diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

omanticism" is accepted, however, which Rizal could have assimilated fromVictor Hugo and the other Romantic authors."' But others believe that,besides certain literary elements characteristic of the romantic novel. Rizal'scan be classified with the thematic novel introduced in Spain by Benito PerezGaldos.'3' Yet Rizal had not known the latter, although he must have read hisworks and, possibly, even met him at some time in such places as the Ateneode Madrid which the two frequented.'26 The Philippine national hero may nothave always agreed with the political views of the most famous nineteenthcenturySpanish novelist, because, among other reasons, the latter was editorfor some years of El Debate which defended non-progressive ideas for thePhilippines, especially in connection with the term of Governor Carlos Ma.de la Torre and the Cavite mutiny.Perez Galdos' first long novel, La Fontana de Oro (1870)—whose maincharacter curiously is named Clara--marked the start of the modem novel inSpain and its "historic" age. It was aimed "not to reconstruct descriptively thedistant past, but to interpret the recent past in a didactic manner in order todiscover the origins of the ideological, political, and social processesoperative in Spain at the time."I" It was followed by, to name a few, DonaPerfecta (1876), Gloria (1876-1877), and La Familia de LeOn Roch (1878),whose main motif centers around a religious problem. Later, in 1884, thisCanarian writer, sent to the press Tormenta, whose hero was a dissolutepriest, Pedro Polo Cortes, who seduces Amparo Sanchez Emperador, a namewriters understood to refer to Spain. But all the novels Perez Galdospublished in 1881-1885 were a sharp description of Spanish society: poor,empty, fildiy, void of ideals, dominated by hypocrisy, double-dealing,materialist, etc.If we put together some of the elements of some of these novels, we shallbe able to trace the influence, at least on the literary technique (there couldhave been others) used in the Noli. But in all the novels which Rizal'sresembles, Dona Perfecta "brings to life the influence on the surroundings,the region and the society of a religion inexorable with those who do not thinklike them and, what is worse, men who make use of a spiritual empire tosatisfy avaricious and petty interests from the top down, of interestsrepudiated by Jesus and His Church."' Isn't this precisely Noli me tangere?Already John N. Schumacher, S.J. has shown, although briefly, the surprising108