Rizal Estudio 05

7/28/2019 Rizal Estudio 05

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La crtica espeluznanteque dirigido me has

ahora la tengo delantepronto la tendr detrs. 1

Juan Jos Caarte,La Solidaridad (May 15, 1889)

Jos Rizal (1861-1896) was an award-winning poet and the author o two important novels, but his works were not adequately received, in literary terms, in Spain. The historical circumstances and the critiques published towards the end o the nineteenth century were such that his oeuvre was not su ciently appreciated at the time, and have cast a shadow solong upon the works in question that it continues to condition

and hinder any literary analysis even now.

Jos Rizal traveled widely in his li e: physical travels that tookhim all over the worlds geographies, and intellectual and literary travels that took him along paths that he invented or himsel and others a terwards. Let us imagine ourselves in thecity o Manila in the year 1879, when Rizal, who had begun to

1 The horri c criticism | that you addressed to me | lies ahead o me now | and soon will be le t behind.

Beatr z l arez TardoDoctora en L teratura H spano-F l p na

El problem co lugar de Jos R zal dentro de la l teratura espaola Jos Rizals Di cult Position within Spanish Literature

La cr ca espeluznanteque d r g do me has

ahora la tengo delantepronto la tendr detrs.

Juan Jos Caarte,La Sol dar dad , 15 de mayo de 1889

Jos R zal (1861-1896) adems de un galardonado poeta, fueel autor de dos no elas de gran trascendenc a. Su obra, s nembargo, no ha obten do la adecuada recepc n en Espaa.Las c rcunstanc as h str cas y la percepc n de la cr ca denales del s glo xix, han actuado como una sombra que, des-de entonces, cond c ona y d culta su anl s s l terar o.

Jos R zal aj por muchos cam nos en su da: cam noss cos que lo lle aron por la geogra a del mundo, y cam -nos ntelectuales y l terar os que no e s an antes de que lm smo los emprend era. S tumonos en la c udad de Man laen 1879. R zal, que escr ba poesa desde su adolescenc a,estud aba en la un ers dad y se encontraba nmerso en unasoc edad colon al cuya da cultural y l terar a estaba cons-tre da por una Junta de Censura nombrada por el gob ernoy el arzob spo. Ese ao tu o lugar un concurso po co, or-


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write poems in his teens, was immersed in his university studiesand lived in a colonial city whose cultural and literary li e wassubject to the censorship imposed by aJunta de Censura or Board o Censors, the members o which were designated by

the Government and the Archbishop. That year a competitionwas organized by theLiceo Artstico y Literario de Manila that was divided into categories, depending on the authors origins, i.e. on the one hand there were the Spanish-born participants, and on the other, the naturales y mestizos , that is, the natives and persons o mixed race. Wenceslao E. Retana,2 the author o the most important o the biographieso Jos Rizals to have been published to date, explained it along these lines: thus, bearing in mind the Spanish colonial

criteria, it was considered undiplomatic to organize a solecompetition or colored people and whites, in case one o the ormer should de eat the latter. Jos Rizal participated in the rst category, and reshly turned 18 took the prize withhis poemA la juventud lipina (To the Filipino Youth). The poem was to have great repercussions.

Rizal, walking down the path o poetry, succeeded in creating metaphors that gave his thoughts shape; these are thevery metaphors that have, over time, become the essential elements o the Philippines social sel -perception, o her identi ying elements. Thus his poemA la juventud lipina ,so o ten quoted and whose meaning and sense are constantly under reconsideration. In this poem Rizal addresses a youththat he himsel represents, aware as o that moment and throughout his literary li e, o the importance o words and how they de ne thoughts and action, and this is precisely

what he transmitted in the work:

Vuela, genio grandioso,Y les in unde noble pensamiento,Que lance vigoroso,Ms rpido que el viento,Su mente virgen al glorioso asiento.

2 Retana, Wenceslao E.,Vida y escritos del Dr. Jos Rizal (Madrid: Sucesora de M. Minuesa de los Ros, 1907), pp. 30-33.

gan zado por el L ceo Ar s co y L terar o de Man la, que sed da en categoras segn la procedenc a de los autores.Es dec r, por un lado los espaoles pen nsulares, y por otro,los naturales y mes zos. Wenceslao E. Retana, autor de lab ogra a ms mportante de Jos R zal que hasta ahora se haescr to, lo e pl caba en estos trm nos: pues entonces, te-n endo en cuenta el cr ter o colon al espaol, cons derbase mpol co que acud esen a un m smo torneo morenosy blancos, ante la e entual dad de que alguno de aquellosderrotase a estos 1. S endo natural del pas, R zal se presen-t en la pr mera categora y, a los d ec ocho aos, obtu o elprem o con su obra: A la ju entud l p na, un poema quellegara a tener gran repercus n.

En su trayector a po ca, R zal cre metforas con las quedaba forma a su pensam ento, metforas que despus ha-bran de con er rse en componentes esenc ales del mag -nar o soc al e den tar o de F l p nas. As suced con el poe-ma A la ju entud l p na, hab tualmente c tado, y cuyos gn cado y sen do se encuentran en constante re s n. Enl R zal se d r ga a una ju entud que l m smo representa-ba, consc ente, desde muy temprano y a lo largo de toda su

obra, de cmo la palabra de ne el pensam ento y la acc n,una dea que, como se aprec a en los s gu entes ersos, ya setransm a en esta compos c n ju en l:

Vuela, gen o grand oso,y les nfunde noble pensam ento,que lance goroso,ms rp do que el ento,su mente rgen al glor oso as ento.

Baja con la luz gratade las artes y c enc as a la arena,Ju entud, y desatala pesada cadenaque tu gen o po co encadena 2.

1 Retana, Wenceslao E., V da y escr tos del Dr. Jos R zal , Madr d, Sucesora deM. M nuesa de los Ros, 1907, pp. 30-33.

2 Jos R zal,Poesas , Man la, Com s n Nac onal del Centenar o de Jos R zal,1961 (Escr tos de Jos R zal, ol. iii: Obras l terar as. L bro pr mero).


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Baja con la luz grataDe las artes y ciencias a la arena,Juventud, y desataLa pesada cadena

Que tu genio potico encadena.3

(In Charles Derbyshires translation:

Come now, thou genius grand, And bring down inspiration,With thy mighty hand, Swi ter than the winds violation, Raise the eager mind to higher station.

Come down with pleasing light O art and science to the ght,O youth, and there untieThe chains that heavy lie,Your spirit ree to blight.)

Within that colonial context, any literary project undertakenby a Filipino native would per orce be interpreted rom acolonialist vantage point and thus would be encumbered by ideological preconceptions ultimately resulting in ideological controversies.

Jos Rizal was also a very notable writer o prose as o a young age. In 1880, at the age o 19, he was awarded another literary prize or his pieceEl consejo de los dioses 4 (TheCouncil o the Gods). That year the Liceo had announced that

the competition would be special, since it was Cervantes whowas being commemorated, and it was decided that all o the participants would be included in one single category. Rizals piece was an allegory, a narrative along the lines o Greekmythology. InEl consejo , Juno, Venus and Minerva de end be ore Jupiter the literary merits o Homer, Virgil and Cervantes

3 Rizal, Jos,Poesas (Escritos de Jos Rizal, vol. III : Obras literarias. Libro primero) (Manila: Comisin Nacional del Centenario de Jos Rizal, 1961).

4 Published in 1893 inLa Solidaridad , V:102.

Tamb n en prosa Jos R zal destac desde muy jo en. En1880, con d ec nue e aos, obtu o otro prem o grac as a laobra El consejo de los d oses . Aquel ao el L ceo haba con-ocado un certamen espec al para celebrar el an ersar o

de la muerte de Cer antes, pero en esta ocas n no esta-blec categoras d ferenc adas segn la raza y el or gen delos autores, de manera que todas las obras entraron con- juntamente a concurso. R zal se present con una narrac nalegr ca que entroncaba con la trad c n m tolg ca gr ega.En El consejo de los d oses ene lugar un debate l terar o en-tre Juno, Venus y M ner a, y cada una de ende ante Jp -ter en este m smo orden a los escr tores Homero, V rg l o yCer antes. Jp ter toma la dec s n nal de alorar por guala los tres escr tores, otorgando a cada uno de ellos uno delos tres trofeos en juego: a Homero la trompa, a V rg l o lal ra y a Cer antes el lauro. En esta obra R zal demostrabaconocer la retr ca cls ca y sus cr ter os de alorac n de lal teratura y sus autores. Juno defenda a Homero por habercantado la grandeza de los d oses; Venus a V rg l o por habermodulado las quejas del amor (aunque anter ormente la a -rada Juno le haba acusado de ser un m tador del pr mero);

y segu damente M ner a defenda al de la an gua Hesper a,Cer antes, alabando su Qu jote de un modo que re ela un ju c o l terar o ms moderno y ms ajustado a la no ela. Laspalabras de M ner a sobre el Qu jote representan un ante -cedente de la teora sobre la no ela que el m smo R zal desa-rrollara e ntentara apl car a sus prop as obras: El Qu jote ,su parto grand oso, es el l go que cas ga y corr ge s n quederrame sangre, pero e c tando la r sa; es el nctar que en-c erra las rtudes de la amarga med c na, es la mano halge-a que gua enrg ca a las pas ones humanas 3.

