Title: RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE.

Author: Beatriz Álvarez Tardío.

<beatriztardio@hotmail.com>

Prepared for:
Sesquicentennial Conference
“Rizal in the 21st Century: Local and Global Perspectives”
University of the Philippines, Diliman
June 22-24, 2011.

Abstract
The aim of this paper is to achieve a literary appreciation to the Noli and the Fili, in
view of their literary context. Rizal’s two novels have been primarily studied through
the looking glass of history, often neglecting them as literary works in their own right.
This paper attempts to remedy this lacunae by two means: pointing to their narrative
tradition and context; and the literary background of Rizal himself. It will provide the
basis for a literary approach and evaluation of Rizal’s principal literary works. It
focusses on the 17th century and the French Classicism, and will show how Rizal reads
the Moralist writers of the French Classicism to find in them inspiration, materials, and
influences for the style and structure of his novels. This appreciation will be guided by
their intertextuality with the work of La Bruyère, Characters.

***

Introduction: A genealogy.
National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin may have written a lot about José Rizal1, but
in this paper, I would like to recapture his words on the novels in an article of his
published in 19512:
“Forget all the solemn nonsense your school teachers and professional patriots
have said about these books. Discover them for yourself. .. Read them for
laughs and, I assure you, you’ll find them great fun.” (20)

1
José Rizal published in 1887 his first novel Noli me tangere, known as the Noli, and in 1891 the sequel
El Filibusterismo, known as the Fili.
2
Joaquin, Nick. “The novels of Rizal”, in The Philippines Quarterly. Vol. I No. 3 Dec. 1951, pages 17-20.
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 2

Whether we agree with Joaquin’s style to call for a reading of the novels as literature
or not, the basis of his plea may still apply today.
About fifty years later, in the second semester of the school year 1998-1999, I started
teaching a subject on European Literature entitled “The Literary Context of the Noli
and the Fili”3 at the English Department of the Ateneo de Manila University.
For the students, reading the novels of Rizal alongside other literary works was a new
experience. Rizal had read the chief authors of the Spanish Baroque, the French
Classicism and the Enlightenment, the German Romantics, among other works, and
this particular factor wrapped up the act of reading his novels in a cozy atmosphere
that itself helped us to enjoy the novels.
Later on, I taught a very similar course as a comparative literature class at the
University of the Philippines4. At first, students reacted to the idea of having to take
quizzes about the Noli and the Fili, but were amazed at the kind of questions they had
to answer. As we were discussing other authors and reading Rizal’s novels at the same
time, the students discovered topics for a debate about the literary qualities of the
novels from the details of the quizzes.
I would like to remember here the most enthusiastic among the students who, being
already a senior citizen, enrolled in the class for the pleasure of reading Rizal without
all the ideological coatings. It was thanks to the Jesuit scholar Father Miguel A. Bernad
that he knew about the course for, he explained, Father Bernad had written a column:
“Taking Rizal’s novels seriously5.” It is in their memory I would like to dedicate this
lecture.
During this course, the students and I discovered for ourselves what Joaquin brought
to the fore in that article, saying that “[his works] are first-rate comic novels – fast,
funny and outrageous – novels,” and what Rizal did “has bite, . . . fun, and –most
important of all - . . . audacity.” (17)
The most important observation in Joaquin’s article is his recognition of the artistry of
the author, his management of storytelling, the astonishment at the unfolding of
events, and the use of narrative techniques--all of which are elements of literature.
So, the first important step was to place the novels in a course about literature. In this
way, the parameters of analysis were clearly those common to literature. The second
relevant condition was to read the novels in the context of other literary works, hoping
that in this way, all comparisons in our minds will tend to understand the novels within
literary trends, writing styles, literary structures, artistic movements, etc.
Rizal as a writer did his preparations, read, and studied different sources to strengthen
his ideas for the novels, to have materials and clay to give them shape, to draw his
characters and stories, and to provide foundations for the characters. The literary
context of both novels is mainly the European literature of his time and of an earlier
time.
3
It was also offered in the 2nd semester 1999-2000, and in the following 2nd semester 2000-2001.
4
Department of English and Comparative Literature, CL134, 1st semester 2000-2001; 2nd semester
2001-2002.
5
The Philippine Star, Monday, June 19, 2000

2
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 3

His works respond to the European tradition of the novel through a dialogue wherein
the novels re-write that tradition, for Rizal was a writer with a theory about the novel,
and he had mastered the strategies of the genre in order to make his own creation6.
Thus Rizal revises and renovates that literary tradition.
During the courses, we documented our literary study of the novels searching through
Rizal’s readings and quotations7. We read several works, as we did a parallel reading of
Rizal’s novels, thus we could discuss, observe and notice crossing points – interesting
elements to deepen our literary knowledge of the novels. Some of the course readings
included Cervantes, Jean de La Bruyère, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Jean Paul, Schiller,
Larra, Manzoni, Pushkin, Galdós, Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola. In this paper, we will focus
on a less known theme, Jean de La Bruyére and his work Characters, the 17th century
French Classicism, and the Moralist writers.

***

“Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause
and its effect.”
“Of Opinions” (56) Jean de La Bruyère, Characters

The Characters of La Bruyère (1645-1696) is a masterpiece of social criticism in French

literature in a period when it was unthinkable that a writer would engage in such
criticism of the established order, the absolute rule of Louis XIV, portrayed as a figure
of classical antiquity: he was Apollo, or the Sun King8.
La Bruyère together with Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, and La Fontaine is one of the
writers known as the "Moralist Writers.” Their writing extended through a period
known as French Classicism whose aesthetics “prescribed the conjoining of the useful
with the pleasant”9.
Moralist writers studied 'morals' in the sense of customs and manners. Their aim was
to analyze and portray the human condition and psychology in their most universal
and timeless aspects. They applied Descartes' method: a 'geometric method' of
discovering truth by progressive and rational deduction, to the area of human ethics,
psychology and morals.

