The literal translation of the title is "Touch Me Not". Rizal derived this phrase from the Bible, specifically the Gospel of St. Pau 09:16, where it is spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after he has risen from the dead. In the Gospel of John, Jesus buod ng noli me tangere this because he has not accomplished his mission (He has not yet 'ascended to the Father') and hence, cannot be touched. Sudeten German writer and Rizal's friend Ferdinand Blumentritt claimed that buod ng noli me tangere is the professional nickname used by ophthalmologists (such as Rizal himself) for cancer of the eyelids.
buod ng noli me tangere is a novel written in Spanish by Filipno writer and natinal hero Jose Pizal, first published in 1877 in BerIin, Germany. The English translation was originally titled The Social Cancer, although more recent translations have been published using the original Latin buod ng noli me tangere.

The day after the humbling party, Ibarra goes to see María Clara, his love interest, a beautiful daughter of Captain Tiago and an affluent resident of Binondo, Manila.
Having completed his studies in Europe, young Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra comes back to the Philippines after a 7-year absence. In his honor, Captain Tiago throws a get-together party, which is attended by friars and other prominent figures. In an unfortunate incident, former curate Father Dámaso belittles and slanders Ibarra. But Ibarra brushes off the insult and takes no offense; he instead politely excuses himself and leaves the party because of an allegedly important task.
Their long-standing love is clearly manifested in this meeting, and María Clara cannot help but reread the letters her sweetheart had written her before he went to Europe. Before Ibarra left for San Diego, Lieutenant Guevarra, a guardia civil, reveals to him the incidents preceding the death of his father Don Rafael, a rich hacendero of the town.

According to the Lieutenant, Don Rafael was unjustly accused of being a heretic, in addition to being a filibuster—an allegation brought forth by Father Dámaso because of Don Rafael's non-participation in the Sacraments, such as Confession and Mass. Father Dámaso's animosity against Ibarra's father is aggravated by another incident when Don Rafael helped out on a fight between a tax collector and a student fighting, and the former's death was blamed on him, although it was not deliberate. Suddenly, all of those who thought ill of him surfaced with additional complaints. He was imprisoned, and just when the matter was almost settled, he got sick and died in jail. Still not content with what he had done, Father Dámaso arranged for Don Rafael's corpse to be dug up and transferred from the Catholic cemetery to the Chinese cemetery, because he thought it inappropriate to allow a heretic such as Don Rafael a Catholic burial ground. Unfortunately, it was raining and because of the bothersome weight of the cadaver, the men in charge of the burial decided to throw the corpse into the lake.

Revenge was not in Ibarra's plans; instead he carries through his father's plan of putting up a school, since he believes that education would pave the way to his country's liberation. During the inauguration of the school, Ibarra would have been killed in a sabotage had Elías—a mysterious man who had warned Ibarra earlier of a plot to assassinate him—not saved him. Instead the hired killer met an unfortunate incident and died. The sequence of events proved to be too traumatic for María Clara who got seriously ill but was luckily cured by the medicine Ibarra sent her.

After the inauguration, Ibarra hosts a luncheon during which Father Dámaso again insults him. Ibarra ignores the priest's insolence, but when the latter slanders the memory of his dead father, he is no longer able to restrain himself and lunges at Father Dámaso, prepared to stab the latter for his impudence. As a consequence, the Archbishop excommunicates Ibarra. Father Dámaso takes this opportunity to persuade the already-hesitant father of María Clara to forbid his daughter from marrying Ibarra. The priest wishes María Clara to marry a Peninsular named Linares who just arrived from Spain.

With the help of the Captain-General, Ibarra's excommunication is nullified and the Archbishop decides to accept him as a member of the Church once again. But, as fate would have it, some incident of which Ibarra had known nothing about is blamed on him, and he is wrongly arrested and imprisoned. But the accusation against him is overruled because during the litigation that followed, nobody could testify that he was indeed involved. Unfortunately, his letter to María Clara somehow gets into the hands of the jury and is manipulated such that it then becomes evidence against him.

Meanwhile, in Captain Tiago's residence, a party is being held to announce the upcoming wedding of María Clara and Linares. Ibarra, with the help of Elías, takes this opportunity and escapes from prison. But before leaving, Ibarra talks to María Clara and accuses her of betraying him, thinking that she gave the letter he wrote her to the jury. María Clara explains to Ibarra that she will never conspire against him but that she was forced to surrender Ibarra's letter to her in exchange for the letters written by her mother even before she, María Clara, was born. The letters were from her mother, Pía Alba, to Father Dámaso alluding to their unborn child; and that she, María Clara, is therefore not the daughter of Captain Tiago, but of Father Dámaso.