Estas obras de un R zal escr tor nc p ente son ejemplo deun cam no que su autor con nu forjando en los aos s -gu entes, a tra s de pequeas p ezas en prosa, de obrasdram cas, de poesa y de ensayos. En 1886, al empo quese ded caba a traduc r al tagalo grandes obras como el Gu -

3 Publ cado en 1893 en La Sol dar dad , Madr d, ao v, n. 102.


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llermo Tell de Sch ller, comenz a escr b r su famosa no elaNoli me tangere , publ cada al ao s gu ente en Berln. Su se-gunda no ela, El l buster smo , cuyo argumento se desarro-lla como una con nuac n de la anter or, sal de la mprenta

de Gante en 1891. De esta segunda muy pocos ejemplaresllegaron a F l p nas pues fueron nterceptados por la censu-ra. A su regreso a las slas en jun o del ao s gu ente, 1892,R zal fue acusado de promo er la causa separa sta. Sus no-elas fueron u l zadas como e denc a en los cargos presen-tados contra l. R zal fue en ado al e l o en Dap tn, en lasla de M ndanao, donde los l mos cuatro aos de suda ded cado a proyectos c en cos y de mejora de da de

aquel pueblo. En aquel conte to sus proyectos l terar os ocu-paron un lugar secundar o.

El amb ente l terar o que R zal se haba encontrado en la Ma-n la de su ju entud haba fa orec do y reconoc do el poten-c al de su obra pr mer za. En aquellos aos del s glo xix lada ntelectual y cultural en Man la se haba sto mpulsada

por una mayor c rculac n de l bros, a pesar de la censura, locual haba perm do la creac n de mportantes b bl otecas

personales. Como ejemplo tenemos la b bl oteca del conoc -do abogado Jos Juan de Ycaza4, qu en el pr mero de abr l de1888 estampaba en Man la su sello en el l bro La Espaa del s glo xix . Este olumen reuna una colecc n de conferenc ash str cas que se haban celebrado durante el curso 1885-1886 en el Ateneo C en co, Ar s co y L terar o de Madr d.Tamb n guraban en su magn ca b bl oteca los Agr dulces

pol cos y l terar os de Anton o de Valbuena5, con su corres-pond ente e l br s de 1892. Estos l bros del abogado Ycazason una muestra del amb ente cultural y l terar o en el queaquella ntelectual dad l p na se mo a: por un lado, el Ate-neo de Madr d que representaba un conte to ab erto dondepoder escuchar y deba r deas nue as de d s nto s gno; y

4 Aparece con la gra a Y en su sello, aunque hoy es ms hab tual encon-trarlo escr to como Icaza. Nac en Man la en 1856, gran orador e ntelectuall beral, aos despus sera decano del Coleg o de Abogados de Man la.

5 Cr co que a eces rmaba como M guel de Escalada.

in that same order. Jupiter evaluates the three authors and decides that they are all three equal to each other, and giveseach one o them one o the three trophies in question: To Homer the horn, to Virgil the lyre and to Cervantes the laurels.

In this piece Rizal establishes his knowledge o classical Rhetoric and its criteria in the assessment o literature and her authors. Juno endorses Homer or having extolled the Gods;Venus supports Virgil or having modulated the complaintso love (despite having been previously accused by an irate Juno o having aped the rst), and then Minerva de endsthe man rom ancient Hesperia, Cervantes, praising hisDonQuixote in a manner revealing a more contemporary literary judgment, more attuned to the novel. Minervas words about Don Quixote are a precedent to Rizals own theories regarding the work which he would eventually develop and attempt toapply to his own novels. Don Quixote , his grandiose labor, isthe lash which punishes and corrects without bloodshed, but rather brings orth laughter; it is the nectar that contains thevirtues o bitter medicine, it is the magic hand that strongly guides human passions.

These works are o Rizal the youth ul writer, and serve as anexample o the path the author chose to ollow in the years that ollowed, this by means o minor essays and plays, poems and articles. In 1886, even as he was translating major works suchas SchillersWilliam Tell into Tagalog, he embarked upon hisamous novel Noli me tangere , which was to be published theollowing year in Berlin. His second novel,El libusterismo ,which is a continuation o the previous one, was published

in Ghent in 1891. Just a hand ul o copies were to arrive inthe Philippines, since the Board o Censors con scated theshipment. Upon his return to the Philippines the ollowing year, 1892, Rizal was accused o incitement to rebellion. Rizals novels were used as proo o his subversive activitiesduring his trial, a ter which he was exiled to Dapitan, on the Island o Mindanao, where he devoted the last our years o his li e to scienti c research, attempting to improve the living


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conditions o the islands population. In this context, hisliterary projects took second place to these other activities.

The literary scene o the Manila o Rizals youth had avored

and acknowledged the potential o his earliest works. During those years, towards the end o the nineteenth century, Manilas intellectual and cultural li e had been enhanced by a greater availability o books, despite the Board o Censors watch ul eye. This superior ease o access allowed or theestablishment o important private collections. By way o anexample we take the library o Jos Juan de Ycaza,5 a lawyer o renown, who on April 1, 1888 put his seal on his copy o LaEspaa del siglo xix (Nineteenth-Century Spain). This tomeassembled a collection o infuential con erences delivered in the 1885-86 season o theAteneo Cient co, Artstico yLiterario de Madrid (Arts, Science and Literature Associationo Madrid). His magni cent collection also included a copy o the work Agridulces polticos y literarios (Political and Literary Sweet-and-Sour Whimsies) by Antonio de Valbuena,6 also bearing their owners stamp and stating that the year o acquisition was 1892. These books in the Ycaza collection are

a token o the cultural and literary scene that well-educated Filipinos requented at the time: on the one hand, theAteneo de Madrid, representing a serious, more open intellectual setting where original ideas could be heard and debated; onthe other, the satirical criticism that was in vogue at the time,represented by Valbuena.

Putting together a collection o this quality was only possiblethanks to the e orts o the booksellers o that Manila o yore.These men contributed with their skills to the development o an intellectual and literary environment that made it possibleor many persons to access reading matter published outsideo the country, although or the most part originally rom Spain. Many homes, among them that o the Rizal amily in

5 Appears with the symbol Y on the seal, although today it is more requently represented as Icaza. Born in Manila in 1856, a speaker o renown and a liberal intellectual, he would eventually be designated Dean o the Bar Association o Manila.

6 Critic who sometimes signed as Miguel de Escalada.

por otro lado, la cr ca sa r ca tan de moda en aquella po-ca, representada en este caso por Valbuena.

No habra s do pos ble reun r esta e celente b bl oteca s n

contar con los l breros de Man la, cuya labor pos b l t elacceso de muchas personas a lecturas ar adas publ cadasfuera del pas, aunque en su mayora pro en entes de Espa-a, fa orec endo, as, el desarrollo del amb ente ntelectual.Muchos hogares, como el de la fam l a de R zal en Calamba, contaban con mportantes b bl otecas. Los l breros no actua-ban como meros ntermed ar os, s no que, grac as a su co-noc m ento de ed c ones y no edades, real zaban una laborque hoy en da podramos atr bu r a qu en se encarga de unab bl oteca o resea nue as lecturas.

As, en una carta de mayo de 1887 rem da desde Man la,Jos M. Cec l o aconsejaba a R zal que u l zase a los l brerospara hacer entrar en F l p nas su rec n publ cada no ela Noli me tangere . Cec l o propona que algn l brero desde Euro-pa, ya fuese Aleman a, donde estaba entonces R zal, o desdeEspaa d r ja una carta a D. Manuel Rodrguez Ar as, dueo

de la Agenc a Ed tor al; este Sr. sabe el teje y maneje de laAduana [para que] s n pasar a la censura lleguen [los ejem-plares a poder de los compradores] 6. Los l breros fueron, deeste modo, esenc ales a la hora de d str bu r la no ela grac asa su e per enc a para sortear la censura, al empo que comoersados lectores demostraron un nteresante ju c o l terar osobre la m sma. Jos M. Cec l o recoga en otra carta de jun odel m smo ao los comentar os de los l breros de la c udad,que comparaban el es lo de R zal con el de las no elas ru-sas 7. Qu zs lo ms pre s ble hub ese s do una alorac n enrelac n con otras no elas espaolas de la poca, s n embar-go, con este comentar o los l breros man leos demostrabansus ampl os conoc m entos de la l teratura ms rele ante deaquel momento. Desde ambas perspec as, sorteando la

6 Ep stolar o r zal no , Man la, Bureau of Pr n ng, 1930 (Documentos de la B -bl oteca nac onal de F l p nas, comp lados y publ cados bajo la d recc n de Teo-doro M. Kalaw), ol. i, p. 265.

7 Ep stolar o r zal no , c t., ol. i, p. 286.


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Calamba, kept valuable and sizable libraries. The booksellers,because o their standing, were aware o the recent arrivalsand details o the newly-arrived works. As such they werenot mere vendors but also served their patrons as advisors, per orming a quasi-curatorial task.

When in May 1887 Jos M. Cecilio, in Manila, wrote to Rizal about the best way to get his recently-published novel Nolime Tangere into the Philippines, his recommendation was todo it by way o the booksellers. Cecilio suggested that somebookseller in Europe, be it in Germany (where Rizal wasliving at the time) or Spain, address himsel by letter to Don Manuel Rodrguez Arias, owner o the Agencia Editorial, since, as Cecilio explained, the Gentleman in question isamiliar with the comings-and-goings in the Customs House[so that] bypassing the Censors [the copies may arrive in thehands o the buyers]. 7 The booksellers were central whenthe time came to distribute the novel precisely because they were adept at circumventing the Censors. At the same time,some expert readers evinced a sophisticated interest in thework, and the same Jos M. Cecilio wrote (in another letter

in June that same year), telling Rizal that the booksellers in Manila compared his style with that o Russian novelists.8 It is very interesting that Rizals work was compared with that o the Russians, because it might have been more likely that the comparison have involved Spanish contemporary novels. Nevertheless, this observation o the Manileo booksellersis proo o their pro ound knowledge o the literature o thetimes. So it was rom that double vantage point o bypassing the Board o Censors on the one hand and casting an expert judgment on the other that they contributed signi cantly toraising awareness o the importance o Noli me Tangere inthe Philippines.