6
Currently, I am preparing a collection of essays where I discuss the outputs of my research of Rizal's
novels from a literary perspective. This paper is the first and still a work in progress, so comments and
suggestions are welcome.
7
I would like to thank the students who helped me with this documentation process.
8
References to La Bruyère Characters translated by Henri Van Laun with an introduction by Denys. C.
Potts (Oxford UP, 1963).
9
Hollier, Denis. (1989) A New History of French Literature. Harvard University Press. p. 327

3
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 4

The Cartesian method and La Bruyère

Descartes, in his Discourse on Method (1637), had provided a sure key to knowledge
after pushing doubt itself to the extreme. By 1660, Cartesianism had already captured
the minds of most of Europe's advanced thinkers. By 1700, it had become general
orthodoxy.
Cartesianism in the late 17th century comprised a method of reasoning from self-
evident propositions on principles analogous to those of geometrical proof. It was also
a philosophy which accepted the existence of God as the ordainer of a mechanistic,
ordered universe and defined man as a blend of mechanical body and immortal soul,
implanted at birth with certain basic notions (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2005).
Descartes’ view of man in Les Passions de l’âme (The Passions of the Soul, 1649)
extends his mechanistic model to human behavior. Descartes proposes that the
passions which assail us are not evil in themselves, only when they are excessive, and
excess can be checked by human reason. The relationship between our passions and
our reasons is part of the work of the writers in their dissection of human behavior.
La Bruyère anonymously published his work for the first time in Paris in 1688. The
complete title is Les caractères, ou les moeurs de ce siècle, (or The Manners of the Age)
containing:
1. Discours sur Théophraste (4th century B.C. Greek disciple of Aristotle)
2. Translation of the Greek portraits; and
3. La Bruyère's Characters, 420 original entries.
The addition of original entries in the following editions from 1689 to 1696 ended with
a final form of 1,120 entries.
La Bruyère’s Characters is a collection of numbered entries divided into 16 chapters,
each devoted to a different aspect of human existence. La Bruyère is the most
Cartesian among the Moralists when classifying his observations under thematic
rubrics: Man, Town, Court, Women, Personal Merit, Fashion, etc 10 . One of the
principles of organization of the text is the Cartesian rule of proceeding from the
simplest subjects to the most complex.
La Bruyère expanded the Moralist's field of inquiry to include the interactions among
social, economic, and political institutions. He is more particular in his representation
of specific characters who are often recognizable as contemporary individuals, and
more insistent on the economic determinants behind the social appearances.
Traditional genres represented in his work include maxim, observation, portrait,
dialogue, short moral (or philosophical essay), anecdote, epigram, and caricature
among others.

10
It is important to note that La Bruyère shows his dislike of preciosity and ornament, and he manifests
in his Characters an outspoken mistrust of women in general. In fact, in line with other writers of the
period such as Molière who was a misogynist, La Bruyère says that the ignorance of women is the result
of their natural idleness and weakness, thus contributing to the inequality between men and women.

4
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 5

Taking Rizal’s novels seriously: Intertextuality.

To aid the process of studying Rizal’s novels, it is useful to draw their intertextualities,
understanding this intertextuality when there is an act of interpretation of the source
so that it becomes the origin of something new. This intertextual process was already
an “explicit rewriting” and “a key dimension of the literary output” of the Moralists, as
Hollier (330) explains about La Bruyère: “the book offered a compendium (…) many of
which were obvious adaptations, amplifications, or retranscriptions of fragments from
Descartes, Pascal and La Rochefoucauld.”
Beyond his period, it has been recognized how La Bruyère's technique of portrait had a
lasting influence. It was incorporated into memoirs and the novel. Social types and
characters have been traced back to La Bruyère, admired by Flaubert and Proust, his
influence extending to William M. Thackeray in England, Manzoni in Italy, Larra in
Spain, and, if we may add, Rizal in the Philippines. We will see the important elements
that the study of the maxim in the novels of Rizal contributes towards a literary
appreciation of his novels.

Descartes, La Bruyère and Rizal

The reading of a selection from La Bruyère’s Characters during my class on European
Literature and the novels of Rizal struck the students and aroused interesting class
debates. It was something new for them who were used to studies speaking about
Rizal and Voltaire, or the Spanish writer of novels Pérez Galdós, but never heard about
La Bruyère before. This choice, I must recognize, was done intentionally, precisely
because I knew it was unexpected. During my research on Rizal readings, I have found
an interesting list of French writers, aside from the well known philosophers
Montesquieu, Rousseau, and the already mentioned Voltaire and La Bruyère; the list
includes the following Moralists: Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636-1711), Jean de La
Fontaine (1621-169511) and Antonie François Prévost d’Exiles (1697-1763).

Elements in the structure of Rizal’s novels

At first glance, the interesting element that called our attention was the similarities
between the titles of the chapters of La Bruyère and Rizal’s novels. Obviously, this does
not apply to all chapters since La Bruyère divides his entries under thematic categories:
16 titles, and there is no plot to follow in Characters. Whereas in Rizal’s novels, aside
from the story being told, they are divided into chapters of different length: Noli, 64
chapters and Fili, 39. Nevertheless, it is worth looking at the similarities.
Here it follows a description of the chapter’s structure of La Bruyère’s work. The
chapters are grouped according to their themes and the perspective from which they
are approach:
I Of works of the mind.
La Bruyère discusses about the art of writing, and the contribution of the
individual to society through artistic creativity.
11
Cited in El Filibusterismo: “Lafontaine” in chapter XXV “Laughter and Tears”.

5
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 6

1st part: Man as an active agent.

The first group of chapters deals with the work of the individual, each of the
chapters devoted to specific aspects.

II Of personal merit It talks about the merit and talents which depend on the
individual alone.
III Of women About women embellishment and the physical attraction
between sexes.
IV Of the affections About love and friendship.
V Of society and of On how the individual establishes superficial presence in
conversation the world.

