CHAPTER 8: Noli Me Tangere Published
in Berlin (1887)
Idea of Writing a Novel on the Philippines
His reading of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, which portrays the brutalities of
American slave-owners and the pathetic
condition of the unfortunate Negro slaves.
In a reunion of Filipinos in the Paterno
residence in Madrid on January 2, 1884, Rizal
proposed the writing of a novel about the
Philippines by a group of Filipinos. His proposal
was unanimously approved by those present,
among whom were the Pater- nos (Pedro,
Maximino, and Antonio), Graciano Lopez
Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre, Eduardo de Lete, Julio
Llorente, Melecio Figueroa, and Valentin
Ventura.
Inspired Dr. Rizal to prepare a novel that
would depict the miseries of his people under
the lash of Spanish tyrants. He was then a
student in the Central University of Madrid.
Unfortunately, Rizal's project did not
materialize. Those compatriots who were
expected to collaborate on the novel did not
write anything. The novel was designed to cover
all phases of Philippine life. However almost
everybody wanted to write.
THE OF WRITING THE NOLI
Toward the end of 1884, Rizal began writing the
novel in Madrid and finished about one-half of
it. When he went to Paris, in 1885, after
completing his studies in the Central University
of Madrid, he continued writing the novel,
finishing one-half of the second half. He
finished the last fourth of the novel in Germany.
He wrote the last few chapters of the Noli in
Wilhelmsfeld in April-June, 1886.
VIOLA SAVIOR OF NOLI
In the midst of his despondency and
misery, Rizal received a telegram from Dr.
Maximo Viola' who was coming to Berlin. This
friend of Rizal was a scion of a rich family of
San Miguel, Bulacan. When he arrived in Berlin
shortly before Christmas Day of 1887, he was
shocked to find Rizal living in poverty and
deplorably sickly due to lack of proper
nourishment.
Upon seeing his talented friend's
predicament, Viola, being loaded with ample
funds, gladly agreed to finance the printing cost
of the Noli. He also loaned Rizal some cash
money for living expenses. Thus, it came to pass
that Rizal and Viola happily celebrated the
Christmas of 1886 in Berlin with a sumptuous
feast.
After the Christmas season, Rizal put
the finishing touches on his novel. To save
printing expenses, he deleted certain passages in
his manuscript, including a whole
chapter-"Elias and Salome."
On February 21, 1887, the Noli was
finally finished and ready for printing. With
Viola, the savior of the Noli, Rizal went to
different printing shops in Berlin to survey the
cost of printing. After a few days of inquiries,
they finally found a printing shop Berliner
Buchdruckerei-Action- Gesellschaft which
charged the lowest rate, that is, 300 pesos for
2,000 copies of the novel.
RIZAL SUSPECTED AS FRENCH SPY
(during the printing of the Noli, a rare incident
happened to rizal)
One morning the chief of police Berlin
paid a sudden visit to Rizal's boarding house and
requested to see the latter's passport.
Unfortunately, Rizal could not produce a
passport, for he had none in those days it was
possible to travel without a passport. The police
chief then told him to secure a passport within
four days, otherwise he would be deported.
At the expiration of the four-day
ultimatum, Rizal presented himself at the office
of the German police chief, apologizing for his
failure to obtain a passport and politely asked
the latter why he was to be deported when he
had not committed any crime. The police chief
informed him that he had received intelligence
reports that he (Rizal) had made frequent visits
to the villages and little towns in the rural areas,
thereby arousing the German government's
suspicion that he was a French spy.
Rizal, in fluent German language,
explained to the police chief he was not a French
spy, but was a Filipino physician and scientist,
particularly an ethnologist. As an ethnologist, he
visited the rural areas of the countries he visited
to observe the customs and lifestyles of their
simple inhabitants. Favorably impressed with
Rizal's explanation and fascinated by his
mastery of the German language and personal
charisma, the police chief was satisfied and
allowed him to stay freely in Germany.
PRINTING THE NOLI FINISHED
On March 21, 1887, the Noli Me
Tangere came off the press. Rizal immediately
sent the first copies of the printed novel to his
intimate friends, including Blumentritt, Dr.
Antonio Ma. Regidor, G. Lopez Jaena,
Mariano Ponce, and Felix R. Hidalgo. In his
letter to Blumentritt.
On March 29, 1887, Rizal, in token of
his appreciation and gratitude, gave Viola the
galley proofs of the Noli carefully rolled around
the pen that he used in writing it and a
complimentary copy, with the following
inscription: "To my dear friend, Maximo Viola,
the first to read and appreciate my work-Jose
Rizal."
