 November 17, 1976

 a Filipino writer
from Manila
 grand prize winner of
the 2008 Man Asian
Literary Prize for his
first novel Ilustrado.
 Cebu International
School. He received a
Bachelor of Arts
degree in English
Literature from
the Ateneo de Manila
University in 2000
Miguel Syjuco
 Miguel Syjuco’s Ilustrado transcends
Philippine Literature by employing
magical realism, a literary genre that
is very much evident in all forms of art
today (Slemon, 1995)

 The book represents our regret, our

happiness and guilt, through Crispin
and Miguel.
 The novel presents the difficulties of being a
writer, a writer who does not only write for
sake but a writer who truly writes for life, for
people, for art.

 Miguel’s narration and journey to solve the

mystery behind Crispin Salvador’s death and
the missing manuscript of The Bridges
Ablaze, is a form of deception (make-believe)
and inception (too “real” to be real), allowing
the readers to gauge into the story, as it may
resemble bits of them, bits of their lives.
 To be an honest writer, you have to
be away from home, and totally
alone in life.”

 “Our greatest doom is to raise

children who’ll repeat our mistakes.
This he knows is something he
doesn’t want.”

 The Bridges Ablaze

“The boy became a man. A young man—a
description that encompasses all the
promises of loving…And with this fiction of
possibilities, entwined with the possibilities
of fiction, I’ve woven in my own unlived life.
And so, my return, I write these final words
as I approach my first day home. Home to
what remains of my family. Home to my
child, for whenever she’s ready. Home, with
the discovery that we are only enlightened
at a new beginning, at what we perceive to
be the end.”
1. What is the meaning of Ilustrado
for Miguel Syjuco?

2. Is Miguel and Crispin has

similarities?

3. What is the message of

“Ilustrados”?