7 Epistolario rizalino (Documentos de la Biblioteca nacional de Filipinas,compilados y publicados bajo la direccin de Teodoro M. Kalaw) (Manila, Bureauo Printing, 1930), Vol. I , p. 265.

8 Ibid. p. 286.

censura y em endo su ju c o e perto, contr buyeron s gn -ca amente a la d fus n del Noli me tangere en F l p nas.

Las am stades y compaeros de estud os, fundamentales

en el desarrollo personal de R zal como poeta, tamb n lofueron en el apoyo que rec b su pr mera no ela. Muchosle en aron cartas con sus mpres ones y comentar os. Lascomparac ones del Noli me tangere con el Qu jote de Cer-antes, que entonces cons tua la referenc a l terar a msalorada, fueron hab tuales. Algunas de estas am stadeshaban s do tamb n compaeros de poesa en sus aos deescuela. As, R zal le recordaba a su am go Fernando Canonlos empos en que este l mo escr ba y la op n n que elpadre Snchez, su profesor, tena de los escr tos de ambos.Segn aquel, R zal a entajaba a Canon en la natural dad delos ersos; s n embargo, su cond scpulo, reconoce R zal, te-na ms sen m ento, ms gusto y ms fantasa 8. FernandoCanon cuenta en su autob ogra a cmo, a su regreso a lasslas tras su matr mon o con Teres na Batlle en Barcelona, lle- con l y d str buy en Man la las pr meras cop as del Noli

me tangere . Uno de estos pr meros ejemplares se lo entreg

al abogado Jos Juan de Ycaza, a qu en en sus memor as ca-l ca de am go 9.

Paralelamente, el desarrollo de la prensa escr ta fa orec que tanto R zal como otros autores l p nos se ncl narancada ez ms por los gneros l terar os de po narra o yensays co. Esta l teratura per ods ca no ene fc l ub ca-c n dentro del modelo cls co de poesa, teatro y narra adeb do a dos caracters cas fundamentales: su nmed atezy bre edad, y su componente deolg co y propagands co.Por ello la recepc n l terar a de estos te tos fue muy escasay los estud os cr cos hasta ahora no se han ocupado ade-cuadamente de ellos. S n embargo, estos escr tos, d spersosen las publ cac ones per d cas, fueron fundamentales para

8 Carta fechada en G nebra el 13 de jun o de 1887, Ep stolar o r zal no , c t.,ol. I, p. 275.9 Agradecemos la gran ayuda de Teresa Canon, n eta de Fernando Canon, para

consultar la autob ogra a manuscr ta e nd ta de su abuelo.


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Other riends and ormer classmates o Rizals who had beeno essential importance or his growth as a poet, were just as essential in encouraging him on the completion o hisrst novel. Many wrote him letters with their impressionsand comments. Comparisons o theNoli me tangere withCervantes Don Quixote were requent, in view o Cervantes popularity. Some o his correspondents had also beenaspiring poets when in their teens. Thus, Rizal wrote to hisriend Fernando Canon, reminiscing about Canons writingsand the opinion their common tutor, Father Snchez, had o their respective works. According to Father Snchez, Rizal reminisced, he (Rizal) surpassed Canon in that hisverses were more natural, while his classmate, as Rizal acknowledged, had more eeling, more re nement and moreimagination. 9 Fernando Canon tells in his autobiography how, upon his return to the Philippines a ter his marriage toTeresa Batlle in Barcelona, he took with him the rst copies o Noli me tangere , which he distributed. One o these rst copieshe gave to the lawyer Juan de Ycaza, whom he describes inhis memoirs as a riend.10

Parallel to this, the burgeoning o journalism explains that Rizal and other Filipino authors slowly looked to other literary varieties, such as the narrative genre and essay-writing. Thismore journalistic literature is di cult to place within theclassical model that divides literature into poetry, plays and prose because o its two basic eatures: the texts by de nitionwill have been written or publication in a newspaper, and their ideological and propagandist nature. This explains thecold reception these texts received and why, so ar to date,students o literature have not paid due attention to thesewritings. However, it is a act that these texts, scattered as they were in the di erent publications o the day, were undamental or the construction o the prose o Rizal and o other Hispano-

Filipino authors. In the pages o the bi-monthly La Solidaridad

9 Letter dated Geneva, 13 June 1887,Epistolario rizalino , Vol. I, p. 275.10 Our heart- elt thanks are due to Teresa Canon, a granddaughter o Fernando

Canons, who allowed us to consult his manuscript and unpublished autobiography.

la con gurac n de la prosa de R zal y de otros autores de lal teratura h spano l p na. En las pg nas del qu ncenar o LaSol dar dad se publ caron no solamente los relatos de Anto-n o Luna, s no tamb n un arr esgado ensayo sobre la cond -c n de la mujer de Dom nador Gmez, as como numerososar culos y ensayos de Pangan ban, Lete y otros autores 10.Como e pl ca Romero Tobar en su H stor a de la l teratura es -

paola 11 , esta obra fragmentar a, de carcter reno ador, fueesenc al en la e oluc n de la prosa de la segunda m tad delsiglo xix. Muy en espec alLa Sol dar dad perm a estos au-tores l p nos par c par ac amente en la nno ac n de laprosa castellana. Aunque toda a con escaso reconoc m en-to, su aportac n fue mportante para Espaa y fundamentalpara la con gurac n de una l teratura h spano l p na. S nembargo, segn concluye Courtney Bla ne Johnson12 , las ca-racters cas del gnero, y mucho ms las a radas e racundasreacc ones que pro oc en la Pennsula la labor per ods cay l terar a de los componentes de La Sol dar dad , han lle adoa menosprec ar sus efectos y la repercus n que tu eron.

La cr ca espeluznante

Los ersos que encabezan este ensayo fueron publ cados enLa Sol dar dad en 1889, dentro de un ar culo tulado Losd neros del sacr stn de Juan Jos Caarte 13. Estaba escr tode acuerdo a la moda de ntercamb os sa r cos y burlescosque los escr tores y aprend ces del o c o se entrecruzabanen las muchas publ cac ones per d cas que abundaban en

10 l arez Tardo, Beatr z, La l teratura y el kraus smo en La Sol dar dad, Ma-n la, Un ers ty of the Ph l pp nes, 2004 (Tes s doctoral).11 Romero Tobar, Leonardo, H stor a de la L teratura Espaola, Madr d, EspasaCalpe, 1998.12 Johnson, Courtney Bla ne,(Re)wr ng the emp re: the Ph l pp nes and F l -

p nos n the H span c Cultural F eld, 1880-1898 , Aus n, Un ers ty of Te as atAus n, 2004 (Tes s doctoral), p. 242.13 Autor de or gen cubano que par c p ac amente durante el pr mer ao depubl cac n de La Sol dar dad . El ar culo c tado responde a una polm ca con elsemanar o La Defensa , de talante conser ador y ultracatl co, publ cado en el

pueblo de V llanue a y Geltr.


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not only were Antonio Lunas stories published, but also ahazardous essay on the condition o women by Dominador Gmez, and articles by Panganiban, essays by Lete and other authorss11 works that are ragmentary and re reshing, and asexplained by Romero Tobar in hisHistoria de la literaturaespaola 12 this was essential or the renewal o prose inthe second hal o the nineteenth century. It was especially in La Solidaridad that these Filipino authors actively participated in the changes taking place in Spanish prose. Although their contributions were only barely recognized,they were important or Spain and absolutely essential in thecon guration o a Hispano-Filipino literature. Apart rom theimportance o the act that it was ragmentary writing, the

irate reactions that the journalistic and literary exploits o La Solidaridad sparked in the mother land thanks to Rizal and his colleagues, encourage Courtney Blaine Johnson toconclude that the e ects and repercussions o their work havebeen underrated.13

The horrifc criticism

The stanza at the beginning o this essay was published inLa Solidaridad in 1889, in an article titled Los dineros delsacristn (The Sacristans Money) by Juan Jos Caarte.14 It was written in the style then ashionable: satirical exchangesbetween established authors and novice writers that were published in the many periodicals read in Spain at thetime. La Solidaridad was sco ed at by some periodicals

11 lvarez Tardo, B.,La literatura y el krausismo en La Solidaridad, Ph.D.dissertation (Manila: University o the Philippines, 2004).12 Romero Tobar, Leonardo,Historia de la literatura espaola (Madrid: EspasaCalpe, 1998).13 Blaine Johnson, Courtney,(Re)writing the empire: the Philippines and Filipinosin the Hispanic Cultural Field, 1880-1898 , Ph.D. dissertation (Austin: University o Texas at Austin, 2004), p. 242.14 Cuban-born author who actively contributed toLa Solidaridad in its rst year in print. The article in question is part o a heated exchange with the weekly LaDe ensa , a conservative and extremely Catholic publication in the city o Villanueva

y Geltr.

la Espaa de la poca. La Sol dar dad era objeto de burla porparte de otras publ cac ones y plumas, al empo que ellam sma n c aba d sputas l terar as e deolg cas con aquellos.

