THE RIZAL LAW AND

THE PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE AND
SOCIETY
 INTRODUCTION
In the mid-1950s, nearly sixty years
after his execution and seventy years
after the publication of Noli Me Tangere,
Jose Rizal became the subject of a
political controversy that pitted the
Philippine state against the Roman
Catholic church over the issue of
including this national hero’s life and
works in the curricula of public and
private schools, colleges, and
universities. Heroes’ lives and works
were responsible for shaping the
national character.
 Republic Act No. 1425(1956, 2971-
72)

 Also called Rizal bill

 Piece of landmark of legislation that brought
literature and nationalism together
 Important example of the state ‘s effort to
use literature to foster national
consciousness among people and make
good citizens
 Ensemble of discourses and practices
constituting the field of literary education
 Accorded Rizal and his novels a central place
What is “Filipino” culture? How do we go
about preserving or reshaping it?

Answer offered by Rizal Bill:

Literature
It occupy a mediating position
between the “universal” ideals of
freedom and nationalism
Realization within a specifically
Philippine context
Connection between literature and
nationalism through the notion of
“excess”

Two presuppositions:
Capacity to literature to represent
history
Capacity of literature to intervene
history
Constitutive feature of nation
making
“excess” doesn’t refer to the
contradictions or ambivalences at
the heart of nationalist discourse
Has an important for literary
production
 The basis of political action
that aims transforming society

First – Relationship between

truth and action
second:- Social change
 Two Powerful Imperatives

The imperative to truth

The imperative to action

The relationship between real and
fictional, the historical and literary,
and the historical truth and fictional
truth
Contents of literary text
crystallizes literature the above
issues
Literature itself has been
historically deployed in various
ways
 Literary chronological order of
the book
Chapter one
Concept of literature that links the
“national(ist) literary text’s truth-telling
capacity to its political efficacy
Chapter two
Focuses on Rizal’s Noli me Tangere
Chapter three
Theorizing of the “foreign” provenance
of Filipino culture
Chapter four
Provides one such case study
involving the “alien Chinese”
Offers a historical elaboration and
theoretical critique of discursive
construction of the “Chinese”
Chapter five
Authorial discourse and the way it
theorize
Organizes the relationship between
the individual and society
Chapter six
Discusses an alternative formulation
in the discourse of the “ unfinished
revolution” by the used of The Cry
and the Dedication of Carlos
Bulosan’s unfinished novel.
Chapter seven
Concentrate on the underground
novel Hulagpos
Jose Rizal and the Invention
of a National Literature
Move in inventing a national
literature

Asserting difference, done

typically on the basis of a claim to
a distinct culture, history, and
identity.
 What moved Rizal to write the
third novel (Makamisa)?
First motive
 Write a novel in Tagalog
Second motive
 Write a novel in modern sense of word- an
artistic and literary novel
Third motive
 Write a novel that would deal “ exclusively
with the usages, virtues, and defects of the
Tagalogs”
Makamisa
 Thought of Rizal when he
abandoned Makamisa

Written in another time and

perhaps by writers other than
himself
WHERE are we
now?
HARD TO
IMAGINE
• In late 1950’s,began the
preparation for celebration of the
birth of Dr. Jose Rizal on June
19,1861.

• Dr. Jose Rizal is a highly gifted poet,

historian, scientist, journalist,
linguist, satirist, political activist and
above all novelist.
His novel, Noli Me Tangere (
published in Berlin, 1887) and El
Filibusterismo (published in
Ghent,1891) are the chefs d’oeuvre
of Philippine Literature and awaken
the Filipino Nationalism
As the climax of the centennial
celebration, a prize competition for
the best new translation.
• In the middle 1950’s , the hero had
become the center of a bitter
controversy
• Leon Ma. Guerrero (1915-82)-
stimulated by the competition to
undertake a new translation.
• Guerrero’s version was
systematically distorted
 TO SUMMARIZE THE KEY
ELEMENTS OF GUERRERO
TRANSLATION STRATEGIES
UNDER THE SEVEN RUBRICS
DEMODERNIZATION
 The characteristic of Rizal’s
bravura style
 Every such present was
systematically turned by Guerrero
into the past
 The effect of Guerrero’s alteration
EXCLUSION OF THE READER
 Rizal novel regularly turns and speaks
to the reader
EXCISION OF TAGALOG
 Rizal’s Spanish text is bejeweled with
Tagalog word and expression
 While Guerrero eliminate it in his
translation
 BOWDLERIZATION
 Guerrero bowdlerized many passages
which made him uncomfortable
DELOCALIZATION
 Guerrero eliminated as much as 80
percent of these still-recognizable place
names and stars
DE-EUROPEANIZATION
 Guerrero eliminated Latin and the barb
to naturalize them
ANACHRONISM
 Relate to the changing social-political
classification systems operating
 LEON MARIA
GUERRERO

Born on 1951, died

on 1982
Came from the large
middle-class, mestizo
Earn the title of
“ilustrado” over three
generation
 POSTSCRIPTS

• Guerrero mentioned with special

pride
• His success in rendering the
celebrated scene
• It is worth examining the curious
nature of his achievement.