2nd part: The outside forces.

A second group describes the situations weighting upon man.

VI Of the gifts of fortune It talks about wealth.

VII Of the town It deals with environmental conditions.
VIII Of the court It also discusses environmental conditions.
IX Of the great About social hierarchy.
X Of the sovereign and the state About social hierarchy.

3rd part: On Man

XI Of mankind La Bruyère returns to the individual, but on the general
analysis of enduring and lasting aspects of human nature and
condition.

4th part: Inconstancy and arbitrariness

This group discusses man’s opinions, feelings, tastes, and affections that shape
the evolution of civilization:
XII Of opinions
XIII Of fashion
XIV Of certain customs
XV Of the pulpit.

6
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 7

5th part: On human intelligence.

The last chapter: XVI Of free-thinkers, deals with the weakness and strength of
human intelligence.

A comparative analysis of Rizal´s novels and La Bruyère’s Characters provides a new

and interesting perspective. The general conclusion of this comparison is that Rizal’s
novels follow a pattern similar to that of Characters. The works belong to quite
dissimilar literary genres, and different historical and artistic periods. Despite these
differences the pattern of Cartesian method which informs the work of La Bruyère is
also present in the Noli and Fili. There are certain parallelisms which we attempt to
explain here. In general terms, we observed that both novels start out with individual
characters then proceed to a broader picture of how these characters move within
society. It is possible to draw a map where to point to the similarities with the
organization of La Bruyère’s Characters.

CHARACTERS NOLI FILI

Man as an active agent.
II Of personal merit A Gathering On Deck
III Of women Crisostomo Ibarra Below Deck
IV Of the affections The Dinner Legends
V Of society and of conversation A Heretic and Subversive Cabesang Tales
A Star in the Dark Night A Cochero’s Christmas Eve
Capitan Tiago Basilio
Idyll in an Azotea Simoun
Memories Merry Christmas

The topic related to the behavior of people living in the town is comparable to “The
Town” in Noli12. La Bruyère inquires into the need of the individual to belong to a
group and the meaning of public rituals, a theme abounding in Rizal’s novels. La
Bruyère’s rubric X “Of the sovereign and the state” is comparable to chapter 11, “The
Sovereigns: Divide and Rule”, and to “Los Baños” in the Fili.
CHARACTERS NOLI FILI
The outside forces.
VI Of the gifts of fortune Some Country Matters Pilates
VII Of the town The Town Wealth and Misery
VIII Of the court The Sovereigns Los Baños
IX Of the great Plácido Penitente
X Of the sovereign and the state A Class in Physics
Student´s Lodging House
Señor Pasta

12
We use the translation of the novels into English by Ma. Soledad Lacson-Locsin published by
Bookmark 1996 and 1997 unless otherwise indicated. For the original text in Spanish we use for both
novels: “Primera reimpresión en Filipinas al (Off-Set Printing) de la edición príncipe”, R. Martinez & Sons,
Quezon city, 1958.

7
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 8

The chapter “All Saints’ Day” talks about the relation of the living and the dead ones,
and death is an issue discussed by La Bruyère on the general frame of “mankind”.

CHARACTERS NOLI FILI

Man
XI Of mankind All Saints’ Day There is not a chapter which can fit here.
A Gathering Storm
Tasio
The Altar Boys
Sisa
Basilio
Souls in Anguish
The Travails of a Schoolmaster
The Meeting in the Townhall
A Mother’s Story

In the case of the Noli, the process in developing themes is easier to draw because the
chapter titles can be directly related to those of La Bruyere’s Characters, particularly
chapters 31 to 34 have specific correlation to La Bruyère’s: In the Church, The Sermon
and Free Thinker.

CHARACTERS NOLI FILI

Inconstancy and arbitrariness
XII Of opinions Lights and Shadow Tribulations of a Chinaman
XIII Of fashion The Fishing Excursion The Quiapo Fair
XIV Of certain customs In the Woods Deceptions
XV Of the pulpit Elias and Salome The Fuse
In the Philosopher’s Home The Ponente
Eve of the Fiesta Manila Characters
At Nightfall The Performance
Letters A Corpse
The Morning Dreams
The Church Laughter and Tears
The Sermon Pasquinades
The Hoist The Friar and the Filipino
Panic
Last words about Capitan Tiago
Juli
The High Official
Consequences of the Posters
The Final Argument
The Wedding
The Fiesta
The Predicaments of Ben Zayb
Mystery
A Trick of Fate

8
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 9

La Bruyère’s chapter “Of the Pulpit” can be compared to “The Sermon”. La Bruyère
criticizes how the sermons have become nothing more than a show. In the Noli the
sermon is actually a show where people praise the use of gestures and voice
modulation.

CHARACTERS NOLI FILI

Weakness and strength of
human intelligence
XVI Of free-thinkers Free Thinker Final Chapter

This chapter “Of Free-thinkers” by La Bruyère compares to that of the same name in
the Noli “Free Thinker” and the “Final chapter” of the Fili.

