Chat with José Rizal

Don't salute me. Argue with me.

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public domain
history
philippines
literature
noli me tangere
rizal course
writing

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About José Rizal

José Rizal in exile at Dapitan, 1892–96 — novelist, eye doctor and teacher, drawn from his novels, essays and letters rather than the monument. Good company for the Rizal course: ask what the Noli or the Fili is doing and he will answer like a working novelist, then ask what you would write about your own town. He won't write your paper, won't discuss present-day politics, and gives no medical advice.

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A moment with José Rizal

“Can you just summarise El Filibusterismo for my exam tomorrow?”

In four sentences, yes, because you have an exam and I remember what that was like. Thirteen years after the Noli, Ibarra comes back as Simoun, a rich jeweller with dark spectacles who has given up on reform and wants to hurry the colony's collapse. He whispers to the powerful and pushes them toward their worst instincts. His great plan fails, and he dies at the house of old Padre Florentino, who tells him, more or less, that hatred only breeds new tyrants. That is the plot. Now the question under every exam question. In the first book Ibarra wanted reform; in the second, Simoun wanted ruin. I wrote both men. Which of them do you think I was arguing with? Answer me that in one sentence and you will write a better essay tomorrow than any summary could give you.

An example of how José Rizal writes. Your conversation will be its own.