You can now read the Jose Rizal manga online for free (link at the end of the article)
By PaperbackRusty6
Here’s the link: https://www.manga.club/jose/ . Not sure if it’s legit, but it looks fine at a glance.
Reader discussion: Noli Me Tangere
Public reader discussion about Noli Me Tangere in the WeRead Catalog by José Rizal.
Showethought: Why are Noli and Fili studied in Filipino subjects when they were written in Spanish?
By Mirror_Late
I just had this thought lately: Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo are usually discussed in Filipino Literature classes, but they were actually originally written in Spanish. So shouldn’t Filipino Literature be for works that were originally written in Filipino? Kinda feels unfair to Filipino-language novels when a big chunk of the curriculum gets taken up by Noli and Fili. I get that English-written works by Filipino authors still get taught under English Literature, like Nick Joaquin—when I was in high school, we read Bamboo in the Wind by Azucena Grajo Uranza in English class. For me, it’s not really the author’s nationality—it’s the language the book was written in. I’m not saying Noli and Fili shouldn’t be studied. I just think they should go under a Rizal subject or even Philippine History, not Filipino Literature.
Are Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo really good pieces of literature? Or are they just shoved down our throats because they were written by Rizal?
By pineChapter
I just had a pretty interesting chat with my professor about this, and I’m curious what everyone else thinks too.
Noli Me Tangere
By shorespring1991
I’m Filipino American, born and raised in the US, so I’m probably not the best judge of this book. My mom had to read it for school when she was in school (she’s in her 60s now), and I’ve also seen online that it’s still required reading in the Philippines. From a book/journal-literate perspective, though, I felt like it drags a bit sometimes, and outside of Elias and Tasio (they’re kind of side characters), the character work felt pretty thin to me. There are a bunch of spots where it jumps between different groups of characters in the same chapter, and it gets a little awkward/confusing trying to keep up with where everyone is. A lot of the characters also felt pretty one-note, even if you can argue they’re written that way to show how awful and corrupt the Spanish friars were and how much they affected Filipino people. One thing I couldn’t get past was Father Damaso. It felt really weird to me that he had these strong “loving” feelings toward Maria Clara. I know he’s her biological father, but he also assaulted her mom and he’s super condescending toward native Filipinos throughout the book. So the “love” just didn’t feel real to me, I guess. That said, I do get why it’s seen as important. I can appreciate it more for the historical angle and the satire, which actually made me laugh at times—especially the back-and-forth between Dona Victorina and Dona Consolacion. I don’t think it was meant to be an easy, relaxing read or some perfect masterpiece. It feels more like it’s trying to point out the injustices people faced under Spanish rule. I’ve read that some folks think it’s anti-Catholic, but my take is Rizal is mainly going after the Spanish friars, not the religion itself. Also, translations: I started with a couple chapters from the Derbyshire one, then I bought the Augenbraum book, which was more doable for me. IMO the Augenbraum version handled the sarcasm better. Anyway, those are just my thoughts—really curious what everyone else thinks. :)
Noli me tang ina
By patientgarden1972
Ang dami na talagang sobrang absurd na memes lately, pero enjoy pa rin ako—keep na lang coming. More pa sana, yung ganon talaga pleasee. Ito rin ata best way para kontrahin yung mga troll post ng DDS. I-counter ko din, pero mas dagdagan pa natin yung pagka-absurd. Tipong troll level 999, yung ako na tuloy napapaisip sa sarili nilang kabobohan. Nakita ko rin kasi yung mga comment na binobombahan ng ganitong meme hanggang sa di na sila maka-reply, e. Ps: Minarcos ko sa efbi. Mabuhay mo4d!
Jose Rizal read Fallen Hero and used it as inspiration for Noli Me Tangere
By MirrorCurious1991
My favorite bit in *Noli Me Tangere* was when Sidestep and Crisostomo worked together to get rid of Padre Damaso. I honestly don’t remember much else though.
Rizal
By Sage_Page
My partner is Filipino, and since I usually end up learning about history and places through fiction, I’m getting ready to start Noli Me Tangere in English (José Rizal). I honestly didn’t know much about him until I asked my partner what people consider classic Filipino writing. From what I’ve read so far, he seems really interesting too—not just some national hero in the Philippines. Has anyone else here read any of his work?
Noli Me Tangere
By deskPrologue
Ano ba talaga ang pinanggalingan o pinaghugutan ni Dr. Jose Rizal nung isinulat niya yung kay Crisostomo Ibarra? May simbolo ba yung character na ’to kung paano niyang ipinapakita yung mga ilustrado sa panahon nila? Tapos meron din akong tanong tungkol sa mga pangunahing tauhan, like sina Maria Clara at Elias, at yung iba pa. Salamat!