En esta forma pol zada de cr ca l terar a que se daba du-rante el l mo terc o del s glo xix en Espaa, el obje o pr -mord al era el despres g o del oponente med ante cualqu erpo de descal cac n. En su mayor parte mordaz y despro-sta del sen do anal co que ene hoy, responda a ncl na-

c ones personales y formaba parte del debate deolg co. Lapol zac n de la prensa era muy ele ada, ya que, segn Ir sZa ala, se u l zaba como arma de combate y med o e cazpara n u r en la op n n pbl ca 14 . Re stas, per d cos ypan etos de corte sa r co eran los estandartes de las d er-sas pos c ones en con cto. Como e pl ca Gonzalo Sobeja-no: los par dos rel g osos, pol cos y clas stas tenan sussucursales en la prensa y en los med os l terar os. La cr caestaba tamb n corromp da por el egosmo de los pequeosgrupos y sola func onar como el bombo de la orquesta. Enun mundo h persens ble a los capr chos de la op n n, con al-gunas l bertades de forma pero s n autn ca l bertad nac da

de prop o esfuerzo y madurada por largo ejerc c o, la prensaera taller de men ras consagrator as o nfamantes 15. Esteconte to fa orec una cr ca colon al sta cuyo obje o, an de e tar cualqu er perturbac n en el s stema culturalde la metrpol , era descal car la producc n l terar a y en-says ca de la ntelectual dad l p na. Sus obras rec b eronen Espaa cr cas sa r cas y corros as semejantes a las d -r g das a los autores espaoles, s n embargo, en su caso seagregaba un componente ofens o, puesto que los atacantespen nsulares a menudo se perm an e pres ones descarna-das e nsultantes contra los escr tores l p nos, por el hechode proceder de un terr tor o que el mag nar o espaol deentonces cons deraba el ms colon al de todas las colon as.

14 Za ala, Ir s, en Roman c smo y soc al stas , p. 44, c tada en Pedraza J mnez,Fel pe B., y M lagros Rodrguez Cceres,Manual de l teratura espaola , Berr o-zar (Na arra), Cnl t, 1983, ol. VI, p. 108.15 Sobejano, Gonzalo, Clarn y la crs s de la cr ca sa r ca, consultado en

B bl oteca V rtual M guel de Cer antes (www.cer antes rtual.com).


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and journalists, while at the same time itsel scorning other publications and launching tirades against other authors.

The politicized approach to literary criticism in vogue in thenal third o the nineteenth century gave precedence to thediscrediting o ones oe, no holds barred. For the most part this criticism was scathing and lacking in the analytical slant we pre er today; rather, it responded to personal inclinationsand was a part o the ideological debate. The Press was highly politicized, as Iris Zavala explains, since it was used as aweapon and as an e cient means o exerting an infuenceon public opinion. 15 Magazines, dailies and pamphlets,all o a satirical bent, were abundant and represented the

di ering, and opposing, positions. To paraphrase Gonzalo Sobejano: the religious parties, the political parties and theclassist parties all had their hangers-on in the press and in theliterary circles o the day. Critics were also degraded by thesel shness o the cliques and seemed to per orm as sole duty that o clapping when bid to do so. In a world so sensitive towhims and ancies, with some apparent traces o reedom but without any real liberty born o a true struggle and nurtured

or over time, the Press became a shop where lies werehammered out: sycophantic lies or libelous lies, but lies all thesame. 16 This context promoted a group o colonialist criticsaiming at discrediting the cultural and literary works o well- educated Filipinos. Spanish critics savaged the works o those Filipino authors; they were as corrosive and satirical vis--visthe Filipino authors as they were with Spanish ones. However,it is true that there was a urther ingredient that made thesecriticisms even more odious. The Spanish attackers sometimesallowed themselves unvarnished insulting expressionsagainst the Filipino authors because o the mere act that thelatter hailed rom the most colonial o all the colonies, in the Spanish mindset o the times.

15 Zavala, Iris,Romanticismo y socialistas , p. 44, as quoted by Pedraza Jimnez, Felipe B., and Milagros Rodrguez Cceres,Manual de literatura espaola (Berriozar (Navarra): Cnlit, 1983) Vol. VI, p. 108.16 Sobejano, Gonzalo, Clarn y la crisis de la crtica satrica, consulted in the

Virtual Library Miguel de Cervantes (www.cervantesvirtual.com).

Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan lbum Recuerdo de Manila ca. 1885, Fotos de E. M. BarrettoMinisterio de Cultura. Depositado en la Subdelegacin del Gobiernoen Gipuzkoa

Los te tos eran e am nados desde cr ter os que respondana un pensam ento de dom nac n colon al. Las publ cac onesde V cente Barrantes y Pablo Feced contr buyeron a al men-tar estas deas sobre la ncapac dad del pueblo l p no, yEm l a Pardo Bazn las recog y reforz ofrec ndoles suapoyo en la re sta El Nuevo Teatro Cr co 16. Las cons dera-c ones que entraban en juego a la hora de alorar una obra

l terar a se podran resum r del s gu ente modo: en pr merlugar, se cons deraba que un na o l p no no poda alcanzarla maestra necesar a como para produc r una obra l terar ade mr to en lengua espaola; adems, cualqu er te to quese escr b era en espaol era suscep ble de nterpretarsecomo un desa o a la hegemona cultural de un pr leg adogrupo soc al, el de los na os de Espaa. S un l p no era

16 En su tes s doctoral: Johnson, C. B.,(Re)wr ng the Emp re , c t., e pl ca las

relac ones entre los d scursos rac stas y colon al stas de estos tres autores.


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Any and all texts were scrutinized on the basis o criteriathat responded to a strategy o colonial domination. The publications o Vicente Barrantes and Pablo Feced contributed to elaborate on these theories regarding the Filipino peoplesshort alls, and Emilia Pardo Bazn collected and espoused them in the magazineEl Nuevo Teatro Crtico .17 The issuesto be taken into account upon assessing the value o a worko literature may well be summarized as ollows: rstly, it wasconsidered that a Filipino native could not have su cient command o the Spanish language so as to produce a worko literature o true merit, and whats more, any text dra ted in Spanish was at risk o being interpreted as a challenge tothe cultural hegemony o any and all things Spanish, since

the use o the Spanish language was deemed a privilege tobe enjoyed exclusively by the social group o the natives o Spain. Should a Filipino write and produce in Spanish, it wasunderstood that he had appropriated the language and was going to turn it into a vehicle whereby to express his ownwishes and desires. This possible cultural subjugation o thelanguage was the reason behind the ears o many o therepresentatives o the Spanish colonial Government.

The current use o the Spanish language in the world as alanguage o culture and literature is a act that we today consider as the bene cial result and positive ruit o centurieso colonialism; nevertheless, the appraisal at that point intime did not recognize the value or merit o works produced by the people o the Philippines, so that this literature in the Spanish language was regarded more as a threat than as aliterary work worthy o admiration.

Consequently it is o great interest to understand the literary criticism that resulted rom the reaction to Rizals novels.18 For the most part, these reviews were biased by all o thesecolonial ideological components that disdained all aesthetical

17 Johnson, C. B.,(Re)writing the Empire , op. cit., explains the relations betweenracist and colonialist relations in the works o these three authors.18 This article ocuses on Rizals novel Noli me tangere ; although we do not havethe space to study in detail the reactions to other authors works, it was very similar

to this.

capaz de escr b r y produc r en espaol esto mpl caba quehaba real zado un proceso de aprop ac n de la lengua quele ba a perm r transformarla en ehculo de sus prop osanhelos y deseos. El temor a esta conqu sta cultural de lalengua subyaca en la pol ca de los representantes del go-b erno colon al espaol.

El uso actual de la lengua espaola en el mundo como e-hculo de cultura es un hecho que hoy aloramos como unresultado bene c oso, como el fruto pos o de s glos decolon al smo. S n embargo, en aquel momento, la l teraturaproduc da en espaol por las gentes de F l p nas era cons -derada ms como una amenaza que como un fruto cultural

d gno de ser aprec ado.

Por este mo o es de gran nters estud ar la reacc n dela cr ca ante las no elas de R zal 17 , que, en su mayor parte,cons s en aprec ac ones sesgadas por todos estos com-ponentes deolg cos colon ales que desdeaban cualqu eralor est co o cual dad l terar a en su obra, reduc endo susconclus ones a alegatos pol cos y rel g osos.

Uno de los ejemplos ms e dentes de este po de cr ca fuela de V cente Barrantes, qu en se embarc en un campaapara despres g ar y contrarrestar los escr tos de R zal y otrosl p nos. En 1888 publ c cuatro ar culos sobre el Teatrotagalo en La Ilustrac n de Barcelona, que poster ormenteun cara en un l bro con el m smo tulo 18 . En el pr mero delos ar culos Barrantes concluye que no hay modo algunode dar en el embr n del teatro tagalo [] todos los escasoselementos c l zadores que han pod do acl matarse en erratan mo ed za y e ca, proceden del gran tronco espaoly lle an el sello caballeresco ms co de nuestra raza. Para

17 Este arculo se centra en la no ela Nol me tangere de R zal , pese a que lae tens n no perm te re sar con detalle las reacc ones que rec b eron las obrasde otros autores, sabemos que fue bastante semejante.18 Barrantes, V cente, El teatro tagalo , Madr d, T pogra a de Manuel G nsHernndez, 1890. Los ar culos fueron publ cados en los nmeros 359 al 362

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value or literary quality in the works, limiting their conclusionsto political and religious depictions.

