Syjuco’s Ilustrado

For the first time, I’ve found a Palanca award winning novel (I’ve read stories and essays) that I’d really like to read. Unfortunately, it won’t be published until 2010 in the US and the Philippines. Miguel Syjuco’s debut novel Ilustrado not only won the grand prize for the novel in English in the 2008 Palanca Awards, it also won the Man Asian Literary Prize whose 2007 shortlist included Jose Dalisay’s Soledad’s Sister. The Man Asian Literary Prize is a fairly new literary award, having debuted only last 2007.

Adam David wrote a review (Philippines Free Press, Volume 100, Number 21, 17 January 2009) of an earlier draft of Ilustrado which was published in the Philippine Free Press magazine. Although David may have been too true to his feelings in his review and dismissed any unnecessary flattery (which is expected of any brilliant critic), it just made me want to read the novel more. Besides, what he reviewed was just an earlier draft and he was amenable to that, so the book might come out a bit different, possibly better. Too bad I have to wait a for whole year before I can read it. Here’s an excerpt.

Why this novel? Because it’s contemporary. No, not really the story since, as the novel hints, it will tackle things about the Spanish era, or at least the heritage that they left in our country. I’ve been meaning to read up on exactly that topic, but I haven’t found any other literature except Rizal’s novels, Nick Joaquin’s short stories, and, of course, the history books. It’s contemporary in the sense that it’s written by a contemporary writer. Syjuco’s fairly young; he’s just 32. And, okay, I admit it’s also because it won the Man Asian Literary Prize. Proud to be Pinoy.

**I thought of plurking this, or just adding it to my previous blog entry, but I guess it deserves a whole blog entry.

***Yes, I’ve been googling people (writers, editors, etc) again. I’ve bookmarked blogs again. I’ve been reading the blogs of writers and cramming my head with information about the Philippine literary world, in and even out of the country. But this time is different. I don’t comment; I just read (I’ve said this, right?). They’re on a pedestal and I don’t want to have anything to do with them... yet. Maybe when I’m older and wiser.