Crispin Salvador

Crispin Narciso Lupas Salvador is a fictional Filipino writer and literary hoax created by author Miguel Syjuco.^[1]

Literary Character

Created as a figment of the imagination of author Miguel Syjuco,^[2] and featuring as a main character in Syjuco's novel Ilustrado, Crispin Salvador's existence has been believed to be real by various readers of Ilustrado -- a book comprising excerpted work "by" Salvador (memoirs, stories, interviews, essays, poems, jokes, etc.). This blurring between fact and fiction, aided by an earlier, ostensibly "factual" Wikipedia entry on Salvador, has caused intrigue and confusion amongst readers who, wondering at Ilustrado's verisimilitude, consulted Google and were led to this record of Salvador's existence. Thinking that Salvador was a person who really lived and wrote, they wondered about the quality of Syjuco's book, which was classified as fiction but which was written partly in a non-fiction format. Some readers, out of a yen to believe in the veracity of Wikipedia entries and what can be read on the Internet, declared Syjuco a liar. Other readers, perhaps out of embarrassment, dismissed the book they had just read, which had moved them sufficiently to lead them to learn more about Salvador on the Internet.

Salvador—Syjuco says—was born the youngest of three siblings (sister was Magdalena Lupas Salvador; brother was Narciso Lupas Salvador III) to Philippine politician Narciso "Junior" Salvador, Jr., and housewife Leonora Fidelia in Bacolod, Negros, in the Philippines.

Novels

Salvador is known for his novels which include: His first international novel, Lupang Pula (Red Earth), published in the US in 1967, about a farmer who joins the Huk Rebellion communist uprisings of 1946 to 1954; Walang Paraiso (No Paradise), published in the Philippines in 1964; and Dahil Sa’yo (Because of You), published in 1987, a massive account of the rise and fall of the Marcoses. Also amongst Salvador’s most significant contributions to Philippine literature are Manila Noir, the most famous of his crime novels concerning the detective Antonio Astig; the Master of the Seas series about the saga of the Limahong and his Spanish adversary Juan de Salcedo; the Kaputol (Siblings) trilogy, about the adventures and coming-of-age of three adolescent boys in Martial-law-era Quezon City; his 1976 rock and roll novel, The Cool Kids of Death, adapted his experiences in the late-1960s Manila-based conceptual-art rock band, Mga Jakoleros; and his popular Europa quartet (Jour, Night, Vida and Amore), which follows the life of a young mestizo gadabout in 1950s Paris, London, Barcelona and Florence. Also popular in the 1970s was the recently out-of-print travel guide, My Philippine Islands (with 80 colour plates). In 1992, Salvador published his memoir, Autoplagiarist, in which he attempted to use his life’s story to describe a history of the Philippines from the advent of World War II to the end of the millennium.

Salvador was also known for his milestone essay (November 1968, Philippines Free Press^[3]) “Nobody Loves a Feminist”, which elicited an uproarious reception that thrust him into the consciousness of Philippine popular culture. Additionally, his short story Matador, published in The New Yorker magazine in 1972, confirmed him as arrived on the global literary scene.

Cincos Bravos

Salvador was part of the Cincos Bravos, the influential Manila-based art group that consisted of filmmaker Danilo de Borja, critic and filmmaker Marcel Avellaneda, the painter Paolo Jones-Matute, and poet Mutya Dimatahimik. In the 1960s Salvador flirted with communism in the Philippines and subsequently throughout his life his work reflected Left-leaning philosophies.

He ceases publishing

Salvador stopped publishing following the lukewarm reception of his memoir Autoplagiarist and his mother's death in 1993. From that time until his own death in 2002 he lived in New York City and taught at Columbia University.

Death

Salvador died under mysterious circumstances in New York City in 2002, his body found floating in the Hudson River. Authorities declared his death a suicide, though media in the Philippines speculated on alleged foul-play connected to a controversial book project he had been working on.

Awards

In 2008 Ilustrado, though still unpublished, won the second annual Man Asian Literary Prize.^[4]

See also

• Magic realism

References

1. ^ Volmers, Eric (October 9, 2010). "WordFest authors tell different tales of first-time, breakout success". Ottawa Citizen. http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/WordFest+authors+tell+different+tales+first+time+breakout+success/3647949/story.html. 
2. ^ Biography of Miguel Syjuco at Wikipilpinas
3. ^ The Philippine Free Press at Wikipilipinas
4. ^ Man Asian Literary Prize 2008^{[dead link]}

External links

• Miguel Sujuco biography at Wikipilipinas