In the past I have enjoyed works by various French writers in English translations as well as the works by other nationals such as Karen Blixen. Having a Philippine girlfriend, I have been put on to Jose Rizal's "Noli me tangere" which is their national novel and the first of two books which ultimately led to the author being shot by a firing squad by the Spanish in the 1890s.
I am posting about this book in the hope that SA might be interested. I am about 60% through the Noli but felt compelled to post on line about this book as it is so fascinating. It concerns a European and enlightened Philipino who returns to his homeland from years living abroad to find that his father had been thrown in prison where he ultimately died . The first half of the book is a litany of the abuses by the Catholic church against the inhabitants and takes the form of a Romantic novel of that time but with the injustices of the system being subject to uncompromising scrutiny. The writing is effectively interspersed with chapters outlined the ordinary people's voices on the events of the preceeding chapters but there are parts of the books where the villain of the novel, Father Domasco, is aubject to biting satire worthy of "Have I got news for you."
The references to the Catholic church are difficult but I think if you have read anything of the history of this country,you will appreciate just how the novel fits into it's culture where the initial stirrings against the Spanish were very much from the educated middle classes who wanted to be in control of any changes to their country . If you like, the class to which the highly educated Jose Rizal belonged were concerned about the welfare of the poor but it was not really a socialist movement insofar that the milieu from which the likes of Aguinaldo evolve were educated and not poor. Had I not read up on PH history beforehand I think many of the comments Rizal makes would have passed me by. As it is, this novel chimes with the history books I have digested and I was wondering if anyone else had either read Rizal or knew of other writers from abroad whose work desrves to be better known in the UK. The Noli is a mixture of romantic fiction, political diatribe and scathing satire but with passages of exciting action and also the odd crocodile thrown in!
I am posting about this book in the hope that SA might be interested. I am about 60% through the Noli but felt compelled to post on line about this book as it is so fascinating. It concerns a European and enlightened Philipino who returns to his homeland from years living abroad to find that his father had been thrown in prison where he ultimately died . The first half of the book is a litany of the abuses by the Catholic church against the inhabitants and takes the form of a Romantic novel of that time but with the injustices of the system being subject to uncompromising scrutiny. The writing is effectively interspersed with chapters outlined the ordinary people's voices on the events of the preceeding chapters but there are parts of the books where the villain of the novel, Father Domasco, is aubject to biting satire worthy of "Have I got news for you."
The references to the Catholic church are difficult but I think if you have read anything of the history of this country,you will appreciate just how the novel fits into it's culture where the initial stirrings against the Spanish were very much from the educated middle classes who wanted to be in control of any changes to their country . If you like, the class to which the highly educated Jose Rizal belonged were concerned about the welfare of the poor but it was not really a socialist movement insofar that the milieu from which the likes of Aguinaldo evolve were educated and not poor. Had I not read up on PH history beforehand I think many of the comments Rizal makes would have passed me by. As it is, this novel chimes with the history books I have digested and I was wondering if anyone else had either read Rizal or knew of other writers from abroad whose work desrves to be better known in the UK. The Noli is a mixture of romantic fiction, political diatribe and scathing satire but with passages of exciting action and also the odd crocodile thrown in!
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