The writings of the Philippine national hero José Rizal provide the framework for a Master course held by Prof. Roger Friedlein in the summer term 2020.
Rizal (1861-1896) is not only one of the key figures of the Philippine independence from Spain and has biographical links to Germany, but is, besides his work as a poet, dramatist and essayist, one of the most interesting Spanish-speaking novelists of the 19th century. His two novels Noli me tangere (1887), first published in Berlin, and El Filibusterismo (1891), set in the Philippines and of great interest for the knowledge of colonial society, were originally written in Spanish. They can be related to Spanish literature of Realism, which was the dominating literary aesthetic of Rizal’s time. Therefore, the central point of comparison in this course are Spanish novels like Doña Perfecta (1876), and Fortunata y Jacinta (1887) by Benito Pérez Galdós, one of the most influential Spanish realist novelists. On this basis the seminar, which is attended by students of Spanish literature, attempts to define the essence and strategies of realist writing in metropolitan Spain and the Philippines.
The course is currently attended by around 12 interested Master’s students and is realized virtually, partly in German and in Spanish language. For German students of Spanish, it is a stunning experience to observe how the literatures of extremely distant territories like Spain, Spanish-speaking Latin America and the Philippines could be connected in the 19th century by similar literary techniques.
This is the third seminar at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in the context of the newly founded „Philippinen-Initiative“, after preceding courses on „Las Filipinas Hispánicas“ (The Spanish Philippines) in the summer term of 2018 and „Berichte der Entdeckungsfahrten nach Südostasien“ (Chronicles on the voyages of discovery to South-East Asia) in the past winter term 19/20.