Rizal's Novels as Literature

Title: RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE.

Author: Beatriz Álvarez Tardío.

<[email protected]>

Prepared for:

Sesquicentennial Conference

“Rizal in the 21st Century: Local and Global Perspectives”

University of the Philippines, Diliman

June 22-24, 2011.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to achieve a literary appreciation to the Noli and the Fili, in view of their literary context. Rizal’s two novels have been primarily studied through the looking glass of history, often neglecting them as literary works in their own right. This paper attempts to remedy this lacunae by two means: pointing to their narrative tradition and context; and the literary background of Rizal himself. It will provide the basis for a literary approach and evaluation of Rizal’s principal literary works. It focusses on the 17th century and the French Classicism, and will show how Rizal reads the Moralist writers of the French Classicism to find in them inspiration, materials, and influences for the style and structure of his novels. This appreciation will be guided by their intertextuality with the work of La Bruyère, Characters.

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Introduction: A genealogy.

National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin may have written a lot about José Rizal1, but in this paper, I would like to recapture his words on the novels in an article of his published in 19512:

“Forget all the solemn nonsense your school teachers and professional patriots have said about these books. Discover them for yourself. .. Read them for laughs and, I assure you, you’ll find them great fun.” (20)

1 José Rizal published in 1887 his first novel Noli me tangere, known as the Noli, and in 1891 the sequel

El Filibusterismo, known as the Fili.

2 Joaquin, Nick. “The novels of Rizal”, in The Philippines Quarterly. Vol. I No. 3 Dec. 1951, pages 17-20.

RIZAL’S NOVELS AS LITERATURE. Beatriz Álvarez Tardío.

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Whether we agree with Joaquin’s style to call for a reading of the novels as literature or not, the basis of his plea may still apply today.

About fifty years later, in the second semester of the school year 1998-1999, I started teaching a subject on European Literature entitled “The Literary Context of the Noli and the Fili”3 at the English Department of the Ateneo de Manila University.

For the students, reading the novels of Rizal alongside other literary works was a new experience. Rizal had read the chief authors of the Spanish Baroque, the French Classicism and the Enlightenment, the German Romantics, among other works, and this particular factor wrapped up the act of reading his novels in a cozy atmosphere that itself helped us to enjoy the novels.

Later on, I taught a very similar course as a comparative literature class at the University of the Philippines4. At first, students reacted to the idea of having to take quizzes about the Noli and the Fili, but were amazed at the kind of questions they had to answer. As we were discussing other authors and reading Rizal’s novels at the same time, the students discovered topics for a debate about the literary qualities of the novels from the details of the quizzes.

I would like to remember here the most enthusiastic among the students who, being already a senior citizen, enrolled in the class for the pleasure of reading Rizal without all the ideological coatings. It was thanks to the Jesuit scholar Father Miguel A. Bernad that he knew about the course for, he explained, Father Bernad had written a column: “Taking Rizal’s novels seriously5.” It is in their memory I would like to dedicate this lecture.

During this course, the students and I discovered for ourselves what Joaquin brought to the fore in that article, saying that “[his works] are first-rate comic novels – fast, funny and outrageous – novels,” and what Rizal did “has bite, . . . fun, and –most important of all - . . . audacity.” (17)

The most important observation in Joaquin’s article is his recognition of the artistry of the author, his management of storytelling, the astonishment at the unfolding of events, and the use of narrative techniques--all of which are elements of literature.

So, the first important step was to place the novels in a course about literature. In this way, the parameters of analysis were clearly those common to literature. The second relevant condition was to read the novels in the context of other literary works, hoping that in this way, all comparisons in our minds will tend to understand the novels within literary trends, writing styles, literary structures, artistic movements, etc.

Rizal as a writer did his preparations, read, and studied different sources to strengthen his ideas for the novels, to have materials and clay to give them shape, to draw his characters and stories, and to provide foundations for the characters. The literary context of both novels is mainly the European literature of his time and of an earlier time. 3 It was also offered in the 2nd semester 1999-2000, and in the following 2nd semester 2000-2001.

4 Department of English and Comparative Literature, CL134, 1st semester 2000-2001; 2nd semester

2001-2002.

5 The Philippine Star, Monday, June 19, 2000


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His works respond to the European tradition of the novel through a dialogue wherein the novels re-write that tradition, for Rizal was a writer with a theory about the novel, and he had mastered the strategies of the genre in order to make his own creation6. Thus Rizal revises and renovates that literary tradition.

During the courses, we documented our literary study of the novels searching through Rizal’s readings and quotations7. We read several works, as we did a parallel reading of Rizal’s novels, thus we could discuss, observe and notice crossing points – interesting elements to deepen our literary knowledge of the novels. Some of the course readings included Cervantes, Jean de La Bruyère, Jonathan Swift, Voltaire, Jean Paul, Schiller, Larra, Manzoni, Pushkin, Galdós, Balzac, Flaubert, and Zola. In this paper, we will focus on a less known theme, Jean de La Bruyére and his work Characters, the 17th century French Classicism, and the Moralist writers.

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“Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause

and its effect.”

“Of Opinions” (56) Jean de La Bruyère, Characters

The Characters of La Bruyère (1645-1696) is a masterpiece of social criticism in French literature in a period when it was unthinkable that a writer would engage in such criticism of the established order, the absolute rule of Louis XIV, portrayed as a figure of classical antiquity: he was Apollo, or the Sun King8.

La Bruyère together with Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, and La Fontaine is one of the writers known as the "Moralist Writers.” Their writing extended through a period known as French Classicism whose aesthetics “prescribed the conjoining of the useful with the pleasant”9.

