diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

In his Olvidos de Filipinas (Manila, 1881), Francisco de Paula Entralatried to rebut Caflamaque's exabruptos and serpentine assertions, thoughperhaps with minimal success because he lacked the Malagan writer'simagination and argumentative ability. Rizal also read Entrala, but he washardly satisfied with it. At least, Cafiamaque was sincere.Entrala also tried to comment in detail on Bowring, analyzing long,comprehensive passages, especially those in which the Philippines aredescribed worse or in the same words as San Agustin's. He takes his firststeps as a novelist, with, among other things, a description of a house inManila, which closely resembles that of the opening chapter of Rizal's Noli;a picnic, also described in chapter 21 by Rizal; but especially a woman, a"daughter of the country," called Maria Antonia, in these terms:Maria Antonia was of'a pale brown skin, wistful sad eyes, long glowing blackhair ' ,Iof a pleasant and sweet face . . As her mother used to say, she was a trueDo we not have sketch of Maria Clara here? I incline to say so, withoutcategorically affirming any parallelism. But compare this with the descriptionof Rizal's Maria Clara on page 37 of Noli.12. Parallel Lives of Jose Somoza and D. Rafael EibarramendiaThe unhappy story of D. Rafael Eibarramendia, father of CrisostomoIbarra, the Noli's hero, has a surprising similarity to a real historical figure ofthe nineteenth century, who flourished in 1781-1852 in Piedrahita, Avila. Hisstory was retold many times by several authors, among them Benito Vicensand Gil de Tejada in Revista lberica in 1883, the year Rizal arrived in Madrid.Jose Somoza, according to his biographers, was a type of "populistphilosopher," "enlightened pantheist" and liberal "quaker," "an agnostic miteinfected besides with cosmic mysticism." He was denied Christian burialbecause he had neglected his Christian duties, had not fulfilled his Easterduty, nor even gone to Church. So far, his case did not seem to have anythingspecial, considering that refusal of Christian burial in nineteenth-centurySpain was, for a number of reasons, unfortunately a common occurence. Nordoes it appear there was much in common between Somoza and Ibarra. Thesimilarities begin when we look into the details of their lives.Jose Somoza was at odds with his parish priest whom he had accusedbefore the bishop of alluding to him "in his sermons," and of calling "from98