diced b Jos e S. Arc a, - non

WHEN AND HOW THE NOLI WAS WRITTENApparently, Jose Rizal seems to have decided to write theNoli because ofthe disappointing results of the press campaign he and his compatriots inMadrid had been waging for the rights of his fellow Filipinos. At first the planwas for a joint project in collaboration with his fellow Filipino students inMadrid. But because it was impossible or at least difficult to co-author abook, Rizal decided to write it himself, although he seems to have informedno one about his decision.He worked for about two years "day and night for a period of manymonths," as he himself asserts.2 We do not know the precise moment whenhe started to write, but we do know it was in 1884, when he was living inMadrid as a student of medicine and philosophy and letters, and that hefinished it in Germany. "half of the Noli," Rizal himself tells Pastells, "waswritten in Madrid; one fourth in Paris, and the other fourth in Germany.Witnesses: my countrymen who used to see me work."3The atmosphere in Germany, far from the tensions and the political andcultural conflicts of Madrid, helped him introduce revisions, nuances andtrim the original. It is very probable that Rizal worked during the summer of1884, a time when he would be free from his usual student chores. A littlelater, in November of the same year, a series of tragic events would take placein Madrid, which in our opinion, greatly influenced the writing of the novel,as I indicate elsewhere.'But what is, and what does the Noli. intend? Rizal himself provides acomplete and manifold answer to this question. He wrote an intimate friendNoli me tangere was. the story of the last ten years . .. I answer all the false concepts with whichthey have tried to humiliate us. I hope you will understand it rightly.'Noli me tangere is a satire and not an apologia. Yes, I have painted the socialwounds of "my country," There is in it "pessimism and blackness" . . . because I"see much infamy in my country; there the miserable equal the imbecile innumbers. I admit I have not tasted any bitter satisfaction in bringing to light suchshame and embarrassment, but in painting with the blood of my heart, I wanted tocorrect and save the rest."6But perhaps it is in the well-known letter to Felix Resurrecion Hidalgowritten on 5 March 1887, that Rizal best expresses the novel's aim:58Noli me tangere, words taken from Saint Luke, mean "do not touch me." Thebook contains; therefore, things about which none of us hays spoken until now;