Moralist writers studied 'morals' in the sense of customs and manners. Their aim was to analyze and portray the human condition and psychology in their most universal and timeless aspects. They applied Descartes' method: a 'geometric method' of discovering truth by progressive and rational deduction, to the area of human ethics, psychology and morals.

6 Currently, I am preparing a collection of essays where I discuss the outputs of my research of Rizal's

novels from a literary perspective. This paper is the first and still a work in progress, so comments and

suggestions are welcome.

7 I would like to thank the students who helped me with this documentation process.

8 References to La Bruyère Characters translated by Henri Van Laun with an introduction by Denys. C.

Potts (Oxford UP, 1963).

9 Hollier, Denis. (1989) A New History of French Literature. Harvard University Press. p. 327


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The Cartesian method and La Bruyère

Descartes, in his Discourse on Method (1637), had provided a sure key to knowledge after pushing doubt itself to the extreme. By 1660, Cartesianism had already captured the minds of most of Europe's advanced thinkers. By 1700, it had become general orthodoxy.

Cartesianism in the late 17th century comprised a method of reasoning from self-evident propositions on principles analogous to those of geometrical proof. It was also a philosophy which accepted the existence of God as the ordainer of a mechanistic, ordered universe and defined man as a blend of mechanical body and immortal soul, implanted at birth with certain basic notions (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2005).

Descartes’ view of man in Les Passions de l’âme (The Passions of the Soul, 1649) extends his mechanistic model to human behavior. Descartes proposes that the passions which assail us are not evil in themselves, only when they are excessive, and excess can be checked by human reason. The relationship between our passions and our reasons is part of the work of the writers in their dissection of human behavior.

La Bruyère anonymously published his work for the first time in Paris in 1688. The complete title is Les caractères, ou les moeurs de ce siècle, (or The Manners of the Age) containing:

1. Discours sur Théophraste (4th century B.C. Greek disciple of Aristotle)

2. Translation of the Greek portraits; and

3. La Bruyère's Characters, 420 original entries.

The addition of original entries in the following editions from 1689 to 1696 ended with a final form of 1,120 entries.

La Bruyère’s Characters is a collection of numbered entries divided into 16 chapters, each devoted to a different aspect of human existence. La Bruyère is the most Cartesian among the Moralists when classifying his observations under thematic rubrics: Man, Town, Court, Women, Personal Merit, Fashion, etc10. One of the principles of organization of the text is the Cartesian rule of proceeding from the simplest subjects to the most complex.

La Bruyère expanded the Moralist's field of inquiry to include the interactions among social, economic, and political institutions. He is more particular in his representation of specific characters who are often recognizable as contemporary individuals, and more insistent on the economic determinants behind the social appearances.

Traditional genres represented in his work include maxim, observation, portrait, dialogue, short moral (or philosophical essay), anecdote, epigram, and caricature among others.

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It is important to note that La Bruyère shows his dislike of preciosity and ornament, and he manifests

in his Characters an outspoken mistrust of women in general. In fact, in line with other writers of the

period such as Molière who was a misogynist, La Bruyère says that the ignorance of women is the result

of their natural idleness and weakness, thus contributing to the inequality between men and women.


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Taking Rizal’s novels seriously: Intertextuality.

To aid the process of studying Rizal’s novels, it is useful to draw their intertextualities, understanding this intertextuality when there is an act of interpretation of the source so that it becomes the origin of something new. This intertextual process was already an “explicit rewriting” and “a key dimension of the literary output” of the Moralists, as Hollier (330) explains about La Bruyère: “the book offered a compendium (…) many of which were obvious adaptations, amplifications, or retranscriptions of fragments from Descartes, Pascal and La Rochefoucauld.”

Beyond his period, it has been recognized how La Bruyère's technique of portrait had a lasting influence. It was incorporated into memoirs and the novel. Social types and characters have been traced back to La Bruyère, admired by Flaubert and Proust, his influence extending to William M. Thackeray in England, Manzoni in Italy, Larra in Spain, and, if we may add, Rizal in the Philippines. We will see the important elements that the study of the maxim in the novels of Rizal contributes towards a literary appreciation of his novels.

Descartes, La Bruyère and Rizal

The reading of a selection from La Bruyère’s Characters during my class on European Literature and the novels of Rizal struck the students and aroused interesting class debates. It was something new for them who were used to studies speaking about Rizal and Voltaire, or the Spanish writer of novels Pérez Galdós, but never heard about La Bruyère before. This choice, I must recognize, was done intentionally, precisely because I knew it was unexpected. During my research on Rizal readings, I have found an interesting list of French writers, aside from the well known philosophers Montesquieu, Rousseau, and the already mentioned Voltaire and La Bruyère; the list includes the following Moralists: Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636-1711), Jean de La Fontaine (1621-169511) and Antonie François Prévost d’Exiles (1697-1763).

Elements in the structure of Rizal’s novels

At first glance, the interesting element that called our attention was the similarities between the titles of the chapters of La Bruyère and Rizal’s novels. Obviously, this does not apply to all chapters since La Bruyère divides his entries under thematic categories: 16 titles, and there is no plot to follow in Characters. Whereas in Rizal’s novels, aside from the story being told, they are divided into chapters of different length: Noli, 64 chapters and Fili, 39. Nevertheless, it is worth looking at the similarities.

Here it follows a description of the chapter’s structure of La Bruyère’s work. The chapters are grouped according to their themes and the perspective from which they are approach:

I Of works of the mind.

La Bruyère discusses about the art of writing, and the contribution of the individual to society through artistic creativity.

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Cited in El Filibusterismo: “Lafontaine” in chapter XXV “Laughter and Tears”.


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1st part: Man as an active agent.

The first group of chapters deals with the work of the individual, each of the chapters devoted to specific aspects.

II Of personal merit It talks about the merit and talents which depend on the individual alone.