One o the most telling examples o the kind o criticism that Rizal and his colleagues were subject to was that o Vicente Barrantes, who took upon himsel a campaign to discredit Rizal and other Filipino writers. In 1888 Barrantes published our articles on Tagalog Plays in the Barcelona weekly La

Ilustracin ; eventually, these our articles would be assembled into a single volume under that same title.19 Barrantesconcludes, in the rst o these articles, that: it is impossibleto arrive at the origin o Tagalog plays [] all o the ewcivilizing elements that have success ully acclimatized in this

exotic and restless land, all hail rom the grand Spanish stemand bear the mystical and chivalrous stamp o our race. Inhis nal episode, Barrantes concludes that in the Philippinesthere is, strictly speaking, no Spanish or Tagalog literature, not even Spanish or Tagalog plays. His statements are ocused on proving, always on the basis o his personal opinion, that the Philippines lacked both history and culture prior to Spainsarrival. Thus it was impossible that there be literature or plays

either. In 1890, inLa Espaa Moderna , en 1890, Barrantes persisted in his heated criticism o Rizal and Filipinos. In hiseyes, Filipino works are the result o the struggle that existsbetween their con used ideals, the result o their educationwhich is hostile to Spain and hostile to Catholicism, adding that in the Philippines there is no place or ideals, not even i they were to be hammered in. 20

Barrantes also published his review o RizalsNoli me Tangere in the publication La Espaa Moderna . He underscored a sentence rom the chapter titled Su Excelencia (His Excellency) in which the General says to Ibarra, themain character: You are the rst man I speak with in this

19 These articles were published in volumes 359 to 362. The book was published with the titleEl teatro tagalo in Madrid at the Tipogra a de Manuel G. Hernndez press in 1889.

20 La Espaa Moderna II:13 (January 1890), p. 175.

nal zar d c endo en su l ma entrega: No e ste prop a-mente en F l p nas l teratura espaola n tagala, n s qu erateatro espaol o teatro tagalo. Su alegato estaba ded cadoa probar, basndose en su op n n personal, que no haba nhistoria ni cultura en Filipinas antes de la llegada de los espa -oles; que no e s an n la l teratura n el teatro tagalos. Enla re sta La Espaa Moderna , en 1890, Barrantes con nucon sus encend das cr cas hac a R zal y otros autores. Ensu op n n, las obras de estos eran el resultado de la luchaque e ste entre sus nde n dos deales, h jos de su educa-c n hos l a Espaa y hos l al catol c smo, cuando, segnsus palabras, en F l p nas no caben deales n aun me dosa mazo19.

Tamb n en La Espaa Moderna publ cara su cr ca del Noli me tangere . En ella, Barrantes subrayaba una frase del ca-ptulo tulado Su E celenc a que el personaje del cap tngeneral d r ge al protagon sta, Ibarra, a qu en d ce: Es V. elpr mer hombre con qu en hablo en este pas! 20. Barrantese trapolaba esta frase del conte to narra o de la no elay la atr bua a su autor, a qu en recr m naba: N hombres

cons dera V. a sus pa sanos, Sr. R zal!. Su props to era des-pres g ar a R zal y pro ocar un con cto con sus compae-ros. En cuanto a las obser ac ones l terar as, Barrantes cr -caba por un lado que R zal h c era una fotogra a de lareal dad: En n, V. llega en su natural smo, en su conoc -m ento prc co del pas y de la gente, y en su amor, no d ra la erdad, porque en algunas cosas no estamos conformes,s no en su amor a la reproducc n fotogr ca de sus pro-p os pensam entos, a pes m smos y negruras que parecanreser adas al francs Zola, y, al m smo empo, ns s a enque todo lo que R zal descr ba en su no ela sobre F l p nasera falso. Barrantes acusaba a R zal de las contrad cc onesen las que l m smo ncurra. Adems, las a n dades tantofrancesas como alemanas del escr tor suponan una amena-

19 La Espaa Moderna , ao II, n. 13 (enero 1890), p. 175.20 R zal, Jos,Noli me tangere , C udad Quezn, R. Mar nez & Sons, 1958 (pr -

mera re mpres n en F l p nas de la ed c n prnc pe), p. 208.


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country! 21 Barrantes, extrapolating this sentence rom thenovels narrative context, attributed the opinion to the author,whom he reproached as ollows: You do not consider your own countrymen to be men, Mr. Rizal! His purpose was todiscredit Rizal and unleash a con rontation between himand his colleagues. As to the literary observations, Barranteson the one hand criticized Rizals photographing real li e:And nally, you, in your eagerness to achieve naturalism,and thanks to your practical amiliarity with the country and its people, and in your love, I will not say o the truth, sincewe are not agreed on everything, but in your love or the photographic reproduction o your own thoughts, and or the pessimism and bleakness that seemed to be reserved or the

Frenchman Zola But on the other hand, Barrantes insisted that everything Rizal described in his novel on the Philippineswas alse. Barrantes accused Rizal o contradicting himsel ,not seeing the straw in his own eye. In Barrantes view, Rizals a nity or French and German modes represented athreat to his traditional and conservative Spanishness, and this explains his saying to Rizal: Now listen here, you so- called novelist you, you heap o contradictions, you whose

wits were twisted backwards by a German education that tookno account o your digestive orces; i this is what you think o your countr ymen and riends i this be the glum level youassign to them 22

In an article Rizal published inLa Solidaridad in February 1890, he de ended himsel rom Barrantes in literary terms,bringing orth the teachings o Rhetoric and Poetics and insisting that the novel is mixed genre involving di erent characters and the same author. Rizal requested that hisnovel be judged without con using the literary analysiswith his personal opinions: I will be satis ed i I am told that my characters have no li e or personality o their own,i I am advised they do not act and talk according to their

21 Rizal, Jos,Noli me tangere (Ciudad Quezn: R. Martinez & Sons, 1958, rst reprint o the rst edition), p. 208.

22 La Espaa Moderna II:13 (January 1890), p. 179.

za para las pos c ones espaol stas, trad c onales y conser a-doras de Barrantes, y as term naba su d atr ba conm nandoR zal: Pero enga V. ac, no el sta de m s pecados, alma-cn de contrad cc ones, espr tu torc do por una educac nalemana que no tu o en cuenta sus fuerzas d ges as; s as p ensa V. de sus pa sanos y am gos, s n tan bajos de n ellos encuentra 21 .

En un ar culo publ cado en La Sol dar dad en febrero de1890, R zal se defenda de Barrantes en trm nos l terar os,recordando las enseanzas de la retr ca y la po ca, y sea-lando que la no ela es un gnero m to en que nter enend ersos personajes y el m smo autor. R zal e presaba el

deseo de que su no ela fuera juzgada s n mezclar el anl s sl terar o con las op n ones personales: [Y]o me contentarcon que me d gan s m s personajes no enen da y carcterprop os, s no obran y hablan segn sus c rcunstanc as y susd ferentes maneras de pensar, y que dejen aparte m s pro-p as con cc ones 22.

Otro ejemplo s ngular de las cr cas que rec b el Noli me

tangere fueron los pan etos de dos fra les agus nos. El pa-dre Jos Rodrguez publ c una ser e de ocho bajo la rbr -ca general de Cues ones de sumo nters , donde d sertabasobre el pel gro de leer los l bros que hub eran s do proh -b dos por la gles a catl ca23 . D str bu dos en F l p nas tantoen castellano como en d oma ndgena 24 tu eron un granefecto propagador de la no ela. El pr mero de ellos, tuladoPor qu no los he de leer? , es tamb n el ms conoc do porcontener algunas cr cas l pend osas. El padre Rodrguezdeca que R zal escr ba con los p es y que desconoca la

21 La Espaa Moderna , ao II, n. 13 (enero 1890), p. 179.22 Al E cmo. Sr. Don V cente Barrantes, enLa Sol dar dad , ao II, n. 25(1890).23 Rodrguez Fombella, Fr. Jos,Por qu no los he de leer? , Man la, Pequeamprenta del As lo de Hurfanos, 1888. Recog do en Pedro Pascual Mar nez,

Escr tores y ed tores en la Restaurac n canov sta 1875-1923 , Madr d, Ed c onesde la Torre, 1994 ( ol. II).24 Retana, W. E.,V da y escr tos del Dr. Jos R zal , c t., p. 513 (Nuestro T empo ,

1905).


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circumstances and di erent ways o thinking, as long as my own belie s and convictions are le t alone. 23

Another interesting example o the criticism garnered by Noli me Tangere were the ollowing pamphlets. Father Jos Rodrguez published a series o eight pamphlets under the general heading Cuestiones de sumo inters (Issues o the Utmost Interest), in which he addressed the issue o thedanger implicit in reading books orbidden by the CatholicChurch.24 These pamphlets were distributed in the Philippinesboth in Spanish and in the native language 25 and were a great advertisement or the novel. The rst pamphlet, titled Por qu no los he de leer? (Why should I not read them?)

is the best known o all, because it contains some insulting criticisms. Father Rodrguez accused Rizal o having writtenthe novel with his eet and that he was ignorant o Spanish grammar; these comments have been reproduced on multipleoccasions, generating questions regarding Rizals novels that have nothing to do with their literary and cultural context.

Father Salvador Font, according to John N. Schumacher,26

recommended that the book be banned in the Philippines. Father Fonts attempts to gag the author back red, and the pamphlet that he had published and distributed in the parishesand churches only served to increase the popularity o Nolime Tangere . While there were ew copies o the novel in itsoriginal printed ormat, there were widespread group reading sessions and there was an active oral transmission o the plot. Rizal, a ter having spent some months in the Philippines in1888, wrote to Mariano Ponce about this way o making hisnovel known: I do not eel sad or upset about people reading

23 Al Excmo. Sr. Don Vicente Barrantes inLa Solidaridad II:25 (1890).24 Rodrguez Fombella, Fr. Jos,Por qu no los he de leer? (Manila, Pequeaimprenta del Asilo de Hur anos, 1888). Included in Pascual Martnez, Pedro,Es-critores y editores en la Restauracin canovista 1875-1923 (Madrid: Ediciones dela Torre, 1994), Vol. II.25 Retana, W. E.Vida y escritos del Dr. Jos Rizal , p. 513 (Nuestro t iempo 1905).26 For a detailed historical explanation, please see the classic work by John N. Schumacher S.J.,The Propaganda Movement 1880-1895. The Creation o a FilipinoConsciousness (Manila. Ateneo de Manila University Press. 1997). Chapter 5 is

devoted to the analysis o Noli me tangere , pp. 83-104.

gram ca del espaol, comentar os que se han reproduc doy mul pl cado, trasformados en preguntas que ns sten encues onar las no elas de R zal a sladamente de su conte tol terar o y cultural.