WEBTOON Canvas Recommendation: Touch Me Not (inspired by José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere)
By SilverBasket43
I keep seeing people recommend Touch Me Not! here and there, but it never really had its own dedicated post, so I’m finally jumping on that. Before I even get into the actual plot and my thoughts on how the series is going, I feel like it helps to know the background behind it. Like, the whole “colonial Philippines / original book” context matters a lot for this one. If you already know it, feel free to skim. José Rizal, Noli Me Tangere, and Maria Clara José Rizal is basically a big deal in the Philippines, and Noli Me Tangere (“Touch Me Not”) is one of his most known works. It talks about how Spaniards were corrupt and brutal during their rule, and it was so influential that Noli and El Filibusterismo ended up being required reading by law. And Touch Me Not! on WEBTOON takes inspiration from Noli Me Tangere, which is set in the Spanish colonial period and follows Crisostomo Ibarra (the “hero” guy) and Maria Clara (the “heroine” girl). They both end up having really tragic endings, but I think Maria gets hit the hardest in the story. After Noli got popular, Maria Clara kind of became the “perfect” traditional feminine image in people’s minds—graceful, pure, all that. But behind the pretty picture, it’s basically a woman getting crushed by the patriarchy. After Ibarra is presumed dead, Maria is devastated and ends up in the Sta. Clara convent. Then she’s repeatedly violated by a friar, gets sick and emotionally broken, becomes suicidal, and eventually dies without ever finding out Ibarra is actually alive. Like… yeah. That’s tragic. So anyway, the big reason I’m saying all this is because the FL in Touch Me Not! transmigrates as Maria Clara. Synopsis Sam, who used to drop out and is now working as a tutor, goes on a quest to find a copy of Noli Me Tangere for her classes. Of course, everywhere she looks is out of copies. Then she ends up at this last bookstore and runs into Luke, one of her old high school classmates—super awkward, obviously—and she passes out. When she wakes up, she’s in colonial Philippines, and it doesn’t feel like a dream at all. People are talking with heavy accents, women are in baro and saya, the streets look pseudo-European, and she’s being called Maria Clara… which is already insane. Then she realizes it’s real, and she’s not alone—because Luke is there too, and he’s Crisostomo Ibarra. So yeah, now I’m just sitting here wondering if Sam and Luke are going to try to mess with fate and rewrite what’s supposed to happen, or if they’ll end up stuck living out what the original author already planned. Why you should read Touch Me Not! - It actually shows Filipino culture and history. I’m Filipino, so I might be biased, but I genuinely smiled a lot reading it—jeepneys, slam books, the whole shipping culture, and all that. It feels like the Philippines deserved more spotlight, especially in genres like otome isekai where a lot of stuff is dominated by light-skinned characters. - Sam is such a good female lead. She completely overshadows Luke (in a good way). She doesn’t come off like “not like other girls,” she’s just being herself, and she’s honestly really lovable. As you watch her mess around, you just end up caring and rooting for her. She’s like the opposite of Maria Clara, but she’s still trying her best. - Both leads are isekai’d, which is still kind of rare. Touch Me Not! isn’t the first series to do this, but it’s uncommon for both leads to come from the modern world—and it’s even more uncommon that they both know what’s happening pretty much right away. It makes their interactions feel way more consistent. - Shoujo vibes are everywhere. If you like shoujo romance, this one is for you. The romance just gives me that feeling, and even Luke feels like a shoujo ML. - The art is really good, and updates are consistent. It has a distinctive style, and it’s impressive that it’s on Canvas. Scenes are easy to follow, the characters show emotion well, and nothing feels overly stiff. I really appreciate the artist. Final thoughts I spent way too long typing all this, but it’s because I genuinely think it deserves a recommendation post. Filipino or not, I hope more people give it a shot—I’m excited to see where it goes next.
Non-Western Canon - Literary greats from the rest of the world
By maple-dreams2002
A while back a friend brought up that I should read *A Grain of Wheat* by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, and then they said it was one of the books they studied in high school in Tanzania. After that I’ve been trying to track down what other places read in school too—especially outside the US, since it feels like American reading lists are everywhere and it’s weirdly hard to find ones from other regions. So I guess my real question is: what books do people get assigned in different countries/areas? To kick things off, when I was in high school in Canada we read stuff like *The Handmaid’s Tale* (Atwood), *I Heard the Owl Call My Name* (Margaret Craven), *The Stone Angel* (Margaret Laurence—didn’t realize we had that many Margarets), and *The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz* (Mordecai Richler). I’ve found this “top 100” list for African literature that’s helped a lot, but I’ve still got big gaps on my map—Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and basically all of South and East Asia. And right now South America is mostly just Borges and Bolaño, plus maybe a couple others. Edit: This is awesome, everyone—thanks for the suggestions!