III Of women About women embellishment and the physical attraction between sexes.

IV Of the affections About love and friendship.

V Of society and of conversation

On how the individual establishes superficial presence in the world.

2nd part: The outside forces.

A second group describes the situations weighting upon man.

VI Of the gifts of fortune It talks about wealth.

VII Of the town It deals with environmental conditions.

VIII Of the court It also discusses environmental conditions.

IX Of the great About social hierarchy.

X Of the sovereign and the state About social hierarchy.

3rd part: On Man

XI Of mankind

La Bruyère returns to the individual, but on the general analysis of enduring and lasting aspects of human nature and condition.

4th part: Inconstancy and arbitrariness

This group discusses man’s opinions, feelings, tastes, and affections that shape the evolution of civilization:

XII Of opinions

XIII Of fashion

XIV Of certain customs

XV Of the pulpit.


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5th part: On human intelligence.

The last chapter: XVI Of free-thinkers, deals with the weakness and strength of human intelligence.

A comparative analysis of Rizal´s novels and La Bruyère’s Characters provides a new and interesting perspective. The general conclusion of this comparison is that Rizal’s novels follow a pattern similar to that of Characters. The works belong to quite dissimilar literary genres, and different historical and artistic periods. Despite these differences the pattern of Cartesian method which informs the work of La Bruyère is also present in the Noli and Fili. There are certain parallelisms which we attempt to explain here. In general terms, we observed that both novels start out with individual characters then proceed to a broader picture of how these characters move within society. It is possible to draw a map where to point to the similarities with the organization of La Bruyère’s Characters.

CHARACTERS NOLI FILI

Man as an active agent.

II Of personal merit

III Of women

IV Of the affections

V Of society and of conversation

A Gathering

Crisostomo Ibarra

The Dinner

A Heretic and Subversive

A Star in the Dark Night

Capitan Tiago

Idyll in an Azotea

Memories

On Deck

Below Deck

Legends

Cabesang Tales

A Cochero’s Christmas Eve

Basilio

Simoun

Merry Christmas

The topic related to the behavior of people living in the town is comparable to “The Town” in Noli

12. La Bruyère inquires into the need of the individual to belong to a group and the meaning of public rituals, a theme abounding in Rizal’s novels. La Bruyère’s rubric X “Of the sovereign and the state” is comparable to chapter 11, “The Sovereigns: Divide and Rule”, and to “Los Baños” in the Fili.


The outside forces.

VI Of the gifts of fortune

VII Of the town

VIII Of the court

IX Of the great

X Of the sovereign and the state

Some Country Matters

The Town

The Sovereigns

Pilates

Wealth and Misery

Los Baños

Plácido Penitente

A Class in Physics

Student´s Lodging House

Señor Pasta

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We use the translation of the novels into English by Ma. Soledad Lacson-Locsin published by

Bookmark 1996 and 1997 unless otherwise indicated. For the original text in Spanish we use for both

novels: “Primera reimpresión en Filipinas al (Off-Set Printing) de la edición príncipe”, R. Martinez & Sons,

Quezon city, 1958.


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The chapter “All Saints’ Day” talks about the relation of the living and the dead ones, and death is an issue discussed by La Bruyère on the general frame of “mankind”.


Man

XI Of mankind

All Saints’ Day

A Gathering Storm

Tasio

The Altar Boys

Sisa

Basilio

Souls in Anguish

The Travails of a Schoolmaster

The Meeting in the Townhall

A Mother’s Story

There is not a chapter which can fit here.

In the case of the Noli, the process in developing themes is easier to draw because the chapter titles can be directly related to those of La Bruyere’s Characters, particularly chapters 31 to 34 have specific correlation to La Bruyère’s: In the Church, The Sermon and Free Thinker.


Inconstancy and arbitrariness

XII Of opinions

XIII Of fashion

XIV Of certain customs

XV Of the pulpit

Lights and Shadow

The Fishing Excursion

In the Woods

Elias and Salome

In the Philosopher’s Home

Eve of the Fiesta

At Nightfall

Letters

The Morning

The Church

The Sermon

The Hoist

Tribulations of a Chinaman

The Quiapo Fair

Deceptions

The Fuse

The Ponente

Manila Characters

The Performance

A Corpse

Dreams

Laughter and Tears

Pasquinades

The Friar and the Filipino

Panic

Last words about Capitan Tiago

Juli

The High Official

Consequences of the Posters

The Final Argument

The Wedding

The Fiesta

The Predicaments of Ben Zayb

Mystery

A Trick of Fate


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La Bruyère’s chapter “Of the Pulpit” can be compared to “The Sermon”. La Bruyère criticizes how the sermons have become nothing more than a show. In the Noli the sermon is actually a show where people praise the use of gestures and voice modulation.


Weakness and strength of

human intelligence

XVI Of free-thinkers

Free Thinker

Final Chapter

This chapter “Of Free-thinkers” by La Bruyère compares to that of the same name in the Noli “Free Thinker” and the “Final chapter” of the Fili.

Freethought

La Bruyère speaks of a freethinker as a person who “either has no religion at all, or creates one for himself” (298); talks about being a freethinker as a matter of fashion (299); and discusses two sorts of freethinkers: “those who are really so, or at least believe themselves so, and hypocrites or pretended pious people, who are unwilling to be thought free-thinkers, the latter are the best.” (305).

