Miguel Syjuco
Miguel Syjuco
Miguel Syjucois a Filipino writer from Manila and the grand prize winner of the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize for his first novel Ilustrado...
NationalityFilipino
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth17 November 1976
Miguel Syjuco quotes about
addition cliche family hold politics
The Philippines, it has a politics of patronage. Family and favors, in addition to the old cliche of guns, goons and gold, really do still hold a lot of sway.
given gutter surprised
I surprise myself that I'm not dead in the gutter somewhere, surprised that I haven't given up.
engaged exchange interact people
I want to write a book that makes people debate, and makes people think, interact with each other and exchange ideas... I write because I'm engaged in this big conversation.
absurd love politics spectator sports
I love my homeland, but it's an absurd country. Politics in the Philippines is like spectator sports!
cautionary fears haunt optimistic represent tale tendencies worst
The Miguel Syjuco character is not me. I wanted him to represent my own fears and frustrations and guilt, my own worst tendencies and my optimistic expectations. He's a cautionary tale for me. But he's also an examination of the darkest things that haunt me as a person.
bogged dealing domestic gets literature loss north relationships stories western woman
I look at western literature and especially North American literature, and I feel like it gets bogged down so much with all of that, with domestic stories and relationships and a woman dealing with the loss of her husband.
country develop thick
When you live in the Philippines or a country like that, you develop something of a very thick skin because you're confronted every day with all of the problems all around you.
attempts becomes believe bunch creating exclude poor
I don't believe in nationalism. I think it's a bunch of slogans. It's a bunch of poor attempts at creating pride. My problem with nationalism is that it becomes exclusionary. We start to exclude people.
opportunity nurse different
I dont see myself as any different from all the other Filipinos who have gone abroad looking for opportunity, to be a nurse, a labourer, a maid or a prostitute.
honesty love-and-honesty
Love and honesty don't mix.
these-days kill-me justification
It kills me how these days everyone has clinical justification for their strangeness.
want human-condition angst
Angst is not the human condition, it’s the purgatory between what we have and what we want but can’t get.
lost-love lost remembered
Being remembered is all anyone can ask from a lost love.
real character people
We referenced fictional characters as if they were people to learn from. As if real-life people were too nebulous, too private and unreal for us to understand.