Idea of Writing a Novel in the Philippines

His reading of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which portrays the brutalities of American
salve-owners and the pathetic conditions of the unfortunate negro slaves, inspired by DR. Jose Rizal to
prepare a novel that would depict the miseries of his people under the lash of Spanish tyrants. He was
then a student in the Central University of Madrid.

In a reunion of Filipinos in the Paterno residence in Madrid on January 2, 1884, Rizal proposed the
writing of a novel about the Philippines by a group of Filipinos. His proposal was unanimously approved
by those present, among whom were the Paternos (Pedro, Maximo, and Antonio), Graciano Lopez
Jaena, Evaristo Aguirre, Eduardo Lete, Julio Llorente, Melecio Figueroa, and Valentin Ventura.

Unfortunately, Rizal’s project did not materialize. Those compatriots who were expected to collaborate
on the novel did not write anything. The novel was designed to cover all phases of Philippine life.
However, almost everybody wanted to write on women. Rizal was disgusted at such flippancy. He was
more disgusted to see that his companions, instead of working seriously on the novel, wasted their time
gambling or flirting with Spanish senoritas.

Undaunted by his friends’ indifference, he determined to write the novel alone.

The Writing of Noli

Toward the end of 1884 Rizal began writing the novel in Madrid and finished about one-half of it.

When he went to Paris, in 1885, after completing his studies in Central University in Madrid, he
continued writing the novel, finishing one hal of the second half. He finished the last fourth of the novel
in Germany. He wrote the last few chapters of the Noli in Wilhelmsfield in April-June 1886.

In Berlin during the winter days of February 1886, Rizal made the final revisions on the manuscript of
Noli. Sick and penniless, he saw no hope of having it published, so that in a momentary fit of
desperation, he almost hurled it into flames. Years later he told his good friend and former classmate,
Fernando Canon:” I did not believe that the Noli Me Tangere would be published when I was in Berlin,
broken-hearted, weakened, and discouraged from hunger and deprivation. I was on the point of
throwing my work into the fire as a thing accursed and fit only to die.”