Even though the concepts regarding how a freethinker thinks or acts differ in the works of Rizal and La Bruyère, the latter, after having stated clearly that “there is a God”, concludes at the end of his book:

“I cannot more clearly infer that because I think, I am a spirit, than conclude from what I do or do not, according as I please, that I am free. Now freedom implies the power of choosing, or, in other words, a voluntary determination for good or evil, so that virtue or vice consists in the doing a good or a bad action. If vice were to remain absolutely unpunished, it would be a real injustice, but for vice to remain unpunished on earth is merely a mystery.” (Characters 319-320)

An opinion which can be traced to the words of some of Rizal’s characters (i.e., Elías and Simoun), and the witty final sentence, which stirs the paradox, is a good example of the artistry of La Bruyère, his rich vocabulary and his conciseness. La Bruyère follows the Cartesian principles in making his propositions. He aims at making man reasonable.

In the chapter of the Noli, “Free Thinker”, Elías nevertheless believes in God though he rejects human authority:

“Ibarra thought [Elías] denied the existence of human justice; he refused to recognize man’s right to judge his peers; he was protesting against force and the superiority of certain classes over others.” (300-301)

Still in the chapter “Free-Thinker”, the following could very well have been an entry in La Bruyère Characters when Elias says:


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“You have enemies in the higher as well as in the lower spheres,” […] “You contemplate putting up a vast enterprise, and you have a past behind you; your father, your grandfather had enemies, because they had passions, and in life it is not the criminals who arouse the hatred of others, but the men who are honest.” (298)

Elías’ discourse is an example of Descartes’ philosophy: “Contradiction and lack of foresight in the Intelligence which controls the world’s machinery signifies two great imperfections” (Noli, 300). Because of the Cartesianism in Elías’ words he is considered a freethinker. In 1663 the Roman Catholic Church placed Descartes' works on the Index of Forbidden Books, and the University of Oxford forbade the teaching of his doctrines. (Britannica, 2005 ).

Free thought appears again in the Fili in the mouth of Isagani. He has been summoned by Padre Fernandez to his cell after he had heard Isagani perorate to the students in the previous chapter. Padre Fernandez questions Isagani regarding those students who accuse the friars but do not have “the boldness to back his accusations”. Isagani answers:

“The fault is not all theirs, Padre (…) The fault is in those who taught them to be hypocrites; in those who tyrannize freedom of thought, freedom of speech.” (298)

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“La culpa no es toda de ellos, Padre, contestó Isagani; la culpa está en los que les han enseñado a ser hipócritas, en los que tiranizan el pensamiento libre, la palabra libre” (208).

Like La Bruyère, Padre Fernandez criticizes the major weakness of hypocrisy. His reply to Isagani is a refined paradox:

“What persecution did you have to suffer?” asked Padre Fernández, raising his head. “Have I not allowed you to express yourself freely in my class? However, you are an exception, but if what you say is true, I should have you corrected, to make the rule applicable to all, to avoid propagating a bad example!” (298)

----

“¿Qué persecuciones ha tenido usted que sufrir? preguntó el P. Fernandez levantando la cabeza; ¿no le he dejado a usted expresarse libremente en mi clase? Y sin embargo, usted es una excepción que, a ser cierto lo que dice, yo debía corregir, para universalizar en lo posible la regla, ¡para evitar que cunda el mal ejemplo!” (208)

The clever student, Isagani, smiles for he understands the play of words and provides a further application of the paradox by adding:

“You too, are an exception, but since we are not talking of exceptions here, or speaking for our persons, at least as far as I am concerned, I beg my professor for another approach to this matter.” (298)

This sentence of Padre Fernandez: “para universalizar en lo posible la regla”, guides the path of our study of the intertextures between the Moralist writing style and the


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novels. The word “universalizar” conveys the essence of the Moralist spirit that was to find the laws concerning the individual and the society.

Isagani’s Arenga

Just before his conversation with Padre Fernandez, in Chapter XXVI “Pasquinades” in the Fili, Isagani who is described as “pale and enthusiastic, radiant with youthful beauty, haranguing some fellow students”,13 was saying:

“It seems incredible, gentlemen, it seems preposterous, that an incident so insignificant should disperse us and that we should flee like sparrows because a scarecrow shakes itself!” (293)

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“¡Parece mentira, señores, parece mentira que un acontecimiento tan insignificante nos ponga en desbandada y huyamos como gorriones porque se agita el espantajo!” (204)

In the Spanish language, the word “arenga” (or in English, “harangue”) is used for a high speech, full of eloquence and exhortations that, like a sermon, shows the proper morals and behavior. The discourse of Isagani flourishes here, he who until now was mostly quiet, except for a few verses. When he speaks, he uses a saying and other sententious expressions like other qualifying characters in the novel (i.e., Simoun).

Sententiousness and Rizal’s novels

Maxims are abundant throughout the novels, and it is a characteristic feature of Rizal’s stylei. The pervasiveness of sententiousness in Rizal’s novels leads us to read narrative events through their accompanying maxims. The maxims can be read as narrative and as illustrative of a general law.

A maxim, or an aphorism, can be defined as: “a concise expression of doctrine or principle or any generally accepted truth conveyed a pithy, memorable statement.” (Brittanica, 2005). The maxim combines wit and wisdom.

We use the word “maxim” as a term for a genre which covers a wide stylistic range, and it is strikingly diverse: from slight sententious clauses, from the epigram, the saying, the axiom, to the precise and paradoxical sentence, or to the expansive and philosophical essay. The variety of moralistic forms is related not only to the variety of narrative selves but also to the need of these selves as they construct and are constructed by the laws they enunciate.

The statements are bound in the fictional bricks of the novels. Many characters are allowed to formulate maxims, though the narrator’s status as the controlling voice is various and multiple. The maxims are not Rizal’s but the narrator’s, as a narrator who is a writer and a would-be writer, both a protagonist and a moralist. Even though a

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Our translation: “pálido y emocionado, radiante de belleza juvenil, arengaba a unos cuantos

condiscípulos” (204).


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maxim claims to be prescriptive and timeless, it is set within a discourse which takes place in a narrative time within the novels.