A su ez, el padre Sal ador Font, segn cuenta John N. Schu-macher 25, recomend la proh b c n del l bro en F l p nas. Apesar de sus ntentos por s lenc ar la no ela, el pan eto quel m smo publ c e h zo c rcular por las gles as s r paraaumentar la d fus n del Noli me tangere y contr buyo a supopular zac n. La no ela, en su forma or g nal mpresa, c r-cul escasamente, pero las ers ones nsp radas en lecturasgrupales, as como en la transm s n oral de su argumento,

fueron abundan s mas. R zal, tras pasar ar os meses en F l -p nas durante el ao 1888, escr b a Mar ano Ponce prec sa-mente en relac n a esta forma de transm s n de su no ela:El que juzguen mal m obra despus de haberla ledo no melas ma n me pone tan tr ste porque lo ms que esto puededemostrar es que yo he escr to mal; pero el que lo juzguenmal y se hagan eco de otras ers ones s n haberla ledo med ce mucho, que muchos ladr llos son toda a barros y no se

puede constru r la casa26

.

La perspec a de R zal era la del escr tor a qu en le nteresaque su obra se lea. En otra carta tamb n d r g da a Ponce,e presaba su op n n sobre la cr ca del padre Font.

Este fragmento re eja la dea que pres da las teoras de R zalsobre la no ela:

M quer do am go:Tantas grac as por su amab l dad en ndome la cr caanal ca del bend to P. Font. Qu Padre y qu cr ca! Sel autor de una no ela tu ese que ser responsable de losd chos de sus personajes, santo D os, a qu conclus n

25 Para una e pl cac n h str ca detallada se puede er el cls co l bro del jesu ta Schumacher, John N., S.J.,The Propaganda Movement, 1880-1895. TheCrea on of a F l p no Consc ousness , Man la, Ateneo de Man la Un ers ty Press,1997. El captulo 5 est ded cado alNoli me tangere , pp. 83-104.26 Londres, 27 de jun o de 1888, enEp stolar o r zal no , c t., ol. II, p. 20.


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my work and criticizing it, because the only thing this provesis that I am a bad writer; but negative criticisms based onhearsay by people who have not read it is very revealing. It

tells me that many o the bricks are still made o un red clay and the house cannot be built as yet. 27

Rizals approach was that o the writer who is keen to havehis work read. In another letter, also addressed to Ponce, hereacted to Father Fonts criticism. The section that ollows is proo o the literary thoughts vis--vis Rizals novel:

My dear riend,

Many thanks or your thought ulness in sending me theanalytical review written by the blessed Fr. Font. What a priest and what a review! I the author o any novel were to be held responsible or everything his characters had to say, goodness gracious, what would become o us! Because i this is thesystem, why then, Fr. Dmasos opinions would be mine, thesecond lieutenants education would be mine, Captain Tiagosreligiousness would be mine. Fr. Font would do well to bring to mind a bit o the Rhetoric he learnt, when he was taught that the novel is a mixed genre in which the characters have

their say, as does the author. But o course, the author isonly responsible or the words he speaks as himsel , and theacts and the circumstances will explain what the characterssay, because otherwise it would all be claptrap, i di erent opinions were to be attributed to the author, such as those o his characters.28

Rizals novels were not well reviewed, in literary terms, upontheir publication. The critics were saturated by a Eurocentricand colonialist point o view and were obviously not precisein their analysis. In the twentieth century, and even now,these initial reactions and criticisms o the novels have beenweighty in all o the studies o Rizals works. It is possible that,because o their harshness, those words have been repeated once and again and quoted as an indication o the criticismreceived. This recurrence explains why, over a century

27 London, 27 June 1888, inEpistolario rizalino , Vol. II, p. 20.28 London, 18 August 1888, inEpistolario rizalino , Vol. II p. 45.

ramos a parar! Porque s gu endo este s stema las op n onesdel P. Dmaso seran mas, la educac n del alfrez ma, larel g os dad de cap tn T ago ma. El P. Font deba acordarsede un poco de Retr ca en que se d ce que no ela es ungnero m to en que hablan personajes ntroduc dos y

adems el autor: claro est que el autor solo es responsablede las palabras que l d ce como suyas, y los hechos y lasc rcunstanc as jus carn los d chos de los personajes, puesde lo contrar o sera un qu s-m qu s s se atr buyen al autorop n ones d ferentes como son las de sus personajes 27 .

Las no elas de R zal no alcanzaron reconoc m ento l terar oen el momento de su publ cac n. La cr ca que rec b eronestaba contam nada por una perspec a colon al sta y euro-cntr ca, con una e dente ausenc a de r gor en su anl s s.A lo largo del s glo pasado, e ncluso en la actual dad, estasreacc ones y cr cas pr meras han segu do pesando en todoslos estud os sobre su narra a. Probablemente deb do a suacr tud, aquellas palabras han s do repe das y c tadas unay otra ez. Esta repe c n ha ser do para que, ms de uns glo despus de su publ cac n, toda a se plantee el anl s sl terar o de las no elas de R zal a par r de la formulac n depreguntas semejantes a las que se hacan en el s glo xix, s n

tener en cuenta que los presupuestos a par r de los cualesestas preguntas se hicieron responden a una posicin colo -n al sta cargada de paternal smo haca la l teratura l p na.

La ala de un autor tamb n se juzgaba por la elecc n desus referentes l terar os. En el caso de R zal, como en el desus compaeros de La Sol dar dad , estos eran Caldern de laBarca y Larra, pero tamb n Sch ller y Zola. Estas a n dadeseuropeas pro ocaron la descal cac n y el rechazo de unaparte de la cr ca. La relac n de los escr tores l p nos conel amb ente ntelectual y l terar o europeo responda a su n-ters por la modern dad, un nters mayor que el que podrasusc tarles una trad c n espaola que, con ndependenc ade lo que escr b eran, les as gnaba una pos c n marg nal.Prec samente en este conte to y en relac n a las no elas

27 Londres, 18 de agosto de 1888, en Ep stolar o r zal no , c t., ol. ii, p. 45.


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a ter their publication, the literary analysis o Rizals novelscontinues now to be approached rom the vantage point o questions similar to those posed in the nineteenth century. Inother words, without taking into account that those questionswere grounded on a colonialist position reeking o disdaintowards Filipino literature.

The authors worth was also judged on the basis o hischosen literary predecessors and interlocutors. Rizal and hiscolleagues at La Solidaridad chose Caldern de la Barca and Larra, but also Schiller and Zola, and they were discredited and rejected precisely because o these European a nities.These authors sought relations with the European intellectual

and literary set because they were much more eager to attachthemselves to Modernity than to a Spanish tradition that, nomatter what they wrote, would corner them into a marginal position. It is within this context and with regards to Rizalsnovels that it is important to remember that the aestheticso the realistic novel had ound in Spain, and in France aswell, vocational enemies. Realism was a modern literary phenomenon that de ended reedom o the arts in the aceo canons, authorities and established conventions, and or this reason it was accused o ostering racial uprisings. JoanOleza, one o the major researchers in the eld o Realism,explained that the term realism was used as a Juggernaut to provoke hate o a new generation. 29 This sentence alsoserves to substantiate the way in which Filipino literature wascriticized, in this case against an entire colonial generationthat was suspect precisely because o its origins and itsmodernity.

Rizal himsel , in his ripostes, suggested important angles romwhence to analyze his work in literary terms. For instance, he pointed out the importance o adapting the ideas expressed

29 Oleza quotes Champfeury: G. y J. Lacambre (eds.),Champfeury. Su mirada yla de Baudelaire (Madrid: Visor, 1992), p. 22; in Oleza, Joan,El debate en torno ala undacin del realismo. Galds y la potica de la novela en los aos 70 , in theActas del V Congreso Internacional de Estudios Galdosianos (1992) (Las Palmas: Ediciones del Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria, 1995), pp. 257-277.

de R zal, es s gn ca o recordar que la est ca de la no elareal sta haba encontrado en Espaa enem stades ocac o-nales, como haba suced do tamb n en Franc a. El real smoera una est ca l terar a moderna que re nd caba la l ber-tad del arte frente a cnones, autor dades y con enc ones,y por ello fue acusada de alentar la nsurrecc n soc al. JoanOleza, gran estud oso de este gnero, e pl ca que el trm noreal sta fue u l zado como una mqu na de guerra parae c tar el od o contra una nue a generac n 28 . Esta frasepuede apl carse tamb n a los trm nos con los que la cr cacal caba la l teratura l p na, en este caso contra una gene-rac n colon al que era den grada por su or gen y su moder-n dad.

En sus respuestas el prop o R zal sug r mportantes aspec-tos para un anl s s de su obra en trm nos l terar os, as,por ejemplo, seal la mportanc a de la adecuac n de lasdeas e presadas por los personajes [] en atenc n a susc rcunstanc as, creenc as, hb tos, nstrucc n y pas ones 29.As m smo, es mportante sealar que, frente a aquella cr casa r ca y parc al, tamb n e s an en la Espaa de nales delsiglo xix otras oces, como la de Jos Mar nez Ru z, Azorn,que en 1893 man festaba la esperanza de que en la cr case llegase a un arte-c enc a, sus tuyendo los cr ter os retr -cos por los c en cos 30. S n embargo, estas nue as or enta-c ones no llegaran a empo para alorar la l teratura l p na.