Freethought
La Bruyère speaks of a freethinker as a person who “either has no religion at all, or
creates one for himself” (298); talks about being a freethinker as a matter of fashion
(299); and discusses two sorts of freethinkers: “those who are really so, or at least
believe themselves so, and hypocrites or pretended pious people, who are unwilling to
be thought free-thinkers, the latter are the best.” (305).
Even though the concepts regarding how a freethinker thinks or acts differ in the
works of Rizal and La Bruyère, the latter, after having stated clearly that “there is a
God”, concludes at the end of his book:
“I cannot more clearly infer that because I think, I am a spirit, than conclude
from what I do or do not, according as I please, that I am free. Now freedom
implies the power of choosing, or, in other words, a voluntary determination
for good or evil, so that virtue or vice consists in the doing a good or a bad
action. If vice were to remain absolutely unpunished, it would be a real
injustice, but for vice to remain unpunished on earth is merely a mystery.”
(Characters 319-320)
An opinion which can be traced to the words of some of Rizal’s characters (i.e., Elías
and Simoun), and the witty final sentence, which stirs the paradox, is a good example
of the artistry of La Bruyère, his rich vocabulary and his conciseness. La Bruyère follows
the Cartesian principles in making his propositions. He aims at making man reasonable.
In the chapter of the Noli, “Free Thinker”, Elías nevertheless believes in God though he
rejects human authority:
“Ibarra thought [Elías] denied the existence of human justice; he refused to
recognize man’s right to judge his peers; he was protesting against force and
the superiority of certain classes over others.” (300-301)
Still in the chapter “Free-Thinker”, the following could very well have been an entry in
La Bruyère Characters when Elias says:

9
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 10

“You have enemies in the higher as well as in the lower spheres,” […] “You
contemplate putting up a vast enterprise, and you have a past behind you; your
father, your grandfather had enemies, because they had passions, and in life it
is not the criminals who arouse the hatred of others, but the men who are
honest.” (298)
Elías’ discourse is an example of Descartes’ philosophy: “Contradiction and lack of
foresight in the Intelligence which controls the world’s machinery signifies two great
imperfections” (Noli, 300). Because of the Cartesianism in Elías’ words he is considered
a freethinker. In 1663 the Roman Catholic Church placed Descartes' works on the Index
of Forbidden Books, and the University of Oxford forbade the teaching of his doctrines.
(Britannica, 2005 ).
Free thought appears again in the Fili in the mouth of Isagani. He has been summoned
by Padre Fernandez to his cell after he had heard Isagani perorate to the students in
the previous chapter. Padre Fernandez questions Isagani regarding those students who
accuse the friars but do not have “the boldness to back his accusations”. Isagani
answers:
“The fault is not all theirs, Padre (…) The fault is in those who taught them to be
hypocrites; in those who tyrannize freedom of thought, freedom of speech.”
(298)
----
“La culpa no es toda de ellos, Padre, contestó Isagani; la culpa está en los que
les han enseñado a ser hipócritas, en los que tiranizan el pensamiento libre, la
palabra libre” (208).
Like La Bruyère, Padre Fernandez criticizes the major weakness of hypocrisy. His reply
to Isagani is a refined paradox:
“What persecution did you have to suffer?” asked Padre Fernández, raising his
head. “Have I not allowed you to express yourself freely in my class? However,
you are an exception, but if what you say is true, I should have you corrected,
to make the rule applicable to all, to avoid propagating a bad example!” (298)
----
“¿Qué persecuciones ha tenido usted que sufrir? preguntó el P. Fernandez
levantando la cabeza; ¿no le he dejado a usted expresarse libremente en mi
clase? Y sin embargo, usted es una excepción que, a ser cierto lo que dice, yo
debía corregir, para universalizar en lo posible la regla, ¡para evitar que cunda
el mal ejemplo!” (208)
The clever student, Isagani, smiles for he understands the play of words and provides a
further application of the paradox by adding:
“You too, are an exception, but since we are not talking of exceptions here, or
speaking for our persons, at least as far as I am concerned, I beg my professor
for another approach to this matter.” (298)
This sentence of Padre Fernandez: “para universalizar en lo posible la regla”, guides
the path of our study of the intertextures between the Moralist writing style and the

10
RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 11

novels. The word “universalizar” conveys the essence of the Moralist spirit that was to
find the laws concerning the individual and the society.

Isagani’s Arenga
Just before his conversation with Padre Fernandez, in Chapter XXVI “Pasquinades” in
the Fili, Isagani who is described as “pale and enthusiastic, radiant with youthful
beauty, haranguing some fellow students”,13 was saying:
“It seems incredible, gentlemen, it seems preposterous, that an incident so
insignificant should disperse us and that we should flee like sparrows because a
scarecrow shakes itself!” (293)
----
“¡Parece mentira, señores, parece mentira que un acontecimiento tan
insignificante nos ponga en desbandada y huyamos como gorriones porque se
agita el espantajo!” (204)
In the Spanish language, the word “arenga” (or in English, “harangue”) is used for a
high speech, full of eloquence and exhortations that, like a sermon, shows the proper
morals and behavior. The discourse of Isagani flourishes here, he who until now was
mostly quiet, except for a few verses. When he speaks, he uses a saying and other
sententious expressions like other qualifying characters in the novel (i.e., Simoun).

Sententiousness and Rizal’s novels

Maxims are abundant throughout the novels, and it is a characteristic feature of Rizal’s
stylei. The pervasiveness of sententiousness in Rizal’s novels leads us to read narrative
events through their accompanying maxims. The maxims can be read as narrative and
as illustrative of a general law.
A maxim, or an aphorism, can be defined as: “a concise expression of doctrine or
principle or any generally accepted truth conveyed a pithy, memorable statement.”
(Brittanica, 2005). The maxim combines wit and wisdom.
We use the word “maxim” as a term for a genre which covers a wide stylistic range,
and it is strikingly diverse: from slight sententious clauses, from the epigram, the
saying, the axiom, to the precise and paradoxical sentence, or to the expansive and
philosophical essay. The variety of moralistic forms is related not only to the variety of
narrative selves but also to the need of these selves as they construct and are
constructed by the laws they enunciate.
The statements are bound in the fictional bricks of the novels. Many characters are
allowed to formulate maxims, though the narrator’s status as the controlling voice is
various and multiple. The maxims are not Rizal’s but the narrator’s, as a narrator who
is a writer and a would-be writer, both a protagonist and a moralist. Even though a

13
Our translation: “pálido y emocionado, radiante de belleza juvenil, arengaba a unos cuantos
condiscípulos” (204).

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 12

maxim claims to be prescriptive and timeless, it is set within a discourse which takes
place in a narrative time within the novels.