The construction of the maxims

The heuristic structure provokes the effect of the unexpected thanks to the creative juxtaposition of certain elements. This can be found in the example from Baltazar quoted by Tasio at the end of chapter XXVI “The Eve of the Fiesta” in the Noli:

“Kung ang isalubong sa iyong pagdating Ay masayang mukhâ ’t may pakitang giliu, Lalong pag ingata ‘t kaauay na lihim …” (149)14

The simplicity of the formulation contrasts with the complexity of the problem, so provoking further thought over the chapter we have just read. The resulting effect is an appealing moment, more delightful for those educated readers who can bring forward a knowledge of the original text quoted here. At this moment of displacement, the maxim or law is formed, followed by a widening of the reading, as the law is applied and tested, and may require from us readers new speculations.

Mikhail Bakhtin discusses the link between the maxim and the novel, particularly in his essay, “Le plurilinguisme dans le roman”15, wherein he studies how the novel organizes its polyphony, which is done through the introduction of other discourses or genres, classified by Bakhtin as: 1) the intentional genre: as poems written by the writer and introduced directly and explicitly; 2) the objective genre: those that hide the purpose of the writer, these are part of the discursive object, like poems written by a character of the novel; and 3) the refracted genre: the most usual way, those modulating and qualifying in different degrees the writer’s intentions, such as sentences and maxims with a high level of parody or irony.

Clearly, Bakhtin recognizes the maxim as a component of the polyphony of the text, a recognition that supports his principle of dialogism, which implies that the consciousness of the main character of the novel, and also that of the reader, may defy the author; and it is also corresponding with his theory of the carnivalesque that dissolves the distinction author-reader, a theory though interesting for the study of Rizal’s novels, is beyond the scope of this paper.

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Translation into Spanish from the edition by Fondo de Cultura Económico (***):

“Si a tu llegada viene a verte,

con cara sonriente y cariñoso gesto,

sé más prudente que nunca,

es un traidor, un encubierto enemigo”

Translation into English from the Penguin edition (2006):

“When you get there he may come to see you

With smiles and affectionate pats,

So be mindful he may betray you, he’s an enemy in disguise.”

15 Bajtin, M. (1989) Teoría y estética de la novela. Madrid: Taurus. Our translation.


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The maxim in the novels: literary strategies.

The joining of the maxim and the text is accomplished through different strategies. One of them is a character whose main qualification is the capability to process the individual into the general, for example: a writer (a character who is a writer). In this way, the maxim is embedded into the narrative project. In the Noli, we find the young writer, through his writing at the end of chapter 3 “The Dinner”, he shows us the hallmark of the maxim, that is, to make universal the particular:

“The night the blond young man was writing, among other things, the next chapter of his “Colonial Studies”: “On how a chicken wing and neck in a friar’s dish of tinola can disturb the joy of a feast.” And among his observations were these: “In the Philippines the most useless person in a supper or feast is the one giving it: to begin with, the master of the house can be thrown out into the street and everything will proceed as usual. In the actual state of things it is almost for the good of the Filipinos not to be allowed to leave the country or to be taught to read…” (26)

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“Aquella noche escribía el joven rubio entre otras cosas el capítulo siguiente de sus “Estudios Coloniales”: “De cómo un cuello y un ala de pollo en el plato de tinola de un fraile pueden turbar la alegría de un festín.” Y entre sus observaciones había estas: “En Filipinas la persona más inútil en una cena o fiesta es la que la da: al dueño de la casa pueden empezar por echarle a la calle y todo seguirá tranquilamente.” “En el estado actual de las cosas casi es hacerles un bien el no dejar a los filipinos salir de su país, ni enseñarles a leer …” (17)

The paradigm of the writer in the Fili is Ben Zayb, though actually from a quite ironical point of view. Ben Zayb is “a prolific writer”, “who believes that in Manila they think because he, Ben Zayb, thinks” (4). “Despite his being the only thinking head in the Philippines” (7), Ben Zayb does not utter a maxim, or an epigram, or any other kind of sententiae. Towards the end of the Fili, when Ben Zayb has the opportunity for showing his talent as a writer (chapter “The predicament of Ben Zayb”), we access the original work through the narrator’s reading, who, unlike Ben Zayb, is entitled to the maxim:

“His Excellency appeared like a hero and fell much higher, as Victor Hugo said” (380)

----

“S. E. aparecía como un héroe y caía más alto, como dijo Victor Hugo” (263).

The narrator is also a literary critic who qualifies Ben Zayb’s writing as “an epic”, a genre that shows just one voice, and in correlation with Bakhtin critique of the epic narrative refuses to interact with the reality of the present-day reader. The narrator ironically says about Ben Zayb:

“He was writing, erasing, adding and polishing, such that without lacking the truth – this was his special merit as a journalist – it would all result in an epic, grand for the seven divinities, cowardly and low for the unknown thief” (380);


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whereas the narrator, who is truly writing a novel (and not an epic) actualizes the polyphony of the novel.

At the beginning of the Fili, like the Noli’s first chapter, Ben Zayb makes an attempt to generalize the teachings of the legend of the crocodile turned into stone, and he talks about a “study of comparative religions.” He recalls the saying: “better the evil already known than the good still to be known” for it is not applicable, and calls for “a profound study of anthropology” (29). Simoun finely opens the legend’s interpretation and Ben Zayb’s reading. However, the writer (Rizal) complicates the polyphony through a parody, for Simoun pushes the universalization further:

“ (…) [C]ould the petrified animals I have seen in various museums of Europe, have been victims of some antediluvian saint?” (30)

----

(…) ¿[S]i los animales petrificados que he visto yo en varios museos de Europa no habrán sido víctimas de algun santo antidiluviano? (21)

So the reading is open to the following options:

- First level of the reading: The legend (the fantastic).

