ref><ref name=B&N>[http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dusk/F-Sionil-Jose/e/9780375751448/?itm=1 Overview (Synopsis) and Editorial Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608154529/http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dusk/F-Sionil-Jose/e/9780375751448/?itm=1 |date=2011-06-08 }}, Barnes & Noble, Barnes&Noble.com, retrieved on: April 17, 2008</ref><ref name=RHouse>[http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375751448 "Dusk", About this Book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519040650/http://www.randomhouse.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780375751448 |date=2011-05-19 }}, Random House, Inc., RandomHouse.ca, retrieved on: April 17, 2008</ref><ref name=AmazonPubWk>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375751440 Publishers Weekly, Amazon.com], retrieved on: April 17, 2008</ref><ref name=NYT1>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E2D61339F931A3575BC0A96E958260&scp=1&sq=Dusk+%2B+F.+Sionil+Jose&st=nyt Gibney Frank, Everybody's Colony (page 1)], A book review about F. Sionil Jose's Dusk, New York: The Modern Library. 323 pp., The New York Times, NYTimes.com, August 2, 1998</ref><ref name=NYT2>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06E2D61339F931A3575BC0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 Gibney Frank, Everybody's Colony (page 2), A review about F. Sionil Jose's Dusk (page 2)], New York: The Modern Library. 323 pp., The New York Times, NYTimes.com, August 2, 1998</ref>
==Description==
''Po-on'' is the beginning of ''[[Rosales Saga]]'' of F. Sionil José – a series of novels about [[Rosales, Pangasinan]] in the [[Philippines]]. The ''Rosales Saga'' has five parts, all of them individual but interrelated novels, composed namely of the following titles in terms of historical chronology: ''Po-on'', ''[[Tree (novel)|Tree]]'', ''[[My Brother, My Executioner]]'', ''[[The Pretenders]]'', and ''[[Mass (novel)|Mass]]''.<ref name=Manoa/><ref name=Amazon1/><ref name=B&N/><ref name=RHouse/><ref name=AmazonPubWk/><ref name=NYT1/><ref name=NYT2/>  Among José's five-part novel series, the ''Rosales Saga'', "Po-on" was the last to be written and published but the first in terms of story-telling chronology.<ref name=NYT3>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950CEED61338F93AA3575BC0A96E958260&scp=2&sq=Dusk+%2B+F.+Sionil+Jose&st=nyt BEST SELLERS: August 9, 1998], And Bear in Mind (Editors' choices of other recent books of particular interest), Dusk by F. Sionil Jose (Modern Library), "A microhistorical novel in which the author, focusing on the trials of a single family, educates the reader in Philippine history and in how the people of that country see themselves," The New York Times, NYTimes.com, August 9, 1998</ref><ref name=NYT4>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901EED71739F935A35751C1A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=3 Notable Books of 1998 (page 3)], Dusk by F. Sionil Jose. (Modern Library), "A microhistorical novel in which the author, focusing on the trials of a single family, educates the reader in Philippine history and in how the people of that country see themselves."</ref>
In ''Po-on'' begins the narration of the experiences of one generation of the ''Salvador'' family (later changed to "''Samson''" to avoid being hunted by the [[Guardia Civil]]), through ''Eustaqio "Istak" Samson'', a farmer who joined the fleeing [[Ilocano people|Ilokano]]s known as the ''mal vivir'' or "''agraviados''".  The peasant family reluctantly left their original hometown to escape further oppression and persecution from the colonial authorities.  Their journey leads them to a new place at [[Rosales, Pangasinan]], under the care of the wealthy ''[[mestizo]]'' named Don Jacinto, who despite owning large tracts of land, supports his fellow countrymen and [[Austronesian peoples|indios]] in their plight.  The novelist discusses the life and the origins of this family while embellished with the historical background of the Philippines during the late 1880s up to the early 1990s.<ref name=Amazon1/><ref name=B&N/><ref name=RHouse/><ref name=AmazonPubWk/><ref name=NYT1/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name=NYT3/><ref name=NYT4/>
==Historical background==
Alive in the novel were the concepts and the events that emanated during peacetime and wartime; even the status of the poor and the affluent, of the privileged and the powerful, and of those who have privileges, freedoms, and rights.  During Istak's time during the final days of the 1800s, when Spain lost control of the Philippines, the bliss in Istak's heart when the [[First Philippine Republic|Philippine Republic]] finally achieved [[Independence Day (Philippines)|independence]] was just for a brief moment.  Because that liberation was only short-lived: the ruling Spaniards were only replaced by a new group of strangers from a continent called the United States of America.  This [[colonialism|colonial]] transition occurred after the Spaniards were defeated by the Americans] during the [[Spanish–American War]].  In ''Po-on: A Novel'', José revisited these mutual chapters in both [[American history|American]] and [[Philippine history|Philippine histories]], together with the presentation of their social and psychological effects to the Philippine citizenry who had been under foreign occupiers from one time followed by another.<ref name=Amazon1/><ref name=B&N/><ref name=RHouse/><ref name=AmazonPubWk/><ref name=NYT1/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name=NYT3/><ref name=NYT4/>
==Plot summary==
The events in ''Po-on'' happened from 1880s to early 1900s, when an [[Ilocano people|Ilocano]] family abandoned their beloved ''[[barrio]]'' in order to overcome the challenges to their survival in southern [[Pangasinan]] in the Philippines, and also to flee from the cruelty they received from the Spaniards. One of the principal characters of the novel is ''Eustaquio Salvador'', a Filipino from the Ilocano stock who was fluent in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Latin]], a talent he inherited from the teachings of an old parish priest named Jose Leon in [[Cabugao]].  He was an [[acolyte]] aspiring to become a priest.  He was also knowledgeable in the arts of traditional medicine.  The only hindrance to his goal of becoming a full-fledged priest was his racial origins.  He lived in a period in [[Philippine history]] when a possible Filipino uprising against the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish government]] was about to erupt, a time after the execution of three [[Filipino mestizo|mestizos]], namely [[Mariano Gomez (priest)|Mariano Gomez]], [[José Apolonio Burgos]], and [[Jacinto Zamora]] (or the ''[[Gomburza]]'', an [[acronym]] for the three) at the erstwhile known ''Cavite'' (which is then renamed to Bagumbayan; now known as [[Rizal Park]]) on February 17, 1872.  There were signs that a revolution will happen, despite the lack of unity among the inhabitants of the Philippines islands at the time, as ''pampangueños'' generally sided with the enemy.  Another approaching occurrence was the help the Filipinos would be receiving from the Americans in finally removing the governing Spaniards from the [[archipelago]] after three hundred years. The novel recreates the societal struggles in which the characters of ''Po-on'' were situated, which includes the protagonist ''Istak'''s personal search for life's meaning and for the true face of his beliefs at principles.  Throughout this personal journey, he was accompanied by a dignity that is his alone. He was assigned the task of delivering a message to President [[Emilio Aguinaldo]], the leader of the Philippine revolutionaries, but died at the hands of American soldiers [[Battle of Tirad Pass|fighting]] at the [[Tirad Pass]], inevitably unable to recount the contents of the letter to Aguinaldo.