The construction of the maxims

The heuristic structure provokes the effect of the unexpected thanks to the creative
juxtaposition of certain elements. This can be found in the example from Baltazar
quoted by Tasio at the end of chapter XXVI “The Eve of the Fiesta” in the Noli:
“Kung ang isalubong sa iyong pagdating
Ay masayang mukhâ ’t may pakitang giliu,
Lalong pag ingata ‘t kaauay na lihim …” (149)14
The simplicity of the formulation contrasts with the complexity of the problem, so
provoking further thought over the chapter we have just read. The resulting effect is
an appealing moment, more delightful for those educated readers who can bring
forward a knowledge of the original text quoted here. At this moment of displacement,
the maxim or law is formed, followed by a widening of the reading, as the law is
applied and tested, and may require from us readers new speculations.
Mikhail Bakhtin discusses the link between the maxim and the novel, particularly in his
essay, “Le plurilinguisme dans le roman”15, wherein he studies how the novel organizes
its polyphony, which is done through the introduction of other discourses or genres,
classified by Bakhtin as: 1) the intentional genre: as poems written by the writer and
introduced directly and explicitly; 2) the objective genre: those that hide the purpose
of the writer, these are part of the discursive object, like poems written by a character
of the novel; and 3) the refracted genre: the most usual way, those modulating and
qualifying in different degrees the writer’s intentions, such as sentences and maxims
with a high level of parody or irony.
Clearly, Bakhtin recognizes the maxim as a component of the polyphony of the text, a
recognition that supports his principle of dialogism, which implies that the
consciousness of the main character of the novel, and also that of the reader, may defy
the author; and it is also corresponding with his theory of the carnivalesque that
dissolves the distinction author-reader, a theory though interesting for the study of
Rizal’s novels, is beyond the scope of this paper.

14
Translation into Spanish from the edition by Fondo de Cultura Económico (***):
“Si a tu llegada viene a verte,
con cara sonriente y cariñoso gesto,
sé más prudente que nunca,
es un traidor, un encubierto enemigo”
Translation into English from the Penguin edition (2006):
“When you get there he may come to see you
With smiles and affectionate pats,
So be mindful he may betray you, he’s an enemy in disguise.”
15
Bajtin, M. (1989) Teoría y estética de la novela. Madrid: Taurus. Our translation.

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 13

The maxim in the novels: literary strategies.

The joining of the maxim and the text is accomplished through different strategies.
One of them is a character whose main qualification is the capability to process the
individual into the general, for example: a writer (a character who is a writer). In this
way, the maxim is embedded into the narrative project. In the Noli, we find the young
writer, through his writing at the end of chapter 3 “The Dinner”, he shows us the
hallmark of the maxim, that is, to make universal the particular:
“The night the blond young man was writing, among other things, the next
chapter of his “Colonial Studies”: “On how a chicken wing and neck in a friar’s
dish of tinola can disturb the joy of a feast.” And among his observations were
these: “In the Philippines the most useless person in a supper or feast is the
one giving it: to begin with, the master of the house can be thrown out into the
street and everything will proceed as usual. In the actual state of things it is
almost for the good of the Filipinos not to be allowed to leave the country or to
be taught to read…” (26)
----
“Aquella noche escribía el joven rubio entre otras cosas el capítulo siguiente de
sus “Estudios Coloniales”: “De cómo un cuello y un ala de pollo en el plato de
tinola de un fraile pueden turbar la alegría de un festín.” Y entre sus
observaciones había estas: “En Filipinas la persona más inútil en una cena o
fiesta es la que la da: al dueño de la casa pueden empezar por echarle a la calle
y todo seguirá tranquilamente.” “En el estado actual de las cosas casi es
hacerles un bien el no dejar a los filipinos salir de su país, ni enseñarles a leer
…” (17)
The paradigm of the writer in the Fili is Ben Zayb, though actually from a quite ironical
point of view. Ben Zayb is “a prolific writer”, “who believes that in Manila they think
because he, Ben Zayb, thinks” (4). “Despite his being the only thinking head in the
Philippines” (7), Ben Zayb does not utter a maxim, or an epigram, or any other kind of
sententiae. Towards the end of the Fili, when Ben Zayb has the opportunity for
showing his talent as a writer (chapter “The predicament of Ben Zayb”), we access the
original work through the narrator’s reading, who, unlike Ben Zayb, is entitled to the
maxim:
“His Excellency appeared like a hero and fell much higher, as Victor Hugo said”
(380)
----
“S. E. aparecía como un héroe y caía más alto, como dijo Victor Hugo” (263).
The narrator is also a literary critic who qualifies Ben Zayb’s writing as “an epic”, a
genre that shows just one voice, and in correlation with Bakhtin critique of the epic
narrative refuses to interact with the reality of the present-day reader. The narrator
ironically says about Ben Zayb:
“He was writing, erasing, adding and polishing, such that without lacking the
truth – this was his special merit as a journalist – it would all result in an epic,
grand for the seven divinities, cowardly and low for the unknown thief” (380);