- Second level: Ben Zayb’s reading (a generalization).

- Third level: Simoun’s reading of Ben Zayb’s maxim (a parody of the legend and its generalization).

- Fourth level: the reader’s response to the previous three levels of reading.

The maxims do not stand by themselves, but are constructed through the episodes, the experience of the characters, the unfolding of the conversations, etc. The truths in the novels cannot be collected, unlike those of La Bruyère which were collected through the years, numbered and arranged according to a Cartesian organizational principle. In the novels the maxims are created by the interaction of the reader and the text. The interpretation of a character’s sentence by the reader is a reading practice that it is mirrored in the novels itself, of which Simoun is a good example, like in the following example when Basilio in the Fili explains the health conditions of Capitan Tiago thus:

“Since the incident of San Diego, Simoun had not seen the young man again nor Capitan Tiago.

“How is the patient?” he asked, throwing a quick look about the room and casting an eye on the pamphlets we mentioned, their pages still unopened.

“The beats of the heart, imperceptible… pulse very weak… appetite, completely gone,” replied Basilio with a sad smile and in a low voice; “he sweats profusely towards the dawn…”

Seeing that Simoun, by the direction of his face, had noticed the pamphlets, and fearing he would renew the matter which they had talked about in the woods, he continued:


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“The organism is saturated with poison; he may die any day as if struck by lightning … the least cause, an inconsequencial thing, an excitement, can kill him…”

“Like the Philippines!”, observed Simoun grimly.” (257-258)

----

“Desde la escena de San Diego, Simoun no había vuelto a ver ni al joven ni al Capitan Tiago. - ¿Cómo está el enfermo? preguntó echando una rápida ojeada por el cuarto y fijándose en los folletos que mencionamos cuyas hojas aun no estaban cortadas. - Los latidos del corazón, imperceptibles... pulso muy débil... apetito, perdido por completo, repuso Basilio con sonrisa triste y en voz baja; suda profusamente a la madrugada... Y viendo que Simoun, por la dirección de la cara, se fijaba en los dichos folletos y temiendo volviese a reanudar el asunto de que hablaron en el bosque, continuó: - El organismo está saturado de veneno; de un día a otro puede morir como herido del rayo... la causa más pequeña, un nada, una excitacion le puede matar... - ¡Como Filipinas! observó lúgubremente Simoun.” (180)

Simoun’s reading extends through the continuous text, which now has the status of a fragment, because through Simoun’s observation is being dissociated from Basilio’s prognosis about Capitan Tiago’s poor health, and transformed into a maxim. As he does this kind of reading practice of other’s words, Simoun constantly expands the other character’s words, provides his own truth of the narration, thus displacing the first level of the reading.

Furthermore, there is a third level, that of the readers; Simoun provides us with his opinion to which we react. Therefore, we may either concur with the first more literal reading, or agree with Simoun’s truth or produce our own. Usually Simoun, a character engendering the conflict in the novel, will convoke a truth or doxa purposely in opposition.

The quotation

In both novels, the quotation is often used as another literary strategy. Citing the precedent of ancient authors is a way of legitimation, though it works at various levels in the text. The novels are constructed through this process of refined polyphony, the author’s voice does not provide a superior encompassing point of view, but competes on par with the other voices in the novel, to which it also contributes the dialogism, again following Bakhtin. Sententiousness is not only the privilege of the narrator; other characters are also allowed to make generalizations, and to express themselves through sayings and sentences of an axiomatic nature.

The quotation may be used to conceal personal and individual vices, weaknesses, and other faulty behavior, because the language of the maxim is not personal but popular. In these cases the use of the maxim by the characters responds to a dissembling


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strategy; as in this example of a quotation without a source, his Reverence, the Dominican superior of Padre Sibyla speaking:

“I fear we are beginning to decline: Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementat prius, (Whom Jupiter seeks to destroy he first make mad). That is why we do not increase our burden; already the people grumble.” (Noli 74)

----

“Temo que no estemos empezando a bajar: Quos vult perdere Jupiter dementat

prius, (A los que Júpiter quiere perder enloquece primero) Por esto no aumentemos nuestro peso, el pueblo murmura ya.” (47)

Another example, in the chapter The Ponente from the Fili, the narrator becomes the bioghapher of Don Custodio, and he informs us about his thought entangled with his sayings:

At other times he would say: “I love the indios passionately. I have made myself their father and defender, but it is necessary for things to be in their place. Some are born to command, others, to serve. It is obvious that this truism cannot be said in a loud voice, but it is practised without many words.” (217) ---- Otras veces decía: - Yo amo con delirio a los indios, me he constituido en su padre y defensor, pero es menester que cada cosa esté en su lugar. Unos han nacido para mandar y otros para servir; claro está que esta verdad no se puede decir en voz alta, pero se la practica sin muchas palabras. (152)

To this, the narrator will answer without concessions, often replying himself with a sententious discourse to the maxim. The narrator not only attacks the discourse and speech of the other characters, but his privileged position is openly visible when he decides to recall famous maxims from the moralists, or other prestigious sources, such as the Bible and classic philosophers. The quotation, or secondary text, may entail various possibilities of inducing a debate with the primary text. Here is the narrator’s opinion about Don Custodio’s words:

Don Custodio, in referring to his policy, was not contented with the word art. And when he mentioned government he would extend his hand downwards to the height of a man on his knees, bent. (217) ---- “Don Custodio refiriéndose a su política ya no se contentaba con la palabra arte. Y al decir gobernar extendía la mano bajándola a la altura de un hombre de rodillas, encorvado” (153).

