Gagamba

Gagamba (meaning “spider”), subtitled The Spider Man, is a

Gagamba
novel by award-winning and most widely translated[1][2] Filipino
author F. Sionil José. The novel is about a Filipino male cripple
nicknamed “Gagamba”, a vendor of sweepstakes tickets in Ermita,
Manila. After being buried in the wreckage, the seller survives an
earthquake, together with two other fortunate characters, that
occurred in the Philippines in the middle of July 1990.[3] The
novel simultaneously raised a “fundamental question” about the
meaning of life and offers one “rational answer”.[1][2]

Description
The whole day, the cripple Gagamba whose real name is
Tranquilino Penoy sells sweepstakes at the entrance to the Ermita
restaurant called Camarin. The eating-place became well-known
because it was frequented by the so-called “beautiful people” that
Book cover for F. Sionil José's novel
Gagamba sees daily. The “beautiful people” includes the “big
Gagamba
men” who are politicians, journalists, generals, landlords, and
“handsome call-girls”. During an earthquake that hit the Author F. Sionil José
Philippines in July 1990 ,all the dining “beautiful people” at the Country Philippines
Camarin were killed and entombed. The only survivors from the
Language English
Camarin were Gagamba and two other persons.[1][2]
Genre Fiction

References Publisher Solidaridad

Publishing House
1. Gagamba the Spider Man by F. Sionil José (http://www.g Publication 1991
oodreads.com/book/show/1521337.Gagamba_the_Spid date
er_Man), goodreads.com
Pages 122
2. Gagamba: The Spider Man by F. Sionil José (http://ww
w.nationalbookstore.com/shop/products.asp?merchant_ ISBN 971-536-105-6
code=NBS&categ=95&product=15507) Archived (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20110714155336/http://www.nationalbookstore.com/shop/products.
asp?merchant_code=NBS&categ=95&product=15507) 2011-07-14 at the Wayback
Machine, nationalbookstore.com
3. Jose, F. Sionil. Gagamba The Spiderman (http://www.palhbooks.com/books3.htm),
palhbooks.com

External links
Gagamba F. Sionil José (http://gomezjames.blogspot.com/2009/12/gagamba-by-f-sionil-jos
e.html), a literary review by James Gomez at gomezjames.blogspot.com, December 12,
2009
Francisco Sionil José - A Filipino Odyssey (https://web.archive.org/web/20070611231803/ht
tp://www.me.uvic.ca/~art/fsj.html) at me.uvic.ca
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gagamba&oldid=1076234020"

This page was last edited on 10 March 2022, at 01:56 (UTC).

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