Life and Works of Rizal (Chapter 8: EL FILIBUSTERISMO)

El Filibusterismo

·   is Jose Rizal's second novel written as the sequel of his Noli Me Tangere.

- Commonly nicknamed El Fili or simply Fili

- was written also in Spanish.

- commonly known English alternative title is The Reign of Greed.

October 1887 in Calamba

Rizal started writing El Filibusterismo in during his first homecoming.

Brussels

·   where distractions were less, and cost of living was cheaper.

March 29, 1891 in Biarritz

Rizal had finally completed it.

Jose Alejandrino

·   Rizal's roommate in Belgium related that he was the one who looked for a printing press for El Fili.

F. Meyer van Loo

Jose Alejandrino delivered proofs and revisions in Ghent

Valentin Ventura

·   "the savior of the Fili", Rizal's friend who partially financed the novel's publication.

47 whole pages

Rizal erased ·   from the 279-page manuscript to save expenses.

September 1891

- printed El Fili came off the press, turned out comprising only 38 chapters compared with the 64 of the Noli-contrary to his original plan to make a longer sequel.

1925

·   the Philippine government bought the El Fili manuscript from Ventura for a large sum of 10,000 pesos. It is now being kept in the National Library.

Filibusterismo

novel's title is derived from the simpler term filibustero.

Filibustero

·      contextually means subversive, dissident, revolutionary, seditious, insurrectionary, and treasonous.

a term used to describe individuals who engage in unauthorized military expeditions to foment political change, especially in relation to the Philippines.

3 Filipino patriotic priests (GomBurZa)

Don Mariano Gomez

Don Jose Burgos

Don Jacinto Zamora

17th (not 28th) of February, 1872

martyrdom

foreword of the Fili

·      was nonetheless addressed "To The Filipino People and Their Government."

Ferdinand Blumentritt

the original manuscript also included a "warning" and an "inscription" on the title page written by the author's friend

In the Noli

the author reveals the cruelty, and exploitation suffered by the natives at the hands of colonizers.

In El Fili

·      Rizal depicts a society at the brink of rebellion as the natives' minds have been awakened and revolutionary forces have been formed.

- It presents a gloomier depiction of the country under the Spanish regime. More radical and revolutionary, the novel has less idealism and romance than the Noli.

- It manifests Rizal's more mature and less hopeful attitude toward the socio-political situation in the country.

Blumentritt and Graciano Lopez Jaena

expressed that Fili was superior to Noli.

Permanent Commission of Censorship

recommended the absolute prohibition on the importation, reproduction, and circulation of the Noli.

Customs in Manila

destroyed the copies of fili, upon shipment to the Philippines

December 8, 1961

The original manuscripts of the Noli and Fili (along with that of the poem "Mi Ultimo Adios") were stolen from the National Library

Alejandro "Anding" Roces

personally met with the burglars and, after some various negotiations, had retrieved the documents without paying any single centavo

1896

Rizal was arrested, exiled to Dapitan, and ultimately executed

1956

·   the Philippine Congress passed the Rizal Law (Republic Act 1425) requiring all levels of Philippine schools to teach as part of the curriculum the hero's two novels.

2007

an English version of Noli Me Tangere was released to major Australian bookstores. It was published by Penguin Books Classics as part of the publication's commitment to publish the major literary classics of the world.