José Rizal was 25 when he published his first novel and best-known work,
Noli me tangere, in Berlin in 1887. A foundational work of modern Filipino literature,
Nolihas been described as “the first Filipino novel” and, with its successor
El Filibusterismo(1891), “the most important literary works produced by a Filipino writer, animating Filipino consciousness to this day” (Mojares 140, 141).
Already active in Filipino political circles in Europe, where he had completed his study of ophthalmology, Rizal chose the novel as the literary form best suited to address the dual readership to whom he wished to expose the political, social and religious abuses of contemporary life in his native land. This comprised the small, educated Filipino elite at home, and a liberal audience in
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Citation: Ross, Ian Campbell. "Noli me tangere". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 September 2015 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35659, accessed 26 November 2024.]