A financial aid came from a friend named Maximo Viola. Rizal at first, however, hesitated but Viola insisted and ended up lending Rizal P300 for 2,000 copies; buod ng noli me tangere was eventually printed in Berlin, Germany. The printing was finished earlier than the estimated five months. Viola arrived in Berlin in December 1886, and by March 21, 1887, Rizal had sent a copy of the novel to his friend Blumentritt.Rizal finished the novel on December 1886. At first,
María Clara, thinking that Ibarra has been killed in the shooting incident, is greatly overcome with grief. Robbed of hope and severely disillusioned, she asks Father Dámaso to confine her into a nunnery. Father Dámaso reluctantly agrees when María Clara threatens to take her own life. demanding, "the nunnery or death!"[2] Unbeknownst to her, Ibarra is still alive and able to escape. It was Elías who has taken the shots. It is Christmas Eve when Elías wakes up in the forest, gravely wounded and barely alive. It is in this forest that Elías finds Basilio and his lifeless mother, Sisa. Elías dies without having seen the liberation of his country.
Afterwards, Ibarra and Elías board a boat and flee the place. Elías instructs Ibarra to lie down and the former covers the latter with grass to conceal the latter's presence. As luck would have it, they are spotted by their enemies. Elías thinks he could outsmart them and jumps into the water. The guards rain shots on the person in the water, all the while not knowing that they are aiming at the wrong man.

Rizal started writing buod ng noli me tangere in Madrid, Spain. Half of it was done by the time he left for Paris. Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, a well-known writer and political activist, volunteered his services as proofreader and consultant.
On August 21, 2007, a 480-page then-latest English version of buod ng noli me tangere Me Tangere was released to major Australian book stores. The Australian edition of the novel was published by Penguin Books Classics, to represent the publication's "commitment to publish the major literary classics of the world".[4] American writer Harold Augenbraum, who first read the buod ng noli me tangere in 1992, translated the novel. A writer well-acquainted with translating other Latin literary works, Augenbraum proposed to translating the novel after being asked for his next assignment in the publishing company. Intrigued by the novel and having been known more about it, Penguin nixed their plan of adapting existing English versions of the novel, and instead translate on their own.[4]

[edit] Reaction and legacy

buod ng noli me tangere was Rizal's first novel. He was 26 at its publication. This book was historically significant and was instrumental in the establishing of the Filipino's sense of national identity. The book indirectly influenced a revolution although the author, José Rizal, advocated nonviolent means and only direct representation to the Spanish government. The novel was written in Spanish, the language of the educated at a time when Filipinos were markedly segregated by diverse native languages and regional cultures.
The book was instrumental in creating a unified Filipino national identity and The buod ng noli me tangere has since been adapted in many art forms. A 180-minute film of the same name was produced in 1961 A tv series existed in 1992, and a musical play was staged in 1994.consciousness, as many Filipinos previously identified with their respective regions to the advantage of the Spanish authorities. It lampooned, caricatured and exposed various elements in the colonial society.
The novel created so much controversy that only a few days after his arrival, Governor General Terrero summoned him to the Malacañáng Palace and told him of the charges saying that the buod ng noli me tangere was full of subversive ideas. After a discussion, the liberal Governor General was appeased; but he mentioned that he was unable to offer resistance against the pressovernment and clergy. A character which has become a classic in the Philippines is the priest "Father Dámaso" which reflects the covert fathering of illegitimate children by members of the Spani
Rizal depiction of nationality by emphasizing the qualities of Filipinos: devotion of a Filipina and her influence to a man's life, the deep sense of gratitude, and the solid common sense of the Filipinos undeure of the Church to take action against the book. The persecution can be discerned from Rizal's letter to Leitmeritz: "My book made a lot of noise; everywhere, I am asked about it. They wanted to anathematize me ['to excommunicate me'] because of it ... I am considered a German spy, an agent of Bismarck, they say I am a Protestant, a freemason, a sorcerer, a damned soul and evil. It is whispered that I want to draw plans, that I have a foreign passport and that I wander through the streets by night ..."
This novel and its sequel, El Filibusterismo (nicknamed Fili), were banned in some parts of the Philippines because of their portrayal of corruption and abuse by the country's Spanish gr the Spanish regime.

sh clergy. In the story, Father Dámaso impregnates a woman. Copies were smuggled in nevertheless, and when Rizal returned to the Philippines after completing medical studies, he quickly ran afoul of the local government. First exiled to Dapitan, he was later arrested for "inciting rebellion" based largely on his writings. Rizal was executed in Manila on December 30, 1896 at the age of thirty-five.