The Social Cancer

Description

The Social Cancer (Noli Me Tángere) is a novel by Filipino writer and activist José Rizal. It was initally published in 1887 during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It tells the story of Crisóstomo Ibarra, the son of the recently deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, who returns to San Diego town in Laguna after seven years of study in Europe, his fiance Maria Clara, and Padre Dámaso, a Franciscan friar and the former parish curate of San Diego. The book explores the inequalities in terms of the treatment by the ruling government and the Spanish Catholic friars of the resident peoples. A revolutionary book and a blistering attack on Philippine society under Spanish rule, the book is considered a national epic of the Philippines. The title, Noli Me Tángere (Touch me not) comes from a Biblical passage (John 20:13-17): 'Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father...' The author, José Rizal is widely considered as one of the greatest heroes of the Philippines. This novel and it's sequel (The Reign of Greed) were banned by the Spanish authorities and led to Rizal's exile and ultimately to his execution by firing squad for 'inciting rebellion' at the age of thirty-five.

This book has 175,896 words, 320 pages in the PDF version, and was originally published in 1887. This translation by Charles Derbyshire was first published in 1912.

Production notes: This ebook of The Social Cancer was published by Global Grey on the 13th June 2022. The artwork used for the cover is 'Naval Battle of Lepanto' by Juan Luna.