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 14

whereas the narrator, who is truly writing a novel (and not an epic) actualizes the
polyphony of the novel.
At the beginning of the Fili, like the Noli’s first chapter, Ben Zayb makes an attempt to
generalize the teachings of the legend of the crocodile turned into stone, and he talks
about a “study of comparative religions.” He recalls the saying: “better the evil already
known than the good still to be known” for it is not applicable, and calls for “a
profound study of anthropology” (29). Simoun finely opens the legend’s interpretation
and Ben Zayb’s reading. However, the writer (Rizal) complicates the polyphony
through a parody, for Simoun pushes the universalization further:
“ (…) [C]ould the petrified animals I have seen in various museums of Europe,
have been victims of some antediluvian saint?” (30)
----
(…) ¿[S]i los animales petrificados que he visto yo en varios museos de Europa
no habrán sido víctimas de algun santo antidiluviano? (21)
So the reading is open to the following options:
- First level of the reading: The legend (the fantastic).
- Second level: Ben Zayb’s reading (a generalization).
- Third level: Simoun’s reading of Ben Zayb’s maxim (a parody of the
legend and its generalization).
- Fourth level: the reader’s response to the previous three levels of
reading.
The maxims do not stand by themselves, but are constructed through the episodes,
the experience of the characters, the unfolding of the conversations, etc. The truths in
the novels cannot be collected, unlike those of La Bruyère which were collected
through the years, numbered and arranged according to a Cartesian organizational
principle. In the novels the maxims are created by the interaction of the reader and the
text. The interpretation of a character’s sentence by the reader is a reading practice
that it is mirrored in the novels itself, of which Simoun is a good example, like in the
following example when Basilio in the Fili explains the health conditions of Capitan
Tiago thus:
“Since the incident of San Diego, Simoun had not seen the young man again nor
Capitan Tiago.
“How is the patient?” he asked, throwing a quick look about the room and
casting an eye on the pamphlets we mentioned, their pages still unopened.
“The beats of the heart, imperceptible… pulse very weak… appetite, completely
gone,” replied Basilio with a sad smile and in a low voice; “he sweats profusely
towards the dawn…”
Seeing that Simoun, by the direction of his face, had noticed the pamphlets,
and fearing he would renew the matter which they had talked about in the
woods, he continued:

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 15

“The organism is saturated with poison; he may die any day as if struck by
lightning … the least cause, an inconsequencial thing, an excitement, can kill
him…”
“Like the Philippines!”, observed Simoun grimly.” (257-258)
----
“Desde la escena de San Diego, Simoun no había vuelto a ver ni al joven ni al
Capitan Tiago.
- ¿Cómo está el enfermo? preguntó echando una rápida ojeada por el cuarto y
fijándose en los folletos que mencionamos cuyas hojas aun no estaban cortadas.
- Los latidos del corazón, imperceptibles... pulso muy débil... apetito, perdido
por completo, repuso Basilio con sonrisa triste y en voz baja; suda
profusamente a la madrugada...
Y viendo que Simoun, por la dirección de la cara, se fijaba en los dichos folletos
y temiendo volviese a reanudar el asunto de que hablaron en el bosque,
continuó:
- El organismo está saturado de veneno; de un día a otro puede morir como
herido del rayo... la causa más pequeña, un nada, una excitacion le puede
matar...
- ¡Como Filipinas! observó lúgubremente Simoun.” (180)
Simoun’s reading extends through the continuous text, which now has the status of a
fragment, because through Simoun’s observation is being dissociated from Basilio’s
prognosis about Capitan Tiago’s poor health, and transformed into a maxim. As he
does this kind of reading practice of other’s words, Simoun constantly expands the
other character’s words, provides his own truth of the narration, thus displacing the
first level of the reading.
Furthermore, there is a third level, that of the readers; Simoun provides us with his
opinion to which we react. Therefore, we may either concur with the first more literal
reading, or agree with Simoun’s truth or produce our own. Usually Simoun, a character
engendering the conflict in the novel, will convoke a truth or doxa purposely in
opposition.

The quotation
In both novels, the quotation is often used as another literary strategy. Citing the
precedent of ancient authors is a way of legitimation, though it works at various levels
in the text. The novels are constructed through this process of refined polyphony, the
author’s voice does not provide a superior encompassing point of view, but competes
on par with the other voices in the novel, to which it also contributes the dialogism,
again following Bakhtin. Sententiousness is not only the privilege of the narrator; other
characters are also allowed to make generalizations, and to express themselves
through sayings and sentences of an axiomatic nature.
The quotation may be used to conceal personal and individual vices, weaknesses, and
other faulty behavior, because the language of the maxim is not personal but popular.
In these cases the use of the maxim by the characters responds to a dissembling

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 16

strategy; as in this example of a quotation without a source, his Reverence, the

Dominican superior of Padre Sibyla speaking:
“I fear we are beginning to decline: Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementat prius,
(Whom Jupiter seeks to destroy he first make mad). That is why we do not
increase our burden; already the people grumble.” (Noli 74)
----
“Temo que no estemos empezando a bajar: Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementat
prius, (A los que Júpiter quiere perder enloquece primero) Por esto no
aumentemos nuestro peso, el pueblo murmura ya.” (47)
Another example, in the chapter The Ponente from the Fili, the narrator becomes the
bioghapher of Don Custodio, and he informs us about his thought entangled with his
sayings:
At other times he would say:
“I love the indios passionately. I have made myself their father and defender,
but it is necessary for things to be in their place. Some are born to command,
others, to serve. It is obvious that this truism cannot be said in a loud voice, but
it is practised without many words.” (217)
----
Otras veces decía:
- Yo amo con delirio a los indios, me he constituido en su padre y defensor,
pero es menester que cada cosa esté en su lugar. Unos han nacido para mandar
y otros para servir; claro está que esta verdad no se puede decir en voz alta,
pero se la practica sin muchas palabras. (152)

To this, the narrator will answer without concessions, often replying himself with a
sententious discourse to the maxim. The narrator not only attacks the discourse and
speech of the other characters, but his privileged position is openly visible when he
decides to recall famous maxims from the moralists, or other prestigious sources, such
as the Bible and classic philosophers. The quotation, or secondary text, may entail
various possibilities of inducing a debate with the primary text. Here is the narrator’s
opinion about Don Custodio’s words:
Don Custodio, in referring to his policy, was not contented with the word art.
And when he mentioned government he would extend his hand downwards to
the height of a man on his knees, bent. (217)
----
“Don Custodio refiriéndose a su política ya no se contentaba con la palabra arte.
Y al decir gobernar extendía la mano bajándola a la altura de un hombre de
rodillas, encorvado” (153).