Ya en el s glo xx, los estud os de lologa h spn ca real zaronuna re s n de la l teratura de la centur a anter or con cr -ter os reno ados. Los m smos que anter ormente se haban

abandonado al comentar o fc l y a la s ra, se transforma-ron en c en cos anal stas l terar os.

28 Oleza c ta a Champ eury (G. y J. Lacambre (eds.),Champ eury. Su m raday la de Baudela re , Madr d, V sor, 1992, p. 22); en Oleza, Joan, El debate entorno a la fundac n del real smo. Galds y la po ca de la no ela en los aos70, en Actas del V Congreso Internac onal de Estud os Galdos anos (1992), LasPalmas, ed c ones del Cab ldo Insular de Gran Canar a, 1995, pp. 257-277.29 Al E cmo. Sr. Don V cente Barrantes enLa Sol dar dad , ao II, n. 25(1890).30 Sobejano, Gonzalo, Clarn y la cr s s de la cr ca sa r ca, consultado enB bl oteca V rtual M guel de Cer antes (www.cer antes rtual.com).


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by the characters [] on the basis o their circumstances,values, way o li e, education and obsessions. 30 It is true that there were other voices to be heard in that n de sicle Spainin the ace o this satirical and one-sided criticism, such asthat o Jos Martnez Ruiz, Azorn, who in 1893 expressed hishope that in the eld o criticism we achieve an art-science,and success ully rhetorical criteria by scienti c ones. 31 Nevertheless, these new approaches were not attained in timeto attach importance to Filipino literature.

Come the twentieth century, Hispanic language and literaturestudies reassessed the literature o the previous century. Theapproach to criticism changed, and the same critics who

be ore had e ortlessly composed super cial and satirical comments without restraint became methodical researcherso literature.

The situation o Spanish-Filipino literature was comparable tothat o Spanish-American literature until then. The quality o Spanish-American literature, a ter decades o disregard, beganto be acknowledged upon its inclusion in university programs:this resulted in a broad and comprehensive reassessment o theliterature produced in previous centuries. Matas Barchino32 explains the change in the literary relations between Spainand America along these lines: In publications towards theend o the nineteenth century, Spanish-American literature was practically ignored, but things changed radically a ter 1898,when books written by the new generation were constantly reviewed by contemporary critics such as Unamuno, and when the representative works o these authors were included

in Spanish publications. Unamuno also contributed to thereconsideration o Rizal with his epilogue to the Filipinoauthors biography published by Wenceslao Retana in 1907,

30 Al Excmo. Sr. Don Vicente Barrantes inLa Solidaridad , II:25 (1890).31 Sobejano, Gonzalo, Clarn y la crisis de la crtica satrica, consulted in theVirtual Library Miguel de Cervantes (www.cervantesvirtual.com).32 Barchino, Matas,La literatura hispanoamericana de n de siglo en publica-ciones y revistas literarias espaolas in Cayuela Fernndez, Jos G. (ed.),Un siglode Espaa: Centenario 1898-1998 (Cuenca: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha and Universidad de La Habana, 1998), p. 665.

La s tuac n de la l teratura h spano l p na era comparable ala que hasta entonces haba e per mentado la l teratura h s-panoamer cana. Esta l ma, despus de haber s do menos-prec ada durante mucho empo, comenz a rec b r un justoreconoc m ento con su ncorporac n a los programas aca-dm cos de las un ers dades, lo que d o lugar a una ampl ay profunda re s n de su pasado. Ma as Barch no 31e pl caeste camb o en las relac ones l terar as entre Espaa y Am-r ca: De la mn ma atenc n que se ded ca a temas l terar osh spanoamer canos en las re stas de n de s glo, se pasa auna s tuac n contrar a, tras 1898, con la resea con nuadade los l bros que la nue a generac n a publ cando por par-te de cr cos coetneos como Unamuno y la publ cac n de

obra representa a de estos autores en las re stas espao-las. Unamuno contr buy tamb n a la re s n de la gurade R zal con su eplogo a la b ogra a publ cada por Wescen-lao Retana en 1907, V da y escr tos del Dr. Jos R zal , dondeanal zaba su ala como hombre de palabra y pensam ento,su es lo en cuanto al uso de la lengua espaola y su trayec-tor a como escr tor de no elas.

En abr l de 1909, en la re sta Nuestro T empo 32, Retana pu-bl c la pr mera parte de un estud o sobre el teatro en F l -p nas. Comenzaba el cr co lamentndose por la falta de b -bl ogra a y estud os adecuados sobre el tema, y menc onabalas dos n cas obras de consulta: El teatro tagalo 33 de V cen-te Barrantes y unos ar culos publ cados en La Ilustrac n F -l p na 34. En su cr ca, Retana pona en e denc a la falta deab l dad del te to de Barrantes tanto por sus fuentes comopor el ju c o que em a, y se preguntaba cmo era pos ble

que este hub ese llegado a tener tanto crd to como l teratoe n es gador. Con la desapar c n de este gran l p n sta,

31 Barch no, Ma as, La l teratura h spanoamer cana de n de s glo en publ -cac ones y re stas l terar as espaolas, en Cayuela Fernndez, Jos G. (ed.),Un s glo de Espaa: Centenar o 1898-1998 , Cuenca, Un ers dad de Cas lla-LaMancha y Un ers dad de La Habana, 1998, p. 665.32 Nuestro T empo , Madr d, ao IX, abr l de 1909, n. 124.33 Vase nota 18.34 Ser e de ar culos publ cados entre 1892 y 1893.


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Vida y escritos del Dr. Jos Rizal . This work analyzed thesigni cance o Jos Rizal: as a man true to his word and thoughts; his style and use o the Spanish language; and histrajectory as a writer o novels.

In April 1909, in the publicationNuestro tiempo ,33 the great Philippiniste Wenceslao Retana published the rst part o astudy o plays and the theater in the Philippines. The criticbegan his article with a comment on the lack o bibliography and studies, mentioning that there were only two works or consultation:El teatro tagalo 34 by Vicente Barrantes, and a hand ul o articles published inLa Ilustracin Filipina .35 Retanas criticism made clear the poor quality o Bar rantes

text (inso ar as it is unreliable in terms o the sources it re ersto and in the judgments themselves), and he wondered howit could have come to pass that Barrantes should have beenso success ul as a man o letters and as a researcher. It wasindeed in this very article that Retana mourned thestatusquo o the studies o Filipino literature or the stage. In1924, when Retana died, one o the strongest links connecting the literature and culture o Spain and the Philippinesdisappeared as well.

Gradually, the awareness o the importance o the cultural bonds o the past as well as o the certain infuence thewriters o both countries had on each other was lost. A ter the Philippine War o Independence, the Philippines ound itsel under U.S. rule and a robust social and cultural processwas launched that resulted in two parallel series o events,one linguistic, the other literary. They were the blossoming o

literature written in Spanish as a reaction to the new colonial imposition, and simultaneously, the act that new, English- schooled generations were beginning to write in this newlanguage. Although it is a act that the Philippines continued to seek to maintain literary relations with Spain, the distance

33 Nuestro Tiempo IX:124 (Madrid: April 1909).34 Please see ootnote 19.35 A series o articles published between 1892 and 1893.

Wenceslao Retana, en 1924, se des anec uno de los esla-bones fundamentales de las relac ones l terar as y culturalesentre Espaa y F l p nas.

Ferrocarril de Manila a Dagupan lbum Recuerdo de Manila ca. 1885, Fotos de E. M. BarrettoMinisterio de Cultura. Depositado en la Subdelegacin del Gobiernoen Gipuzkoa

Paula namente se fue perd endo la conc enc a de los lazosculturales que haban un do a espaoles y l p nos en el pa-

sado, as como el ascend ente entre escr tores e deas proce-dentes de uno y otro pas. Tras la guerra, durante el per odode gob erno estadoun dense, F l p nas sufr un fuerte pro-ceso de trans c n soc al y cultural en el que se d eron dosfenmenos l ngs cos y l terar os paralelos: el orec m entode la l teratura escr ta en espaol, como reacc n a la nue ampos c n colon al, y el nac m ento de una generac n edu-cada en ngls que empezara a u l zar esta lengua en sus


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escr tos. Desde F l p nas toda a se buscaba conser ar las re-lac ones l terar as con Espaa, pero tanto la d stanc a en k l-metros como en ntereses y preocupac ones fue alejandopoco a poco ambas or llas, tamb n en parte porque la d s-pos c n de Espaa no fue la equ alente.

En el momento de su publ cac n (1887 y 1891) las no elasde R zal fueron objeto de lecturas y cr cas deolog zadas.As sera tamb n durante el gob erno de Estados Un dos yms toda a tras la Segunda Guerra Mund al, cuando F l p -nas alcanz su ndependenc a y la ley sobre las no elas de R -zal (Republ c Act. n. 1425, ao 1956) obl g a su lectura entodas las escuelas. Esta ley, que las cons deraba un ejemplo

de nac onal smo, deolog zaba al m mo todas las nterpre-tac ones y otorgaba a las no elas de R zal un lugar pr leg a-do y hegemn co dentro la cultura l p na. M entras tanto, elresto de obras produc das en espaol ban pasando al ol do,con la e cepc n de algunos te tos de la re oluc n traduc -dos al ngls o al l p no. Esta trayector a ha conduc do a laprofus n de estud os h str cos y nac onal stas, tanto comoa la escasez de n es gac ones centradas en la l teratura deR zal y de otros autores h spano l p nos.

