F. Sionil Jose's Works

Waywaya

Waywaya is a short story written by the Filipino writer, F. Sionil Jose. It is originally written in Ilokano, Jose’s native language, and recreates the pre-Hispanic Philippine society (Goodreads, 2013). It is one of the many works of Sionil Jose that was translated into foreign languages, especially English, making Jose the most popular Filipino writer abroad among other Filipino authors -- of course, next to the greatest Filipino writer and patriot, Jose P. Rizal who was martyred in the struggle against Spanish domination (Yabes, 2013). Waywaya,according to F. Sionil Jose, himself, is based on a true story. He explained the story in his regular column, HINDSIGHT, in The Philippine Star (2012):

“Waywaya” is based on a true Papua New Guinea story. Georgina, the wife of the German ethnographer Ulli Beier who headed the Institute of PNG Culture in the early sixties related it. A man kidnapped a woman from an enemy tribe to be his slave but he fell in love with her. When she died, custom demanded that she be returned to her tribe. He did because he truly loved her. As expected, he was killed and eaten by the woman’s relatives.

Waywaya is the Filipino version, specifically Ilokano, of that Papua New Guinea story, with the Ilokano beliefs and traditions and the cultural strain reflected in the short story of Jose. The title itself (Waywaya) is an Ilokano word meaning “freedom” (Jose, 2012).

Biographical Background

Francisco Sionil Jose was born on December 3, 1924 in Rosales, Pangasinan. He was of an Ilocano descent whose family migrated to Pangasinan before his birth. The following information describes a short history of the Jose Family’s migration to the Pangasinan province:

Fleeing poverty, his forefathers traveled from Ilocos towards Cagayan Valley through the Santa Fe Trail. Like many migrant families, they brought their lifetime possessions with them, including uprooted molave posts of their old houses and their alsong- Ilocano for the stone...