Noli Me Tángere

CONTINUING RELEVANCE
CHAPTER 10

COLLANTES, Karl Winston

MANGULAB, Bernard
DEJAN, Darryl James
TOLDA, Oliver
Noli Me Tángere
CONTINUING RELEVANCE

ADD A FOOTER
2
 Noli After Its First Publication
AND IN THE IMMEDIATE MONTHS AND YEARS

The Martyrdom of Rizal ADD A FOOTER

by Carlos “Botong” 3
Francisco
 1887
And in the immediate months and years

• The Noli generated reactions

from readers, Filipinos and
foreigners alike. It became a
controversy.

• The Spanish clergy, Spanish

colonial officials, and
academics – showed utmost
disdain and ridicule for the
novel.

4
 Critiques Enemies from the:
• Church
Attacks to Noli Me Tángere • Spanish politicians
• Spanish academics
5
 Critiques
• Outlawed the reading and possession of
Noli in 1887.

• His report on Noli consisted of four parts:

1. Attacks on the religion of the State

2. Attacks on the administration, the
government employees and the courts
3. Attacks on the civil guards
Fray Salvador Font 4. Attacks on the territorial integrity of
Chairman of the Permanent the Spanish Kingdom
Commission of Censorship
Augustinian Cura of Tondo
6
 Critiques
• Wrote several articles in Spanish newspapers
ridiculing Rizal as a “man of contradictions”.

• “Rizal’s lambasting of the friars and the

Spaniards was reflective of the author and
telling more about the Filipinos.”
(non-verbatim)

Vicente Barrantes Moreno

Spanish academic
7
 Critiques
• Archbishop Pedro Payo – ordered the
investigation of Noli.

• Senator Fernando Luis Vida –

described Rizal as a “native with a
doctor of Medicine degree”.

“Whoever reads the Noli shall • Fr. Jose Rodriguez – published as a

commit a mortal sin.”. reaction a pamphlet entitled Caingat
Cayo (Beware).

8
 Defenders Rizal’s allies:
• Friends and peers
• Colleagues in the Propaganda
Defenders of Noli Me Tángere Movement
• Filipino priests
• Academics
9
 Defenders
• Translated a chapter of Noli into German.

• Published Introduction to the Noli me

tangere of Rizal. Barcelona, 1889

• “Your work, as we Germans say, has been

Prof. Ferdinand Blumentritt
Author of articles and books
of Philippine ethnography
Rizal’s close friend
written with blood and heart. Your work has
exceeded my hopes and I consider myself
fortunate and happy to have been honored
with your friendship.”
10
 Defenders
• Answered Fr. Rodriguez’ pamphlet
Caingat Cayo by writing Caiigat Cayo (Be
Slippery as an Eel).

Marcelo H. del Pilar

Leader of the Propaganda Movement

11
 VS.

Caingat Cayo (Beware) Caiigat Cayo (Be Slippery as an Eel)

Fr. Jose Rodriguez Marcelo H. del Pilar
12
 Defenders
• “Since the book is a work of literature, it
should be judged that way and not in a
doctrinal level.” (non-verbatim)

“If reading Noli is a mortal sin, then Fr.

Rodriguez had also committed a mortal sin.”

Rev. Fr. Vicente Garcia

Filipino priest

13
 Translations In the immediate years after its
publication, the Noli was
Noli Me Tángere translated into several
In Different Languages languages.

14
 first most
translation reprinted

Au pays des moines

(The Land of the Monks) Friars and Filipinos The Social Cancer
French English English
1899 1902 1912
• • • • •
1900 1909
English Tagalog
An Eagle Flight (Noli Me Tángere)
Huwag Akong
Salangin Nino
Man
Translations
 Other languages Unpublished
(During American period)

• Spanish • Waray • German

• Japanese • Iloko Ferdinand Blumentritt
(unfinished)
• Bikol
• Tagalog
• Cebuano Paciano Rizal
(unfinished)

Translations
Noli and the Study of a Colonial Society
AND HOW HIS NOVEL ARTICULATES THE 19TH CENTURY PHILIPPINES

Spoliarium
17 by Juan Luna
 Noli Me Tángere
• Shows Rizal’s articulations of a
social-scientific view of the 19th
century Philippines.

• Rizal has been described as

“probably the first systematic
social thinker in Southeast
Asia”.

18
Noli Me Tángere • Noli contributes to the
understanding of a colonial
society and of the workings of
the Spanish empire in the
Philippines.

19
Noli Me Tángere • Noli portrayed the lives of the
characters of diverse positions
from which people in the 19th
century Philippines thought
and acted in relation to others.

20
 Noli Me Tángere
Highlights
• Ills of colonial society – roles
played by the church, state,
people.
• Liberation from the bondage of
colonial rule.
• Education as a powerful tool.
• Filipinos that contributes to the
ills of the society.
• Good qualities of Filipinos.

21