THE TITLE OF THE NOVEL
He title Noli Me Tangere is a Latin
phrase which means "Touch Me Not." It is not
originally conceived by Rizal, for he admitted
taking it from the Bible.
Rizal, writing to Felix R. Hidalgo in
French on March 5, 1887, said: "Noli Me
Tangere, words taken from the Gospel of Saint
Luke, signify "do not touch me." In citing the
Biblical source, Rizal made a mistake. It should
be the Gospel of St. John (Chapter 20, Verses 13
to 17).
THE AUTHOR'S DEDICATION
(Rizal dedicated his Noli Me Tangere to the
Philippines-"To My Fatherland." His
dedication runs as follows: Recorded in the
history of human sufferings is a cancer so
malignant a character that the least touch
irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains.
Thus, how many times, when in the midst of
modern civilizations, I have wished to call thee
before me, now to accompany me in memories,
now to compare thee with other countries, hath
thy dear image presented itself showing a social
cancer like to that other! Desiring thy welfare
which is our own, and seeking the best
treatment, I will do with thee what the ancients
did with their sick, exposing them on the steps
of the temple so that everyone who came to
invoke the Divinity might offer them a remedy.
And to this end, I will strive to reproduce thy
condition faithfully, without discriminations; I
will raise a part of the veil that covers the evil,
sacrificing to truth everything, even vanity itself,
since, as thy son I am conscious that I also suffer
from thy defects and weaknesses.
Synopsis of the "Noli"
The novel Noli Me Tangere contains 63
chapters and an epilogue. It begins with a
reception given by Capitan Tiago (Santiago de
los Santos) at his house in Calle Anloague (now
Juan Luna Street) on the last day of October.
This reception or dinner was given in honor of
Crisostomo Ibarra, a young and rich Filipino
who had just returned after seven years of study
in Europe. Ibarra was the only son of Don Rafael
Ibarra, friend of Capitan Tiago, and a fiance of
beautiful Maria Clara, supposed daughter of
Capitan Tiago.
THE "NOLI" BASED ON THE TRUTH
The Noli Me Tangere, unlike many
works of fictional literature, was a true story of
Philippine conditions during the last decades of
Spanish rule. The places, the characters, and the
situations really existed. "The facts I narrate
there," said Rizal, "are all true and have
happened; I can prove them."
The characters- Ibarra, Maria Clara,
Elias, Tasio, Capitan Tiago, Padre Damaso,
Padre Salvi, etc. were drawn by Rizal from
persons who actually existed during his times.
Maria Clara was Leonor Rivera, although in
real life she became unfaithful, unlike the
heroine of the novel, and married an
Englishman.
Ibarra and Elias represented Rizal himself.
Tasio the philosopher was his elder brother,
Paciano. Padre Salvi was identified by Rizalists
as Padre Antonio Piernavieja, the hated
Augustinian friar in Cavite who was killed by
the patriots during the Revolution.
Capitan Tiago was Capitan Hilario
Sunico of San Nicolas. Doña Victorina was
Doña Agustina Medel. The two brothers Basilio
and Crispin were the Crisostomo brothers of
Hagonoy. Padre Damaso was typical of a
domineering friar during the days of Rizal, who
was arrogant, immoral, and anti- Filipino.

RIZAL'S FRIENDS PRAISE THE NOLI

The friends of Rizal hailed the novel,
praising it in glowing colors. As to be expected,
Rizal's enemies condemned it. Rizal anticipated
the vitriolic attacks of his enemies, who were
sore to be told the truth of their evil ways. As he
told Blumentritt: "The government and the friars
will probably attack the work, refuting my
statements, but I trust in the God of Truth and in
the persons who have actually seen our
sufferings.”
Of the numerous congratulatory letters
received by Rizal from his friends about the
Noli, that from Blumentritt was significant.
"First of all," wrote Blumentritt,
" Accept my cordial congratulations for your
beautiful novel about customs which interests
me extraordinarily. Your work, as we Germans
say, has been written with the blood of the heart,
and so the heart also speaks. I continue reading
it with much interest, and I shall beg to ask you
now and then for an explanation when I find
words unknown to me; for instance, the word
filibustero must have certain meaning in the
Philippines that I do not find in the Spanish of
the Peninsulars nor in that of the Spanish
peoples of America."