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2019 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. The Solution of the Enigma in El Filibusterismo

Author : Lisandro E. Claudio

Published in: Jose Rizal

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter examines Rizal’s second, more incendiary novel, El Filibusterismo. If the Noli was an experiment in liberal reformism, the Fili is an experiment in revolution. Using the character of Simoun—the radicalized Ibarra who goes home to the Philippines to foment an insurrection—Rizal tests the viability of revolution in the Philippines. Like Ibarra’s school, Simoun’s revolution is a failure. This chapter concludes that the Fili is an intentionally ambiguous novel—a novel that refuses to make recommendations about revolutionary violence, but rather poses Socratic questions about how a people should earn their liberty.

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previous chapter Noli me Tangere and the Failure of Transplanted Liberalism

next chapter Conclusion: Resurrecting Plants

For a history of the shifting meanings of the word, from its associations with piracy to its political use during Rizal’s time, see Filomeno Aguilar (2011).

Translation from Spanish mine.

The novel is vague as to who killed Crispin.

I am indebted to Caroline Hau for these insights on the term ponente and the relevance of Custodio’s name.

In his defense, however, his racialist rhetoric was largely a reaction to Spanish racism which denigrated the indio. As Guerrero (2012, 238) notes, Rizal’s “ear was cocked vigilantly for any criticism of the Philippines or the Filipinos, any sneer, any innuendo, and as soon as he heard it he was on his feet, crying to be recognized, to reply, to point out errors and contradictions, to unmask motives, to expose malice and corruption.”

Aguilar, Filomeno V. 2005. Tracing Origins: Ilustrado Nationalism and the Racial Science of Migration Waves. The Journal of Asian Studies 64 (03): 605–637.CrossRef

———. 2011. Filibustero, Rizal, and the Manilamen of the Nineteenth Century. Philippine Studies 59 (4): 429–469.

Anderson, Benedict R.O’G. 2007. Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc.

Blumentritt, Ferdinand. 1891. Sketches. La Solidaridad Year 3, no. 49. In La Solidaridad, vol. 3, Trans. Guadalupe Fores-Ganzon. Pasig City: Fundacion Santiago, 1996.

Constantino, Renato. 2005. Veneration Without Understanding. The Philippine Reporter, June 16. http://philippinereporter.com/2005/06/16/veneration-without-understanding/

Guerrero, Leon Ma. 2012. The First Filipino: A Biography of Jose Rizal. Makati City: Guerrero Publishing.

Hau, Caroline S. 2017. Did Padre Damaso Rape Pia Alba?: Reticence, Revelation, and Revolution in Jose Rizal’s Novels. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 65 (2): 137–199.CrossRef

Joaquin, Nick. 2005. A Question of Heroes. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc.

Ocampo, Ambeth R. 2013. Meaning and History: The Rizal Lectures. Revised ed. Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc.

Quibuyen, Floro. 1997. Rizal and the Revolution. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints 45 (2): 225–257.

Retana, Wenceslao. 1907. Vida y Escritos Del Dr. Jose Rizal. Madrid: Liberaria General de V. Suarez.

Title: The Solution of the Enigma in El Filibusterismo
Author: Lisandro E. Claudio
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Jose Rizal
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01315-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-01316-5

Copyright Year: 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01316-5_4