Ilustrado

Ilustrado is a 2008 experimental novel by Filipino author Miguel Syjuco. Its protagonist—also a Filipino author named Miguel Syjuco—is investigating the suspicious death of his mentor, Crispin Salvador, whose final, unpublished work was an exposé of rampant political corruption in the Philippines. Syjuco’s debut novel, Ilustrado was warmly received by critics and won the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize.

Experimental in form, Ilustrado combines narration in the voice of “Miguel” with sections told by a third-person narrator who turns about to be Salvador himself. Miguel’s narrative is also punctuated by excerpts from Salvador’s writing, Miguel’s attempts to write a biography of Salvador (entitled Crispin Salvador: Eight Lives Lived), and newspaper articles. Many of these texts address the question of political writing, and of Filipino writing specifically, in the voices of Miguel and Salvador: “Your real home country will be that common ground your work plows between you and your reader. Truly, who wants to read about the angst of a remote tropical nation? Everyone’s got enough of their own, thank you very much. Angst is not the human condition, it’s the purgatory between what we have and what we want and can’t get. Write what you know exists beyond that limited obsession.”

The novel opens with a prologue, signed by “Miguel,” summarizing the life of his mentor and former professor Crispin Salvador, a famous Filipino writer who fled the country in 1972. A teacher at Columbia University, he was recently found dead in New York City. While his death has been ruled a suicide, Miguel remains convinced that he was murdered. At the time of his death, Salvador was close to finishing a new book, 20 years in the making, entitled The Bridges Ablaze, in which he described “the generations-long ties of the Filipino elite to cronyism, illegal logging, gambling, kidnapping, corruption, along with their related component sins.” This manuscript was found to be missing from Salvador’s possessions at the time of his death.



Miguel sets out to investigate his mentor’s death and to produce an account of his life and work. His first clue is a single page of Salvador’s manuscript, mentioning several names, including notable figures of the literati and political clans of the Philippines. Someone named “Dulcinea” is also mentioned.

Miguel flies to Manila to interview these people. On the plane, he overhears fellow passengers talking about a migrant worker named Wigberto Lakandula, whose girlfriend was murdered by her employers. Lakandula has sworn vengeance against the wealthy Changcos family and become a popular hero.

As he lands, Miguel witnesses an explosion at a factory. He learns that this factory was run by PhilFirst, a corporation that bribes politicians to overlook its appalling safety record.



Miguel interviews Salvador’s sister, Lena, who fills him in on Salvador’s early life as a member of the Filipino elite: “Just your typical rich family,” she explains, while a maid fans her. Salvador, she explains, disliked their father’s lack of scruples. Nevertheless, “You can’t govern well if you have scruples,” Lena concludes.

From Lena, Miguel learns that “Dulcinea” is his mentor’s illegitimate daughter. Lena suggests that Miguel speak to an old family friend Miss Florentina to find out more. That night, Miguel meets up with some old friends and goes clubbing. He takes cocaine for the first time in many years.

The next day, at a book launch, he meets and falls for a young woman named Sadie Gonzalez. Sadie suggests that her mother—a big Salvador fan—might have some useful information. Miguel eagerly accepts her invitation to dinner, but it doesn’t go well.



Miss Florentina tells Miguel where to find Dulcinea. Later, at the theatre, Miguel is due to meet Marcel Avellaneda, a political journalist and an old friend of Salvador’s, but Marcel doesn’t arrive. While Miguel is out clubbing with Sadie, a typhoon hits the city and the streets are flooded. Sadie and Miguel are stranded. Miguel sees two children floating down the road on an ice-cream truck, and he climbs out of the car to rescue them. He falls into an open manhole and dies.

The remainder of the novel is narrated by Salvador. In the first person, Salvador describes his feelings about Miguel’s death. In the third person, Salvador imagines that Miguel survived his fall and continued his story. This third-person voice takes over and describes Miguel flying to “Isla Dulcinea” to meet Dulcinea.

Miguel arrives at the island. It is a paradisiac place, and Dulcinea’s house is beautiful, isolated—and empty. She is not there, and the manuscript boxes where Miguel had hoped to find The Bridges Ablaze are empty.



Salvador narrates the epilogue in the first person. He recalls a morning in February, on which he learned of Miguel’s death. Though the two men were not especially close, Salvador found himself unable to stop thinking about Miguel’s death—resulting in the novel that we have just read.

Ilustrado serves as an introduction to Filipino history and politics, but it is also an exploration of the writer’s life, and the challenges faced by political artists everywhere. “Spiced with surprises and leavened with uproariously funny moments, it is punctuated with serious philosophical musings” (The New York Times).