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Noli Me
Tangere/Introductio
n
< Noli Me Tangere

The first half of Noli me Tangere was

written in Madrid, Spain from 1884-1885
while Dr. José P. Rizal was studying for
medicine.

While in Germany, Rizal wrote the second

half of Noli me Tangere from time-to-time
starting February 21, 1887. After he read
the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet
Beecher Stowe, he had an inspiration to
write his own novel with the same topic–to
expose Spanish colonial abuse in print.
Beecher Stowe's novel describes black
slavery abuse done by white men. Rizal
suggested to his fellow Filipino friends in
Europe, through writing, to have a meeting
and plan for writing a novel similar to that
of Beecher Stowe's. (At this moment, Rizal
planned not to write the novel himself, but
through collective efforts done by other
Filipinos who shared ideals with him.) In
1884, Rizal and his friends including the
Paterno brothers–Pedro, Maximo, and
Antonio; Graciano López-Jaena, Evaristo
Aguirre, Eduardo de Lete, Melecio
Figueroa, Valentín Ventura and Julio
Llorento; decided to meet at the Paternos'
house in Madrid. Each of them agreed to
write a unified novel. Suddenly, when the
writing began, most of them wanted to
change the topic from Spanish abuse to
somehow related to women. Rizal walked-
out of the hall and decided to write the
novel himself.

Title and printing

The title of Noli Me Tangere is not Spanish,
nor Tagalog, but Czech. Rizal, in his letter
to his friend and Czech scientist Ferdinand
Blumentritt, admitted that he obtained the
title from the Bible. Rizal took the passage
in John 20:17 where Jesus said to Mary
Magdalene "don't touch Me!" when she
recognizes him after his resurrection. The
passage, when translated in Czech, is
equivalent to noli me tangere.

At the time when the novel is ready for

printing, he ran out of fund. He contacted
his friend, Maximo Viola, who agreed to
lend him money for publishing. According
to accounts, Rizal is about to throw Noli
manuscripts to the fireplace when he
received Viola's telegram agreeing for
lending him.
Viola gave him an amount equal to three
hundred pesos as preliminary payment for
the first 2,000 copies of Noli. In 1887, the
first edition of Noli was published in Berlin,
Germany. To express his gratitude, he gave
the original manuscript plus the plume he
used to Viola. Rizal also signed the first
print and gave it to Viola with dedication.

Objectives
In another letter to Ferdinand Blumentritt,
Rizal described what he expects when the
novel will be in circulation. Finally, he
pointed out his primary objective:
 to defend Filipino people from foreign
accusations of foolishness and lack of
knowledge;
to show how the Filipino people lives
during Spanish colonial period and the
cries and woes of his countrymen
against abusive officials;
to discuss what religion and belief can
really do to everyday lives; and
to expose the cruelties, graft, and
corruption of the false government at
honestly show the wrongdoings of
Filipinos that led to further failure.

Social impact
Noli Me Tangere is considered to be
romantic but is more socio-historical
because of its nature. Most of the issues
discussed in Noli can still be seen today.

After publication, Noli me Tangere was

considered to be one of the instruments
that initiated Filipino nationalism leading
to the 1917 Philippine Revolution. The
novel did not only awaken sleeping Filipino
awareness, but also established the
grounds for aspiring to independence. Noli
was originally written in Spanish, so the
likelihood that Spanish authorities would
read it first was very high;which is what
Rizal wanted to happen. Copies of books
were redirected to churches, many were
destroyed, many anti-Noli writers came
into the picture. Catholic leaders in the
Philippines at the time regarded the book
as heretical, while Spanish colonial
authorities declared it as subversive and
against the government. Underground
copies were distributed, so Rizal decided
to increase the price, even the demand
was so low.

The impact also included the expulsion of

Rizal's clan in Calamba, Laguna.
Extradition cases were filed against him.
This led to his decision to write the sequel
of Noli Me Tangere, the El filibusterismo.
Unlike El Fili or Fili, as they called it, Noli
Me Tangere was more delicate and did not
invoke rebellion. as El Fili does. So to
ensure revolutionary ideas and patriotic
reaction, Rizal redefined his careful
concepts in Noli to aggression in El Fili.

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