==Reviews and analysis==
''Po-on'' the novel is only one part of F. Sionil José's ''Rosales Saga'', the historical epic narrative composed of four other novels considered by the Filipino poet and [[literary criticism|literary critic]] [[Ricaredo Demetillo]] as  "the first great Filipino novels written in English."  Specifically, ''Po-on'' had been described by [[Random House]] as a work of fiction which is "more than" the character of a "historical novel", a book with "extraordinary scope and passion" that is "meaningful to Philippine literature."  a book as meaningful to Philippine literature as ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'' is to  [[Latin American literature]].<ref name=RHouse2/>  ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' is the masterpiece of Latin America's [[Colombian people|Colombian]] novelist [[Gabriel García Márquez]].<ref name=Amazon1/><ref name=B&N/><ref name=RHouse/><ref name=AmazonPubWk/><ref name=RHouse2>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0375751440 About this book and Backcover details, Amazon.com]</ref>  [[Frank Gibney]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' described the story-telling in José's ''Rosales Saga'' as being similar to the tradition and style found in the ''[[U.S.A. trilogy]]'' by the American novelist [[John Dos Passos]].<ref name=NYT1/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name=NYT3/><ref name=NYT4/>
==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
*[[Literature of the Philippines]]
*[[Philippine English]]
*[[Philippine literature in English]]
*[[Without Seeing the Dawn]] by [[Stevan Javellana]]
*[[Cry Slaughter!]] by [[E.K. Tiempo]]
*[[The Man Who (Thought He) Looked Like Robert Taylor]] by [[Bienvenido Santos]]
==Notes==
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=fn1|Sionil José's fictional rendition of a bona fide hero [[Apolinario Mabini]], contains false and debasing information,(..."They {[[ilustrados]]} spread a gossip that Mabini was a cripple because he was syphilitic, an untruth that I {Sionil José} had swallowed and presented as a fact in this novel."), due to being accredited by historians and people alike. Subsequent editions of Po-on bear these corrections ("and my deepest apologies").}}
}}
==References==
===Footnotes===
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
*[https://query.nytimes.com/search/query?frow=0&n=10&srcht=s&query=Dusk+%2B+F.+Sionil+Jose&srchst=nyt&hdlquery=&bylquery=&daterange=full&mon1=01&day1=01&year1=1981&mon2=04&day2=22&year2=2008&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 Articles and Reviews about F. Sionil José's Dusk A Novel (Po-on)], "Everybody's Colony" by Frank Gibney, "Best Sellers: August 9, 1998," and "Notable Books of 1998," The New York Times, NYTIMES.com
*[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901EED71739F935A35751C1A96E958260&scp=3&sq=Dusk+%2B+F.+Sionil+Jose&st=nyt Notable Books of 1998], The New York Times, NYTimes.com, December 6, 1998
*[http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=61848 Supnet Macansantos, Priscilla.  "Rosales, Pangasinan, reclaims F. Sionil Jose,"] Lifestyle, Inquirer, Inquirer.net, April 23, 2007
*[http://mvphilippines.hypermart.net/SionilJose.htm Blume Claudia. A Literary, Historic and Political Trip with F. Sionil Jose a Personal View, Museum Volunteers Philippines]
*[http://www.alexmaskara.com/f_sioniljose.html Review of Dusk, the  resilience of a Pinoy called Istak of Poon, Alex Maskara Pinoy, AlexMaskara.com (undated)]
==External links==
*[https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0375751440 Book cover for and page excerpts from ''Dusk A Novel''] by [[F. Sionil José]] (English) at Amazon.com
*[http://divisoria.stores.yahoo.net/971-555-2676.html Book cover for ''Po-on Isang Nobela''] (Tagalog) by [[F. Sionil José]] at Divisoria.com
*[http://benediction.multiply.com/reviews/item/6 Book cover for ''Po-on''] by [[F. Sionil José]] (French), translated by [[Amina Said]], at Benediction. Multiply.com
{{FSionilJose-RosalesSaga}}
[[Category:Novels by F. Sionil José]]
[[Category:1984 novels]]
[[Category:Philippine English-language novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in the Philippines]]