Later in this chapter, there is quite an interesting case where the narrator elaborates
ironically about quoting, though citing here is a parody of others’ behavior, and
explains how the sayings spread and define the laws and morals of the community:
“When it was pointed out to him that to rule or to live at the expense of
ignorance had another name, somewhat ugly-sounding and which the laws

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 17

punished when the culpable acted by himself, he came right back, citing other
colonies.

“We”, he would say in his ceremonial voice, “we can speak out loud! We are
not like the English and the Dutch who, to maintain peoples in submission,
make use of the lash… We use other means, much milder and surer. The
salutary influence of the friars is superior to the English whip…”

This phrase of his made his fortune, and for a long time Ben Zayb had been
paraphrasing it and with him all of Manila; thinking Manila applauded it.”(219)

----

“Si le objetaban que dominar o vivir a costa de la ignorancia tiene otro nombre
algo mal sonante y lo castigan las leyes cuando el culpable es uno solo, él se
salía citando otras colonias.

- Nosotros, decía con su voz de ceremonia, ¡podemos hablar muy alto! No

somos como los ingleses y holandeses que para mantener en la sumisión a los
pueblos se sirven del látigo... disponemos de otros medios más suaves, más
seguros; el saludable influjo de los frailes es superior al látigo inglés...

Esta frase suya hizo fortuna y por mucho tiempo Ben Zayb la estuvo
parafraseando y con él toda Manila, la Manila pensadora la celebraba;” (153-
154)

The privileged position of the narrator is clearer in the following case. The narrator
tells the Alferez anecdote in direct style (the anecdote is another common genre in the
Characters of La Bruyère), but after the anecdote, the narrator claims a privileged
position and tells us a personal opinion about the story, so the narrator is certainly
another speculative voice. In this example, the narrator further pushes the
sententiousness by constructing a universalization out of his doubting the anecdote. It
has a mirroring effect that contributes greatly to the polyphony of the novel:
Padre Salvi would only smile to himself and pray more. The Alferez always told
the few Spaniards who visited him the following anecdote:
“Are you going to the convent to visit that little dead fly of a priest? Careful! If
he offers you chocolate, which I doubt he will … but if he finally offers, be on
guard. If he calls the servant and tells him: ‘Fulanito, make a cup of chocolate,
eh?’ Then you can stay and not worry; but if he says ‘Fulanito, make a cup of
chocolate, ah?’ then pick up your hat and exit running.”
“What?” asked the other man fearfully. “Does he dole out poison? Good
heavens!”
“Man, no; not to that extent.”
“So?”

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 18

“Chocolote eh? means espeso, thick; and chocolate ah? means aguado,
watered down.”
We believe, however, that this was just a calumny of the Alferez’s, since the
same anecdote has been attributed to many priests. Unless of course this is a
practice special to the Order. (84)
---
“Padre Salvi se sonreía también y rezaba más. El alférez siempre contaba a los
pocos españoles que le visitaban, la anécdota siguiente:
- ¿Va V. al convento a visitar al curita Moscamuerta? ¡Ojo! Si le ofrece
chocolate, ¡lo cual dudo! … pero en fin si le ofrece, ponga atención. ¿Llama al
criado y dice: Fulanito, haz una jícara de chocolate, eh? entonces quédese, sin
temor, pero si dice: Fulanito, haz una jícara de chocolate ah? entonces coja V. el
sombrero y márchese corriendo.
- ¿Qué? preguntaba el otro espantado ¿da jicarazos? ¡Carambas!
- ¡Hombre tanto, no!
- ¿Entonces?
- Chocolate eh? significa espeso, chocolate ah?, aguado.
Pero creemos que esto sea calumnia del alférez pues la misma anécdota se
atribuye también a muchos curas. A menos que sea cosa de la Corporación…”
(54)

The reader’s response

The novels promote the experience of reading as speculative thinking, therefore the
layers of reading are distributed through the different exploratory voices and the
interpretative process provoked by the maxims and the like. The author insists on
challenging the readers to create their own interpretations, precisely contending with
the following:
- “But the indios should not understand Spanish, you know!” cried Padre
Camorra. “They should not learn, because then they will dare to argue with us;
and the indios should not argue, but only obey and pay … they should not
involve themselves in interpreting what the law says, nor the books; they are
nitpickers and very subtle.” (114)
---
“- ¿Pero los indios no deben saber castellano, sabe usted? gritó el P. Camorra;
no deben saber porque luego se meten a discutir con nosotros, y los indios no
deben discutir sino obedecer y pagar... no deben meterse a interpretar lo que
dicen las leyes ni los libros, ¡son tan sutiles y picapleitos!” (79)

The key idea of our analysis is that the maxim challenges the reader’s response, as it
happens in the paradox Padre Fernández devises for Isagani. It is tightly constructed

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 19

and substantial in meaning, but it would be empty without Isagani’s clever

understanding, which the readers know on account of Isagani’s smile and witty
elaboration of Padre Fernández’s words (cited above Fili 298). The astonished Padre
Fernández congratulates Isagani. If we readers have immersed ourselves in the story,
then we cannot read further unless we have engaged in the same smile together with
Isagani. Otherwise, we would have to re-read Padre Fernández’s words to be able to
respond to his statement.
The maxim requires readers to supplement its abstraction, to bring to it their particular
experience, including their experience and knowledge about the stories in the novels,
in such a way that the readers provide the context and test its generality.
The readers may practise the appropriation or the expansion of the maxims. In the
path of appropriation (and collection), the maxim becomes a vehicle of knowledge, of
religious dogma, or aesthetic principles, the laws of a community, as the example,
above mentioned, signals:
“This phrase of his made his fortune, and for a long time Ben Zayb had been
paraphrasing it and with him all of Manila; thinking Manila applauded it.”(Fili,
219) 16

