The Novel and It’s History

El Filibusterismo

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El Filibusterismo

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 El Filibusterismo 1

Rizal dedicated El
2
Filibusterismo to the three
martyred priests of Cavite
mutiny. The execution of
3
the three priests was
significant to the title of the
novel. 4
 El filibusterismo 1

• It is the second novel written by 2

José Rizal as the sequel to Noli
Me Tangere. Like Noli Me
Tangere, it was written in Spanish.
3
• “The reign of Greed” in English

• It consist of 38 chapters
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El Filibusterismo 1

October, 1887
-He begun writing it in Calamba
2
1888 (London)
- He made some changes in the plot and revised the chapter already
written.

-He wrote more chapters in Paris, Madrid and 3

Biarritz.

March 29, 1891

– He finished the manuscript
4
in Biarritz.
 El Filibusterismo 1

July 5, 1891
-Rizal left Brussels for Ghent.
Reasons: 2
- The cost of living was lower
-The price of printing was much cheaper than in Brussels
-To escape from the enticing attraction of Petite Suzanne
from July to September, 1891 3
-They lived frugally in Ghent for three
months
-To economize further on their living
expenses, they prepared their own
breakfast. 4
 El Filibusterismo 1

Jose Alejandro
– Rizal’s room mate when he lived in a cheap boarding house, owing to
his limited funds
2
September 18, 1891
– the novel was published in Ghent, partially funded by
Rizal's friend Valentin Ventura.. Rizal immediately sent on this date two
printed copies to Hong Kong- one for Basa and other
3
for Sixto Lopez

Rizal took 3 years to write his second novel.

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The Printing of El Filibusterismo

Rizal searched for a printing

T
shop that could give him the
lowest quotation for the
publication of his novel.
X

At last, he did find a publisher

– F. MEYER-VAN LOO
PRESS, No. 66 Viaanderen
T
Street – who was willing to
print his book on installment
basis
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The Printing of El Filibusterismo
He pawned his jewels in order to pay
the down payment and early partial T
payments during the printing of the
novel.
X

T
Rizal became desperate because his
funds were running low.

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 The Printing of El Filibusterismo 1

He received some money from 2

Basa and P200 from Rodriguez
Arias for the copies of Morga’s
Sucesos sold in
Manila but these funds were also 3
used up.

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The Printing of El Filibusterismo 1

July 1891
– Rizal wrote a letter to Basa saying that if no money comes he have to
stop the El Fili’s publication. 2

August 6
- The printing had to be suspended, as Rizal feared, because he
could no longer give the necessary funds to the printer.
3

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“El Filibusterismo” Comes Off the Press
In his morbid moments of
despair, Rizal almost burned T
the manuscript of El
Filibusterismo.

X
When everything seemed lost,
help came from an unexpected
source. Valentin Ventura heard
of Rizal’s predicament and T
immediately sent the amount
needed to finish the
publication of the novel.
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“El Filibusterismo” Comes Off the Press 1

September 18, 1891

-El Fili came off to press.
2
Rizal immediately send 2 copies to Hongkong
- one for Basa and the other for Sixto Lopez

Valentin Ventura 3

– Rizal gratefully gave the original manuscript of El Filibusterismo and a

printed copy with his autograph

– Savior of El Filibusterismo
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“El Filibusterismo” Comes Off the Press

Filipino patriots praised the novel. The

members of the Filipino colony of Barcelona T
published a tribute in La Publicidad , a
Barcelona newspaper, eulogizing the novel’s
original style.
X

The liberal Madrid newspaper, El T

Nuevo Regimen , serialized the novel
in its issues of October, 1891.
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 “El Filibusterismo” Comes Off the Press 1

All copies of the first edition

(Ghent edition) of El
2
Filibusterismo were placed in
wooden boxes and shipped to
Hong Kong, but almost all the
boxes were confiscated and the
3
books were lost.

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“El Filibusterismo” Comes Off the Press 1

The book immediately became rare and the

few available Ghent copies were sold at
very high prices, reaching as high as 400 3
pesetas per copy.

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The Manuscript and the Book 1

The original manuscript of El Fili in Rizal’s own handwriting

* is now preserved in the Filipiniana Division of the Bureau of
Public Libraries, Manila. 2

Acquired from Valentin Ventura for

* P10,000.
3

* Consisting of 279 pages of long sheets

of paper.

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The Manuscript and the Book 1

2 features that didn’t appear in the

printed book
-Foreword
2
-Warning
- These two were not put into print,
evidently, to save printing cost.

Title Page of El Filibusterismo 3

– contains an inscription written by

Ferdinand Blumentritt

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Synopsis of El Filibusterismo

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This novel is a sequel on Noli
Me Tangere.

less humor X
less idealism
less romance
more revolutionary
more tragic T