En la actual dad, desde el mb to europeo, y par cularmen-te desde Espaa, es necesar o plantearse el s lenc am entode las obras de Jos R zal y de la l teratura l p na escr ta enespaol. No es fc l entender por qu un escr tor y pensadorde la ala de R zal no ha merec do la atenc n de estud osose n es gadores, cuando su rele anc a como escr tor y pen-sador en F l p nas es nd scu ble, y an hoy s gue s endo la

gura ms destacada de la h stor a del pas.

Por otra parte, en algunas un ers dades de Estados Un dose sten reas acadm cas ded cadas a F l p nas, s n embargo,tampoco all se ha prestado atenc n a la l teratura h spanol p na, con la e cepc n de R zal, aunque su obra es anal -zada fundamentalmente desde un punto de sta h str co-pol co. En el mb to anglosajn, se le conoce sobre todo

in kilometers and in interest progressively broadened thedistance between the two shores. It is also important toacknowledge that the Spanish position was not reciprocal tothe Filipino one.

Although at the time o their respective publications (1887 and 1891), Rizals novels were subject to stringent criticism, they were continued to be read under U.S. rule in the Philippines. Indeed, a ter World War II, when the country achieved independence, legislation was enacted in 1956 (the Republic Act Number 1425), making it compulsory reading in school.This piece o legislation treated the novels as an example o nationalism, and all interpretations were ideological. And as

Rizals novels occupied this privileged and hegemonic spot in Filipino culture, other Spanish-language works were slowly orgotten, with the exception o some texts rom the Filipino

Revolution that had been translated into English or Tagalog.This trajectory has resulted in a pro usion o historical and nationalistic works and, consequently, in a dearth o studies o the works o Rizal and other Spanish-Filipinos rom a literary vantage point.

Cubierta del lbum Junta de Obras del Puerto , 17/128Biblioteca Nacional de Espaa, Madrid


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Currently, in Europe and more speci cally in Spain, theimportance o Jos Rizals works and Filipino literature in Spanish poses a question that is, to put it mildly, intriguing. It is not easy to understand why a writer and thinker as worthy as Rizal has not been the subject o research and study in Spain. However, the relevance o Jos Rizal as a writer and thinker in the Philippines is undisputed, since he continues tobe the countrys most relevant literary personality. Rizal is anessential gure, in terms o his writing and o his thoughts, or all o South East Asia.

Although in some universities in the U.S. there are academicareas devoted to the Philippines, it is a act that Spanish-

Filipino literature has not been much ocused on, with theexception o Rizal and his work. And even so, he is knownchiefy through his historical and political works. In the Anglo- Saxon sphere, Rizal the man and his novels are known and studied basically thanks to Benedict Anderson,36 who, in hisamous essay on nationalism, availed himsel o the beginning o the novel Noli me Tangere to explain the essential relationimplicit in the process o imagining a community that becomesa nation by means o its representation in written publications(the press and a novel).

In literary studies, the key to the analysis o the relevance or lack thereo o Rizals oeuvre and that o the rest o Spanish- Filipino literature lies in the standpoint rom which criteriaare ormulated and the theories used in its assessment. Filipino literature written in Spanish is assessed by bringing it ace to ace with the categories and criteria used in Spanish

peninsular literature, and by extension with Europeanliterature. Thus, one o the main di culties embedded inthe analysis o Rizals novels is that they do not adapt to thecanon, the de nitions o the categorizations emanating rom Europes artistic and literary history. This is why it is essential to carry out a process o theoretical reassessment similar to

36 Anderson, Benedict R. OGorman,Imagined Communities: refections on theorigin and spread o nationalism (London: Verso, 1983).

grac as a Bened ct Anderson35 que, en su famoso ensayo so-bre el nac onal smo, u l z el com enzo de la no ela Noli metangere para e pl car la relac n esenc al entre el proceso demag nar una comun dad que se transforma en nac n y larepresentac n de la m sma en los med os mpresos, comoson el per d co y la no ela.

En los estud os l terar os, la cla e del anl s s sobre la rele-anc a o rrele anc a de la obra de Jos R zal y del resto dela l teratura h spano l p na, res de en la perspec a desdela que se real ce. La l teratura l p na escr ta en espaol sealora enfrentndola a las categoras y los cr ter os u l zadospara la l teratura pen nsular y por e tens n europea.

Uno de los problemas pr nc pales a los que se enfrenta elanl s s l terar o de las no elas de R zal es su ub cac n den-tro del canon de la h stor a ar s ca y l terar a de Europa.S n embargo, el problema se resuel e s cons deramos surele anc a para el resto del sudeste as co, donde R zal esuna gura cla e, tanto por sus no elas como por su pensa-m ento. Por eso es necesar o real zar un proceso de re s nter ca s m lar al que se ha lle ado a cabo con la l teraturah spanoamer cana. En este sen do, como e pl ca GonzlezEche arra 36, debemos conte tual zar nuestro anl s s fuerade esa supuesta trad c n l terar a, y en relac n con otrosd scursos narra os que n c almente no son cons deradosformas l terar as y que, s n embargo, son ms les paracomprender su s gn cado y alcance. En el anl s s de la l -teratura h spanoamer cana podemos encontrar ntentos dee quetar a autores con mezclas del po natural sta real s-

ta o romn co real sta, cal ca os que tamb n se hanquer do apl car anamente a R zal y que s guen s n aportarresultados que ayuden a la comprens n de sus no elas. Algual que en la h spanoamer cana, en la l teratura h spanol p na la cues n de la s ngular dad y la leg m dad es fun-

35 Anderson, Bened ct, Imag ned Commun es: re ec ons on the or g n and spread of na onal sm , Londres, Verso, 1983.36 Gonzlez Eche arra, Roberto, Myth and Arch ve: A Theory of La n Amer canNarra ve , Cambr dge, Cambr dge Un ers ty Press, 1990 (Prlogo).


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the one involving Spanish-American literature. In this sense,as explained by Gonzlez Echevarra,37 this body o workmust be examined within an analytical context that does not necessarily lead us into its purported literary tradition, but that rather establishes a relationship with other narrativediscourses that initially are not considered to be literary orms and that are more use ul in helping us understand itsmeaning and scope. In the analysis o Spanish-Americanliterature we see attempts to provide authors with double- barreled handles such as Romantic realism and Naturalrealism . This brings to mind the vain attempts to classi y Rizal as a Romantic realist , attempts that now as be ore contributenothing to the understanding o his novels. Just as in the case

o Spanish-American literature, the issues o his singularity and his legitimacy also contribute to the undamental debatesurrounding Spanish-Filipino literature. This branch o theart has been relegated to the chapters on marginal texts as a direct result o a comparison rom extraneous positions,outside o the context and conditions o its production. Spanish-Filipino literature has been regarded as the result o cultures de ned as inconclusive or immature, an idea that

was the legacy o the ideological literary criticism o Rizalsnovels in the nineteenth century.

As time passed, the new generations o literary critics inthe Philippines ound language to be an important obstacle.This was due to the linguistic change the country underwent, passing rom Spanish to English, which made it very di cult to reassess and reread its literary genealogy, all written in Spanish. Literary interpretations o Spanish origin and o the period o North American colonization were legitimized, and continue to so be now. This does not make it easy to generatenew interpretations that o er new ways o analyzing thisliterature. In act, it is a urther obstacle to that end.

37 Gonzlez Echevarra, Roberto,Myth and Archive: A Theory o Latin AmericanNarrative (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), Prologue.

damental. Sus te tos se han cons derado marg nales comoresultado de una comparac n desde pos c ones forneas,e ternas al conte to y cond c ones de su producc n. Se encomo el resultado de culturas cal cadas de nconclusas onmaduras, dea heredada de la cr ca l terar a deolog zadaque se haca de las no elas de R zal en el s glo xix.

Para las nue as generac ones de cr cos, el camb o l ngs -co del espaol al ngls ha d cultado la re s n y relecturade su genealoga l terar a escr ta en castellano. Las aprec a-c ones l terar as de procedenc a h spn ca y del per odo decolon zac n estadoun dense fueron leg madas y lo s guens endo en gran med da en la actual dad, s tuac n que no

fac l ta, e ncluso mp de, que se generen nue as nterpreta-c ones que ofrezcan otras formas de anal zar esta l teratura.

Esta cr ca toda a debe l berar su mente de la cau dad 37 ala que fue some da por una s n de la l teratura centradaen obje os colon al stas. La alorac n l terar a de la obraescr ta de Jos R zal debe hacerse desde una nue a perspec-a, que l m smo ya apuntaba en su respuesta a Barrantes:

Cuando todos hayamos desaparec do y con nosotros nues-tro amor prop o, nuestras an dades y pas onc llas, entonceslos espaoles y los l p nos podrn juzgarla tranqu la e m-parc almente, s n entus asmos n rencores 38 .

S n embargo, la cr ca l terar a no ha respond do a la llama-da de la obra de Jos R zal, que, junto a la de otros autoresl p nos, s gue pend ente de una alorac n l terar a, aunqueen los l mos aos hayamos sto actuac ones que, poco a

poco, estn mejorando la s tuac n de la l teratura h spanol p na 39. Las no elas de R zal no han s do re sadas aten-

37 Alatas, Syed Husse n, The Cap e M nd and Crea e Deelopment,Interna onal Soc al Sc ence Journal , 36 (4) (1984), pp. 691-699.38 Al E cmo. Sr. Don V cente Barrantes, enLa Sol dar dad , ao II, n. 25(1890).39 Los estud os de Almar o, V rg l o S., R zal:Makata. Pambansang Alagad ng S n ng Para sa Pan kan y S R zal: Nobel sta. Pagbasa sa Nol at F l B langNobela , Mandaluyong, An l Publ sh ng, 2011 (ambos l bros); m ar culoR zals no els as l terature, presentado en la Conferenc a sobre R zal en la


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