Later in this chapter, there is quite an interesting case where the narrator elaborates ironically about quoting, though citing here is a parody of others’ behavior, and explains how the sayings spread and define the laws and morals of the community:

“When it was pointed out to him that to rule or to live at the expense of ignorance had another name, somewhat ugly-sounding and which the laws


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punished when the culpable acted by himself, he came right back, citing other colonies. “We”, he would say in his ceremonial voice, “we can speak out loud! We are not like the English and the Dutch who, to maintain peoples in submission, make use of the lash… We use other means, much milder and surer. The salutary influence of the friars is superior to the English whip…” This phrase of his made his fortune, and for a long time Ben Zayb had been paraphrasing it and with him all of Manila; thinking Manila applauded it.”(219) ---- “Si le objetaban que dominar o vivir a costa de la ignorancia tiene otro nombre algo mal sonante y lo castigan las leyes cuando el culpable es uno solo, él se salía citando otras colonias.

- Nosotros, decía con su voz de ceremonia, ¡podemos hablar muy alto! No somos como los ingleses y holandeses que para mantener en la sumisión a los pueblos se sirven del látigo... disponemos de otros medios más suaves, más seguros; el saludable influjo de los frailes es superior al látigo inglés... Esta frase suya hizo fortuna y por mucho tiempo Ben Zayb la estuvo parafraseando y con él toda Manila, la Manila pensadora la celebraba;” (153-154)

The privileged position of the narrator is clearer in the following case. The narrator tells the Alferez anecdote in direct style (the anecdote is another common genre in the Characters of La Bruyère), but after the anecdote, the narrator claims a privileged position and tells us a personal opinion about the story, so the narrator is certainly another speculative voice. In this example, the narrator further pushes the sententiousness by constructing a universalization out of his doubting the anecdote. It has a mirroring effect that contributes greatly to the polyphony of the novel:

Padre Salvi would only smile to himself and pray more. The Alferez always told the few Spaniards who visited him the following anecdote:

“Are you going to the convent to visit that little dead fly of a priest? Careful! If he offers you chocolate, which I doubt he will … but if he finally offers, be on guard. If he calls the servant and tells him: ‘Fulanito, make a cup of chocolate, eh?’ Then you can stay and not worry; but if he says ‘Fulanito, make a cup of chocolate, ah?’ then pick up your hat and exit running.”

“What?” asked the other man fearfully. “Does he dole out poison? Good heavens!”

“Man, no; not to that extent.”

“So?”


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“Chocolote eh? means espeso, thick; and chocolate ah? means aguado, watered down.”

We believe, however, that this was just a calumny of the Alferez’s, since the same anecdote has been attributed to many priests. Unless of course this is a practice special to the Order. (84)

---

“Padre Salvi se sonreía también y rezaba más. El alférez siempre contaba a los pocos españoles que le visitaban, la anécdota siguiente:

- ¿Va V. al convento a visitar al curita Moscamuerta? ¡Ojo! Si le ofrece chocolate, ¡lo cual dudo! … pero en fin si le ofrece, ponga atención. ¿Llama al criado y dice: Fulanito, haz una jícara de chocolate, eh? entonces quédese, sin temor, pero si dice: Fulanito, haz una jícara de chocolate ah? entonces coja V. el sombrero y márchese corriendo.

- ¿Qué? preguntaba el otro espantado ¿da jicarazos? ¡Carambas!

- ¡Hombre tanto, no!

- ¿Entonces?

- Chocolate eh? significa espeso, chocolate ah?, aguado.

Pero creemos que esto sea calumnia del alférez pues la misma anécdota se atribuye también a muchos curas. A menos que sea cosa de la Corporación…” (54)

The reader’s response

The novels promote the experience of reading as speculative thinking, therefore the layers of reading are distributed through the different exploratory voices and the interpretative process provoked by the maxims and the like. The author insists on challenging the readers to create their own interpretations, precisely contending with the following:

- “But the indios should not understand Spanish, you know!” cried Padre Camorra. “They should not learn, because then they will dare to argue with us; and the indios should not argue, but only obey and pay … they should not involve themselves in interpreting what the law says, nor the books; they are nitpickers and very subtle.” (114)

---

“- ¿Pero los indios no deben saber castellano, sabe usted? gritó el P. Camorra; no deben saber porque luego se meten a discutir con nosotros, y los indios no deben discutir sino obedecer y pagar... no deben meterse a interpretar lo que dicen las leyes ni los libros, ¡son tan sutiles y picapleitos!” (79)

The key idea of our analysis is that the maxim challenges the reader’s response, as it happens in the paradox Padre Fernández devises for Isagani. It is tightly constructed


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and substantial in meaning, but it would be empty without Isagani’s clever understanding, which the readers know on account of Isagani’s smile and witty elaboration of Padre Fernández’s words (cited above Fili 298). The astonished Padre Fernández congratulates Isagani. If we readers have immersed ourselves in the story, then we cannot read further unless we have engaged in the same smile together with Isagani. Otherwise, we would have to re-read Padre Fernández’s words to be able to respond to his statement.

The maxim requires readers to supplement its abstraction, to bring to it their particular experience, including their experience and knowledge about the stories in the novels, in such a way that the readers provide the context and test its generality.

The readers may practise the appropriation or the expansion of the maxims. In the path of appropriation (and collection), the maxim becomes a vehicle of knowledge, of religious dogma, or aesthetic principles, the laws of a community, as the example, above mentioned, signals:

“This phrase of his made his fortune, and for a long time Ben Zayb had been paraphrasing it and with him all of Manila; thinking Manila applauded it.”(Fili, 219) 16

However, with the expansion the sentences are subject to interrogation, reinterpretation or replacement. The maxims appear free-standing, such as the beginning of a chapter (XVII Basilio “Life is a dream”, a quotation from Calderón de la Barca’s play), or as we have seen, enclosed in the text. In both situations the maxim calls attention to itself, appears self-contained, knowing, yet tends to be defined in opposition to a real or imaginary background of continuity.

