Noli Me Tángere 

(Latin for "Touch me not") is an 1887 novel by Filipino writer and

activist José Rizalpublished during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It explores
perceived inequities in law and practice in terms of the treatment by the ruling
government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples in the late nineteenth
century.
Noli Me Tangere 

The original front cover of the book manuscript

Author José Rizal

Country Philippines

Language Spanish

Genre Novel, satire, Philippine history

Publisher Berliner Buchdruckerei-

Aktiengesellschaft, Berlin, German
Empire
 Publication 1887
date

Media type Print (hardcover)

Followed by El filibusterismo 

Text Noli Me Tangere at Wikisource

Originally written by Rizal in Spanish, the book has since been more commonly
published and read in the Philippines in either Tagalog (the major indigenous language),
or English. The Rizal Lawrequires Noli and its sequel, El filibusterismo to be read by
all high school students throughout the country. Noli is studied in Grade 9 and El
filibusterismo in Grade 10. The two novels are widely considered to be the national epic of
the Philippines. They have been adapted in many forms, such as operas, musicals, plays,
and other forms of art.
The title originates from the Biblical passage John 20:13-17. In Rizal's time it also referred
to cancers that occurred on the face, particularly cancers of the eyelid; touching such
lesions irritated them, causing pain.[1] As an ophthalmologist, Rizal was familiar with the
cancer and the name.[2] He is explicit about the connection in the novel's dedication,
which begins: A mi patria ('To my country')[3]: 26  an