NOLI ME

TANGERE,
CONTINUING
RELEVANCE
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
– WHILE THE NOLI ME TANGERE TRIGGERED SOCIAL
CONVERSATIONS IN THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
PHILIPPINES, IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE HOW THE
NOVEL CONTINUES TO RESONATE BEYOND ITS TERM.
– THE SUCCESS OF RIZAL’S NOVEL ALSO RESTS ON ITS
TIMELESSNESS IN TERMS OF PRESENT-DAY SOCIAL
ISSUES AND POLITICAL/ECONOMIC REALITIES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
– IN THIS CHAPTER, NOLI’S LEGACY AND CONTINUING
RELEVANCE WILL BE EXPLAINED AS A TEXT NOT ONLY IN
THE FIELD OF LITERATURE BUT ALSO IN THE AREAS OF
HISTORY AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES.
– THE CHAPTER WILL ALSO LOOK AT RIZAL AS A SOCIAL
SCIENTIST WHO ESPOUSED EARLY ARTICULATIONS OF A
SOCIAL-SCIENCETIFIC MANNER OF UNDERSTANDING
AND PRESENTING THE WAY OF LIFE, IN THIS CASE,
WITHIN A COLONIAL CONTEXT.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
– THE LESSON WILL START WITH A DISCUSSION OF THE
INCARNATIONS OF THE NOLI AS IT WAS PUBLISHED
RIZAL’S TIME.
– THIS WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A SECTION ON THE STUDY
OF COLONIAL SOCIETY.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

 APPRECIATE THE IMPORTATNCE OF RIZAL AS A

THINKER: AND
 RELATE THE ISSUES RAISED IN THE NOVEL TO THE
CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF THE CONTEMPORARY
WORLD.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
– -THE SUPPRESSION OF THE RELEASE OR PUBLICATION OF
MATERIAL DEEMED IN APPROPRIATE, OBSCENE,
POLITICALLY UNACCEPTABLE, OR A THREAT TO SECURITY.
– - AN EVALUATION, ANALYSIS, OR ASSESSMENT OF A
LITERARY PHILOPSOPHICAL, OR SCIENTIFIC WORK.
– SOCIOLOGY- THE SOCIAL SCIENCE DEALING WITH THE
STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT, STRUCTURES, AND
FUNCTIONING OF HUMAN SOCIETY.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE

NOLI AFTER ITS

FIRST PUBLICATION
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE

AT PRESENT, NOLI ME TANGERE IS CONSIDERED BY

MANY AS A LANDMARK PIECE OF LITERATURE. IN HIS
ACCOUNT OF THE LITERARY HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES,
SCHOLAR RESIL MAJORES EVEN WENT TO THE EXTENT OF
NAMING RIZAL AS THE FILIPINO NOVEL (TESTA-DE
OCAMPO, 2011).
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
AS ALREADY DISCUSSED IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER,
THE THEMES OF THE NOVEL REVOLVED AROUND SOCIETAL
ISSUES EXPERIENCED IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER THE
SPANISH COLONIAL RULE.
AS SUCH, THE NOVEL DID NOT GO UNNOTICED AND
BECAME A SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION AND DEBATE.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
IN THE IMMEDIATE MONTHS AND YEARS AFTER ITS
RELEASE IN 1887, THE NOLI GENERATED REACTIONS FROM
READERS, FILIPINOS AND FOREIGNERS ALIKE. RESPONSES
RANGED FROM PRAISE TO OUTRIGHT RIDICULE.
ONE SECTOR THAT ESPOUSED UTMOST DISDAIN
FOR THE NOVEL WAS THE SPANISH CLERGY AS WELL AS
SOME SPANISH COLONIAL OFFICIALS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
IT IS THUS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT SPANISH FRIARS
PASSIONATELY PROHIBITED THE CIRCULATION OF THE
NOVEL IN 1887 WHEN FRAY SALVADOR FONT, CHAIR OF
THE CENSORSHIP COMMISSION, OUTLAWED THE READING
AND POSSESSION OF RIZAL’S NOVEL.
MANY OTHER FRIARS ASSESSED AND JUDGED THE
BOOK AS PENACIOUS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
THEY ENJOYED DEVOUT CATHOLICS NOT TO READ
THE NOVEL TO AVOID COMMITTING CAPITAL SINS. NOT
ONLY CONFINED IN THE PHILIPPINES, CRITIQUES OF THE
NOVEL COMING FROM SPANISH OFFICIALS AND
ACADEMICS ALSO CIRCULATED IN SPAIN.
ONE STAUNCH CRITIC OF THE NOVEL WAS THE
SPANISH ACADEMIC VICENTE BARRENTES WHO WROTE
SEVERAL ARTICLES IN SPANISH NEWSPAPERS RIDICULATING
RIZAL AS A “MAN OF CONTRADICTIONS”.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
BARRENTES LAMENTED THAT RIZAL’S LAMBASTING
OF THE FRIARS AND THE SPANIARDS WAS REFLECTIVE OF
THE AUTHOR AND TELLING MORE ABOUT THE FILIPINOS.
AS MUCH AS CRITICS CAME FROM VARIOUS
SECTORS, HIS NOVEL ALSO FOUND KEEN DEFENDERS
AMONG HIS PEERS. MANY OF HIS COLLEAGUES IN THE
PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT PRAISED HIS NOVEL.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
ONE EXAMPLE IS MARCELO H. DEL PILAR WHO EVEN
WROTE ESSAYS IN RESPONSE TO CRITICS OF THE NOLI.
RIZAL’S FRIEND, FERDINAND BLUMENTRITT, ALSO AN
ACADEMIC, ALSO EXPRESSED SUPPORT FOR THE NOVEL.
AS THE NOLI STIRRED CONTREVERSY IN SOCIAL
CIRCLES IN NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILIPPINES, IT IS
REMARKABLE TO REALIZE THAT EVEN BEYOND IT’S TIME,
THE NOVEL CONTINUED TO BE A SUBJECT OF DEBATE AND
DISCUSSION.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
IN THE IMMEDIATE YEARS AFTER ITS PUBLICATION, THE
NOLI WAS TRANSLATED INTO SEVERAL LANGUAGES. FRENCH
WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST TRANSLATIONS OF THE NOVEL.
MANY SCHOLARS POSIT THAT THERE WERE EARLY
ATTEMPTS TO TRANSLATE THE NOVEL INTO GERMAN
(BLUMENTRITT) AND EVEN TAGALOG (PACIANO) BUT THESE
PLANS NEVER CAME TO COMPLETION. AT THE TURN OF THE
TWENTIETH CENTURY, DURING THE AMERICAN COLONIAL
PERIOD, SEVERAL OTHER TRANSLATIONS AND EDITIONS OF THE
NOVEL CAME OUT
 NOLI ME TANGERE,
THE VERY
CONTOVERSY THAT
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
SORROUNDED THE
PASSAGE OF THE RIZAL
LAW INDICATED THE ARGUABLY THE MOST CIRCULATED VERSIONS WERE
RELEVANCE OF THE
TEXT IN THE 1950s THE ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF CHARLES DERBYSHIRE.
AND EVEN BEYOND.
IN ACADEMIA, 1930s, RIZAL’S NOVELHAD SEVERAL SPANISH
MANY SCHOLARS
HAVE ALSO MADE IT A EDITIONS, TRANSLATIONS INTO ENGLISH, FRENCH,
POINT TO DISCUSS THE JAPANESE, AND ALSO INTO SEVERAL LANGUAGES IN THE
POLITICS OF
TRANSLATION AND PHILIPPINES INCLUDING TAGALOG, CEBUANO, WARAY,
THE NUANCES OF
TRANSFORMING THE ILOKO, AND BIKOL (TESTA-DE OCAMPO, 2011).
TEXT IN SEVERAL
FORMS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
THE VERY CONTOVERSY THAT SORROUNDED THE
PASSAGE OF THE RIZAL LAW INDICATED THE RELEVANCE
OF THE TEXT IN THE 1950s AND EVEN BEYOND.
IN ACADEMIA, MANY SCHOLARS HAVE ALSO MADE IT A
POINT TO DISCUSS THE POLITICS OF TRANSLATION AND
THE NUANCES OF TRANSFORMING THE TEXT IN SEVERAL
FORMS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
AS TESTA-DE OCAMPO POINTS OUT, AS MUCH AS
THE NOVEL IS ELEVATED IN THE HIGHEST ECHELONS OF
PHILIPPINE LITERARY HISTORY, SELDOM DO WE FIND
FILIPINOS READING IT IN THE ORIGINAL SPANISH.
VERSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS OF THE NOLI ALSO
DID NOT GO WITHOUT SCRUTINY FROM ACADEMICS LIKE
BENEDICT ANDERSON .
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
TRULY, BE IT ABOUT ITS CONTENT, CONTEXT, OR THE
WAY IT IS READ OR USED, THE VALUE OF RIZAL’S NOVEL IS
DEFINITELY FELT IN THE PHILIPPINES.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE

NOLI AND THE STUDY

OF A COLONIAL SOCIETY
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
A REMARKABLE ASPECTS OF RIZAL’S NOLI LIES IN ITS
TEXT WHICH ESPOUSED THE NATIONAL HERO’S
ARTICULATIONS OF A SOCIAL-SCIENTIFIC VIEW OF THE
NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILIPPINES HE WAS DESCRIBING.
SOCIOLOGIST SYED FAREED ALATAS EVEN WENT AS FAR AS
DESCRIBING RIZAL AS “PROBABLY THE FIRST SYSYTEMATIC
SOCIAL THINKER IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.”
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
TAKEN TOGETHER WITH RIZAL’S OTHER WRITINGS,
THE NOLI MAKES A VERY IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO
THE UNDERSTANDING OF A COLONIAL SOCIETY AND OF
THE WORKINGS OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
THE NOVEL PORTRAYED THE LIVES OF THE
CHARACTERS OF DIVERSE POSITIONS FROM WHICH PEOPLE
IN NINETEENTH CENTURY PHILIPPINES THOUGHT AND
ACTED IN RELATION TO OTHERS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
MANY SCHOLARS INTERPRET THE NOLIAS RIZAL’S
DIAGNOSIS OF THE ILLS OF THE COLONIAL SOCIETY AS HE
ASSESSED THE ROLE PLAYED BY THE CHURCH, THE STATE,
AND THE PEOPLE. IN THE NOLI, RIZAL HIGHLIGHTED SOME
OF HIS IDEAS ON HOW THE PHILIPPINE SOCIETY COULD BE
EMANCIPATED FROM THE BONDAGE OF COLONIAL RULE.
HE UNDERSCORED THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION
AS POWERFUL TOOL ACHIEVE PROGRESS.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE
HOWEVER, HE ALSO EXPOSED THE COMPLEXITIES
AND CONSTRAINTS WROUGHT BY THE COLONIAL
CONDITION NOT ONLY ON THE ILLS OF SOCIETY. AS RIZAL
EXPOSED THE VILE REALITIES OF THE CONTEXT HE WROTE
ABOUT, HE ALSO EMPHASIZED THE GOOD QUALITIES OF
THE FILIPINOS, WHICH NEEDED TO BE HARNESSED IN
ORDER TO SUCCEED IN THE STRUGGLE FOR
EMANCIPATION.
NOLI ME TANGERE,
CONTINUING RELEVANCE

END OF THE TOPIC

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