At the same time, the conspiracy the text plots with the learned reader stirs a delightful intrigue when the source is cited but incomplete or even when it is not mentioned, then it suggests another layer of interpretation that requires readers to bring the underlying texts forward.

The maxims of Rizal’s novels lend themselves to appropriation, and have also provided a set of commonplaces. These are the commonplaces of that society created within the novel, which enclose the novel’s doxa. These commonplaces have a structural value; they are not decorative and their purpose is helping readers find their way about the text. Notwithstanding, if the readers fully enjoy the text, such sentences make excessive demands of them.

The most interesting cases are those resisting appropriation, those which are speculative, experimental, fragmentary maxims whose characteristic is to go beyond, those which begin to tell a story of its own. For this purpose, the quotations from other authors are limited, as they are self-restrained in their own universe, though re-interpretation is always available; whereas the newly coined, such as the example regarding Capitan Tiago’s health condition, are speculative in their foundations. The sententiousness in Rizal’s novels thus surpasses his model of La Bruyère and the other Moralists.

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Emphasis mine.


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Rizal, as a writer/poet and a scientist, holds a “double vision” from metaphor to moral, or indeed, scientific law; which made the novels so compelling. Rizal, being a keen reader and learned person, was aware of the trends of thought of his times, about sciences, culture and literature. Among his books we find those by Émile Zola, a French writer, mostly known for his novels and theories about literature. Claude Bernard, the physiologist, and his books were Zola’s source of the experimental method, and were also a companion to Rizal17.

The author, Rizal, suggests to readers a dialogue, or better yet a debate, with the society he narrates and makes alive in this novels, in the same manner his narrator establishes a dialogue with both the characters and the readers. Sententiousness is one of the strategies he uses to accomplish this purpose.

In both novels, there is a laborious processing of the data and the hypothesis which the reality supplies, with the intention of dissolving it and escaping it. The maxims serve this function, moving the readers to participate actively in solving the speculations, the sententiae. The maxims challenge the reader response. Rizal aims at making the readers to think, for the new hypothesis, interpretations, or maxims will define a new moral.

And this is one of the great achievements of the novels, so I believe this is an important reason why my former students enjoyed reading Rizal’s novels together with other great works of literature, and why today, in the year 2011, on the anniversary of Rizal, we are still enjoying this speculative game about his novels.

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Our study of Rizal’s novels under their intertextuality with Zola’s conception of the writer’s task and

the novel provides a complementing view to this particular point.


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i A few examples of the sententiae in the novels:

• The chapter “All Saints’ Day” (Noli) interestingly starts with a paragraph worth comparing with La

Bruyére at best. We may regard it as an epigram because of its paradoxical qualities:

“Perhaps the only thing that, without dispute, distinguishes man from the animal, is the cult

which conquers those who have ceased to be. And strangely enough, this custom appears to be

more deeply rooted in nations which are less civilized.

Historians write that the old inhabitants of the Philippines venerated and deified their

ancestors. Today it is the other way around: it is the dead who must commend themselves to

the living.” (86)

“Lo único acaso que sin disputa distingue al hombre de los animales, es el culto que rinden a los

que dejaron de ser. Y ¡cosa extraña! esta costumbre aparece tanto más profudamente

arraigada cuanto menos civilizados son los pueblos.

Escriben los historiadores que los antiguos habitantes de Filipinias veneraban y deificaban a sus

antepasados; ahora sucede lo contrario: los muertos tienen que encomendarse a los vivos”

(55).

• Other example “Una reunión” (Noli), the narrator says:

“Generally speaking, we mortals are like tortoises: we are valued and classified according to our

shells, for this and for other qualities as well, the mortals of the Philippines are the same as

tortoises.” (3)

“[P]ues nosotros los mortales en general somos como las tortugas: valemos y nos clasifican por

nuestras conchas; por esto y otras cualidades más como tortugas son también los mortales de

Filipinas.” (2)

• A Tasio’s pensèe, which includes a quotation (Noli, chapter 14):

“I do not know, Madam, what God will do with me,” answered old man Tasio, “when I am dying

I will surrender myself to Him without fear. Let Him do with me howsoever He wishes. But a

thought comes to my mind.”

“And what thought is that?”

“If the Catholics are the only ones who can be saved, and of these only five per cent, as many

priests say; and since the Catholics form only a twentieth part of the earth’s population, if we

are to believe what statistics say; after having condemned thousands and thousands of men

who lived in the innumerable centuries before the coming of the Savior to this world, and after

the son of God has died for us, now only five out of every twelve hundred can be saved? Oh,

certainly not. I prefer to say and believe with Job: Why torment a wind-blown leaf, or pursue a

withered straw?” (106-107)

“- ¡Yo no sé, señora, lo que de mi hará Dios! respondió el viejo Tasio pensativo. Cuando esté

agonizando, me entregaré a El sin temor; haga de mí lo que quiera. Pero se me ocurre un

pensamiento.

- Y ¿qué pensamiento es ese?

- Si los únicos que pueden salvarse son los católicos, y de entre estos un cinco por ciento, como

dicen muchos curas, y formando los católicos una duodécima parte de la población de la tierra


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si hemos de creer lo que dicen las estadísticas, resultaría que después de haberse condenado

millares de millares de hombres durante los innumerables siglos que transcurrieron antes que

el Salvador viniese al mundo, después que un hijo de Dios se ha muerto por nosotros, ahora

sólo conseguiría salvarse cinco por cada mil doscientos? ¡Oh ciertamente no! prefiero decir y

creer con Job: ¿Serás severo contra una hoja que vuela y perseguirás una arista seca?” (68)

Rizal's Novels as Literature

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