However, with the expansion the sentences are subject to interrogation,

reinterpretation or replacement. The maxims appear free-standing, such as the
beginning of a chapter (XVII Basilio “Life is a dream”, a quotation from Calderón de la
Barca’s play), or as we have seen, enclosed in the text. In both situations the maxim
calls attention to itself, appears self-contained, knowing, yet tends to be defined in
opposition to a real or imaginary background of continuity.
At the same time, the conspiracy the text plots with the learned reader stirs a
delightful intrigue when the source is cited but incomplete or even when it is not
mentioned, then it suggests another layer of interpretation that requires readers to
bring the underlying texts forward.
The maxims of Rizal’s novels lend themselves to appropriation, and have also provided
a set of commonplaces. These are the commonplaces of that society created within
the novel, which enclose the novel’s doxa. These commonplaces have a structural
value; they are not decorative and their purpose is helping readers find their way
about the text. Notwithstanding, if the readers fully enjoy the text, such sentences
make excessive demands of them.
The most interesting cases are those resisting appropriation, those which are
speculative, experimental, fragmentary maxims whose characteristic is to go beyond,
those which begin to tell a story of its own. For this purpose, the quotations from
other authors are limited, as they are self-restrained in their own universe, though re-
interpretation is always available; whereas the newly coined, such as the example
regarding Capitan Tiago’s health condition, are speculative in their foundations. The
sententiousness in Rizal’s novels thus surpasses his model of La Bruyère and the other
Moralists.

16
Emphasis mine.

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 20

Rizal, as a writer/poet and a scientist, holds a “double vision” from metaphor to moral,
or indeed, scientific law; which made the novels so compelling. Rizal, being a keen
reader and learned person, was aware of the trends of thought of his times, about
sciences, culture and literature. Among his books we find those by Émile Zola, a French
writer, mostly known for his novels and theories about literature. Claude Bernard, the
physiologist, and his books were Zola’s source of the experimental method, and were
also a companion to Rizal17.
The author, Rizal, suggests to readers a dialogue, or better yet a debate, with the
society he narrates and makes alive in this novels, in the same manner his narrator
establishes a dialogue with both the characters and the readers. Sententiousness is
one of the strategies he uses to accomplish this purpose.
In both novels, there is a laborious processing of the data and the hypothesis which
the reality supplies, with the intention of dissolving it and escaping it. The maxims
serve this function, moving the readers to participate actively in solving the
speculations, the sententiae. The maxims challenge the reader response. Rizal aims at
making the readers to think, for the new hypothesis, interpretations, or maxims will
define a new moral.
And this is one of the great achievements of the novels, so I believe this is an
important reason why my former students enjoyed reading Rizal’s novels together
with other great works of literature, and why today, in the year 2011, on the
anniversary of Rizal, we are still enjoying this speculative game about his novels.

17
Our study of Rizal’s novels under their intertextuality with Zola’s conception of the writer’s task and
the novel provides a complementing view to this particular point.

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 21

i
A few examples of the sententiae in the novels:

• The chapter “All Saints’ Day” (Noli) interestingly starts with a paragraph worth comparing with La
Bruyére at best. We may regard it as an epigram because of its paradoxical qualities:
“Perhaps the only thing that, without dispute, distinguishes man from the animal, is the cult
which conquers those who have ceased to be. And strangely enough, this custom appears to be
more deeply rooted in nations which are less civilized.
Historians write that the old inhabitants of the Philippines venerated and deified their
ancestors. Today it is the other way around: it is the dead who must commend themselves to
the living.” (86)
“Lo único acaso que sin disputa distingue al hombre de los animales, es el culto que rinden a los
que dejaron de ser. Y ¡cosa extraña! esta costumbre aparece tanto más profudamente
arraigada cuanto menos civilizados son los pueblos.
Escriben los historiadores que los antiguos habitantes de Filipinias veneraban y deificaban a sus
antepasados; ahora sucede lo contrario: los muertos tienen que encomendarse a los vivos”
(55).

• Other example “Una reunión” (Noli), the narrator says:

“Generally speaking, we mortals are like tortoises: we are valued and classified according to our
shells, for this and for other qualities as well, the mortals of the Philippines are the same as
tortoises.” (3)
“[P]ues nosotros los mortales en general somos como las tortugas: valemos y nos clasifican por
nuestras conchas; por esto y otras cualidades más como tortugas son también los mortales de
Filipinas.” (2)

• A Tasio’s pensèe, which includes a quotation (Noli, chapter 14):

“I do not know, Madam, what God will do with me,” answered old man Tasio, “when I am dying
I will surrender myself to Him without fear. Let Him do with me howsoever He wishes. But a
thought comes to my mind.”
“And what thought is that?”
“If the Catholics are the only ones who can be saved, and of these only five per cent, as many
priests say; and since the Catholics form only a twentieth part of the earth’s population, if we
are to believe what statistics say; after having condemned thousands and thousands of men
who lived in the innumerable centuries before the coming of the Savior to this world, and after
the son of God has died for us, now only five out of every twelve hundred can be saved? Oh,
certainly not. I prefer to say and believe with Job: Why torment a wind-blown leaf, or pursue a
withered straw?” (106-107)

“- ¡Yo no sé, señora, lo que de mi hará Dios! respondió el viejo Tasio pensativo. Cuando esté
agonizando, me entregaré a El sin temor; haga de mí lo que quiera. Pero se me ocurre un
pensamiento.
- Y ¿qué pensamiento es ese?
- Si los únicos que pueden salvarse son los católicos, y de entre estos un cinco por ciento, como
dicen muchos curas, y formando los católicos una duodécima parte de la población de la tierra

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RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío. 22

si hemos de creer lo que dicen las estadísticas, resultaría que después de haberse condenado
millares de millares de hombres durante los innumerables siglos que transcurrieron antes que
el Salvador viniese al mundo, después que un hijo de Dios se ha muerto por nosotros, ahora
sólo conseguiría salvarse cinco por cada mil doscientos? ¡Oh ciertamente no! prefiero decir y
creer con Job: ¿Serás severo contra una hoja que vuela y perseguirás una arista seca?” (68)

22