Viajero

Viajero, Spanish for "The Wanderer"[1] or "The Traveller", is a

Viajero
1993 English-language novel written by Filipino author F. Sionil
José.[2] The literary theme is about the constant search of the
Filipino people for “social justice and moral order”.[3] Viajero is
one of the literary representatives embodying the fulfillment of the
Filipinos' "emergent-nationalism".[1]

Contents Book cover for F. Sionil José's novel

Main characters Viajero.
Description Author F. Sionil José
References Country Philippines
See also Language English
Genre Fiction
Publisher Solidaridad Publishing
Main characters House, Inc.
(Philippines)
The lead character of Viajero was an orphan named Salvador dela
Raza (a Spanish name meaning “Savior of the [Filipino] Race”).[1] Publication 1993
In 1945, Raza was adopted and brought to America by James date
Wack, an African-American[1] captain of the United States
military. Dela Raza was a firsthand witness of the Filipino diaspora.[3] Dela Raza was described to be a
Philippine-born "nationalist hero" independent of American colonial influence who was able to recover the
past of the Philippines long thought lost due to "colonial oppression". Dela Raza was the missing link or
filler of the fundamental gaps or disjunctions between the Filipino Ilustrados and the common people
known as the masa (referring to the "mass[ive number] of people" or the Philippine public), and between
Filipino expatriates and the Filipinos who stayed in the Philippines. However, Dela Raza's knowledge of
American issues and history made Viajero an allegorical reinforcement of "ideological interdependence"
and reaffirmation of "American colonial tutelage", which was contrary to the goal of contemporary Filipino
nationalists. Such goal was to define and diffentiate the Filipino view of nationalism from the American
form of nationalism.[1]

Other characters include the wife of Leo Mercado, Father Jess, and Simplicio Verdad (a name meaning
"Simple Truth" or "Simply True" in translation). Some characters from José's The Rosales Saga also
resurfaced in Viajero, such as Pepe Samson of José's Mass in the person of a full-pledged insurgent.[1]

Description
Viajero tackled Philippine History and the character of the Filipino people prior to the arrival of the
Spaniards. The other “epic voyages” experienced by the Filipinos included the country’s contact with
China, the tragedy of Ferdinand Magellan in Mactan Island, the voyages of galleon through the Pacific
Ocean, the movement of Filipino men and women workers to the Middle East, Hong Kong, Singapore,
and Tokyo Japan.[3]

Although a novel about the Philippines, Viajero was also described as a novel about America because Dela
Raza was educated by his American stepfather. Through Wack (a representation of the United States in the
novel), Dela Raza learned of the issues that existed in America: racial discrimination, colonialism, failures
of political ideals, betrayals of nationwide democracy, and ironies of American History. By discovering the
American shortcomings, Dela Raza saw the failures in Philippine History. Thus Dela Raza was able to
instruct and rejuvenate the Filipino youth to search in the past for answers in order to solve the Philippines'
problems. Through Viajero José was able to point out the "failed opportunity of the revolution" to create the
changes that could have been made by Corazon Aquino for the Filipino people when she was president.[1]

References
1. Delmendo, Sharon. The Rosales Novels (https://books.google.com/books?id=N6nkB_PDdX
cC&pg=PA141&lpg=PA141&dq=viajero+f+sionil+jose&source=bl&ots=DojXLDxw-E&sig=C
7cVe6OwA1sWSZSql0z5627zXSQ&hl=en&ei=RrmbS6iLKYH_8AaO-YioDg&sa=X&oi=boo
k_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CB8Q6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=viajero%20f%20sioni
l%20jose&f=false), The Star-entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the
Philippines, books.google.com
2. "Viajero" (http://www.negroschronicle.com/final/mar_23_08/12.pdf), Commencement
Speaker - Francisco Sionil José, Foundation Time Community Page, Community Issue,
Foundation Time, Foundation Time Official Bulletin of Foundation University,
negroschronicle.com
3. Viajero (A Filipino Novel) by F. Sionil José (https://www.amazon.com/Viajero-Filipino-Novel-
Jose-Sionil/dp/9718845046), amazon.com

See also
Viajero Confiable

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This page was last edited on 2 September 2018, at 22:20 (UTC).

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