Jose Rizal is regarded as a national hero who died for his country's freedom. Born into an affluent family, Rizal was educated at the best Manila schools and went on to enter the University of Santo Tomas. Unlike many of his fellow students, Rizal was not Spanish, but Filipino, and he quickly "learned to understand better in what sort of world I was. In it there were privileges for some and rules for others, and assuredly the discrimination was not based on capacity." It was while he was studying medicine at the university that Rizal began writing poems and essays.
Beginning in 1882, Rizal attended universities in Madrid, Paris, Heidelberg, and Berlin, where he became involved in the reformist movement and regularly contributed essays to propagandist publications. These writings are powerful indictments against Spain's racial oppression of the Filipinos. While in Europe, Rizal published his most famous works. Published in 1887 and 1891, Rizal's two novels, The Lost Eden (Noli me tangere) and its sequel The Subversive (El filibusterismo), mark a transition in history as well as literature. With their vivid depiction of Filipino suffering under colonial rule, they served as one catalyst in the 1896 Philippine Revolution, helping to end Spanish rule and with it an era of Spanish literature. While Rizal was a prolific writer of essays, poetry, and drama, it is as a novelist that he became a model for future generations of writers.
In 1892 Rizal returned to the Philippines, where he founded the reformist organization La Liga Filipina. Although he was not a proponent of revolution, Rizal was considered a subversive. He was named as an instigator in the 1896 revolt, which he opposed, and was sentenced to death. His final poem written before his execution, "My Last Farewell," is recognized as an outstanding poetic elegy.
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