Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal
Noli Me Tangere takes place towards the end of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. It deals with the corruption that had worked its way into the church and governing authorities over the centuries. The title, Latin for "touch me not," is a reference to the passage in the Gospel of John, where the resurrected Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to cling to him. It also refers to types of cancer sores that are very painful and irritated by touch, serving as a metaphor for the state of Philippine society that Rizal perceived.
Crisóstomo Ibarra returns from Europe after years of study, shortly after the death of his father. He plans to marry his childhood sweetheart, María Clara, and to open a school in his hometown. Crisóstomo is a hopeful idealist, believing that the Filipinos can improve their situation if given a proper education. But a friend warns him that he will make enemies by undertaking such a project, and in fact, he already has enemies. Soon past secrets emerge, and Crisóstomo must deal with unnamed forces working against him.
Together with its sequel, El Filibusterismo, Noli Me Tangere indirectly influenced Philippine revolutionary sentiment to such an extent that Rizal was exiled and subsequently executed by the Spanish government. Both novels were long banned in the Philippines, but today are required reading for students, with Rizal considered a national hero.
Considered the Philippines' national novel, Noli Me Tangere combines a sweeping love story with a fierce indictment of colonial rule, blending romance, satire, and tragedy into a portrait of a society straining against oppression. Rizal's vivid characters and pointed social commentary make the novel as compelling today as when it first ignited a movement, offering readers a powerful window into the roots of Philippine national identity.
The source for this public-domain ebook is Standard Ebooks (standardebooks.org). Ebooks from other sources often have typos, inconsistent spelling, missing accent marks, and missing punctuation. Ebooks from Standard Ebooks are proofread line by line against a scan of the original printed pages, then proofread again from cover to cover. They are also formatted and typeset following a professional-grade style manual, resulting in new editions supporting state-of-the-art ereader technology: automatic hyphenation, popup footnotes, complete and consistent metadata, high-resolution and scalable vector graphics, and ereader-compatible tables of contents. All of this makes the finished ebooks accurate, functional, and beautiful, a pleasure to read. (Waking Lion Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by Standard Ebooks.)