Noli Me Tángere

Noli Me Tángere (Latin for "Touch me not"; acute accent is added on the final word in accordance with Spanish orthography) is an 1887 novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal published 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 a hundred years ago. 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 Law requires 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. As an ophthalmologist, Rizal was familiar with the cancer and the name. He is explicit about the connection in the novel's dedication, which begins: A mi patria ('To my country'): 26  and continues with "...a cancer of so malignant a character that the least touch irritates it and awakens in it the sharpest pains." Rizal probes the cancers of Filipino society. Early English translations of the novel used different titles, such as An Eagle Flight (1900) and The Social Cancer (1912), but more recent English translations use the original title.