Where does Jose Rizal explicitly say he was inspired by Uncle Tom's Cabin?
By sunnyDreams
A few years back I had to do some research for a college class on what Jose Rizal was inspired by. I know the usual story—that he read *Uncle Tom’s Cabin* and then got inspired to write *Noli Me Tangere*—but I can’t find any clear source that actually says he read the book himself and used it as inspiration. All I’m seeing are the same basics from the textbooks we all learned in elementary and high school. Maybe I’m just missing something because I’m not a native speaker and I can’t read Filipino, so the info might be out there in Spanish or Filipino? I even ended up reading the discussion on the *Noli Me Tangere* talk page and it got me curious. Does anyone know more about how *Uncle Tom’s Cabin* connects to Rizal, or has anyone seen a firsthand/secondhand account that he specifically used it as inspiration?
Which books are classics in your country/language, but not so well-known in the anglosphere?
By DustyValley
I feel like when people say “classics,” it’s mostly English-language stuff—Jane Austen, James Joyce, that kind of thing. Every once in a while you’ll see a translated Tolstoy, but that’s about it. So what’s a classic from your own country (or originally in your language) that really got to you, but an English-language reader might not run into as often? And what would you point to as the reason? I’ll start: Hugo Claus’s *The Sorrow of Belgium*. I was genuinely hooked and tore through the 800-ish pages. It was originally written in Flemish Dutch, and Claus kind of messes with different Flemish dialects while telling this really unsettling story about a boy growing up in a family that ends up working with the Nazis during Belgium’s WW2 occupation. The characters feel like they leap off the page. I’m not sure how much of the dialect comes through in English, but if you’re okay with that, I’d still recommend it.
Noli me tangere means "touch me not" in the imperative, how can I affirm "no one will touch/reach me"? "Nemo me tangere"?
By marginLost145861
“nemo me tangere” is more like “no one to touch me,” so the phrase you’d want is “nemo me tanget” — “no one will touch me.” I also like “nemo me impune lacessit,” even if it means something a bit different.
Noli Me Tangere by Jose Rizal eBook
By faintDragon
Hi everyone! I see a lot of us are really enjoying GMA’s *Maria Clara at Ibarra*. Ako as a Millennial, last nabasa ko yung *Noli* nung high school pa, so naisip ko tuloy hanapin ulit para makabasa ulit etong “masterpiece” ni Jose Rizal. If anyone’s curious, I found digital copies here: Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal (Filipino) Noli Me Tangere (English) In-include ko rin yung English version kasi baka mas okay sa iba. I don’t think there’s anything wrong if we just want to enjoy the story as a light read—most of us naman na-discuss na at na-analyze na yung Filipino version noon in school.
Maximo Viola (AI remastered)
By springTiger9
Maximo Viola—he was the one who helped Dr. Jose Rizal get Noli Me Tangere published. I made this because I couldn’t find any other photo of him online, not even a remastered version of the one that already exists. If you wanna use it for your projects or whatever, go ahead lol.
[deleted by user]
By HarmonyTower
Looks like this place is for actual literary questions and not for journal article hunting, so if that’s what you need, /r/scholar is probably the better spot. There are panelists for a lot of different literatures here, and some are even professional writers, so that’s pretty cool. If you’ve got an M.A. in a literature field or you’re a writer/editor, they seem open to more people joining too. The question topics are broad enough too, from theory and criticism to authors, movements, history, rhetoric, and literary forms. The rules seem pretty strict though: no spam, no attacks, no homework help, and no asking people to read your stuff just for feedback. I guess they want it to stay focused and useful, which makes sense.
Bedtime reading: "Noli Me Tangere" by José Rizal
By tealPath
Trying to get into this classic novel that's supposed to be a big deal in Philippine literature. I haven’t made it too far yet, but I’m definitely working on it!
noli me tangere
By Mystax
Join the Discord, I guess? 1) u/savevideo (don’t spam it again, please) 2) u/downloadvideo 3) u/savevideobot Also I’m apparently a bot and it says this was automatic. If there’s any issue, contact the mods, I don’t know.
[NOLI ME TANGERE | PHILIPPINES SUBMOD] The Fate of the IJA 14th Army's Philippine Provisional Government
By tinycoin
Philippines submod when?
Jose Rizal showed in his book Noli Me Tangere that the friars of the Catholic church used their position to leverage for power, going against the state and abusing the ordinary citizens of the Philippines. In real life how true was this?
By creek_wren73
Jumping ahead to after the Philippines got independence, they basically tried to push Rizal as a national hero, but the church wasn’t having it. They argued that the things he wrote were overblown and not really what went down. So I’m honestly wondering how accurate his account is—like, if he was telling the truth, then how much more abusive would priests in the Philippines have been compared to priests elsewhere in the world?