A Literary Walking Tour in Madrid: Part 2 (And Birthday Post!) 😉

Welcome Back to the continuation of my literary tour of Rizal’s Madrid where I spent this summer traversing and retracing the footsteps of patriot Jose Rizal who had spent some years living in Madrid where he wrote his novel, attended various cultural events and raised awareness of the plight of Filipinos back in the Philippines.

Herewith, I continue to share highlights of the tour along with some preliminary (brainstorming!) notes to include in scenes that I wish to incorporate in my longtime novel-in-progress (without revealing spoilers!) 😊

 

Calle Gran Via (formerly C/. San Miguel 7, 1º)

A letter dated Sept. 11, 1883 to his parents in the Philippines stated Rizal lived here in this pension, paying a daily rent of four pesetas a day.  His rent excluded the cost of kerosene which he had to buy himself so he could read and study at night. Perhaps because the living conditions weren’t ideal, Rizal had to seek another boarding house with a Filipino student.

 

Personal writing notes: I envision a scene showing Rizal struggling to write and read in the evenings feeling frustrated that the kerosene lamp he was using caused him to maybe miss a few meals or not afford nights out with friends. I could see the light go out in the middle of his writing poetry and a letter to Leonor prompting him to finally look for another place to live.

 

Calle del Barquillo 34, 4º

Just a hop and a skip away from his previous residence, this Gran Vía lodging had also been temporary according to this same correspondence to his parents, he asked that all future letters be forwarded to this address.  Living with Rizal was Esteban Villanueva who came to Madrid to study law but later became an established painter.  The tour pamphlet states that many Filipinos had taken up the arts since a number of them pursued these as careers: Luna, Hidalgo, Melecio Figueroa, an engraver and Villanueva.    

Rizal at that point was in dire financial straits. In his diary, he mentioned his high grades in medicine, his victory in Greek contests and exams in Historia Universal but said he had to pawn Saturnina’s ring given to him, to pay for his exams.  Once Rizal had endured a whole day without a meal. Fortunately, the Paternos had asked him to deliver one of the main speeches at a banquet, a toast to Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo who had just won first and second prizes (for the Spoliarium and Virgenes Cristianas Expuesta al Populacho),  respectively, at the art competition sponsored by the Exposicion de Bellas Artes in Madrid.  He wrote his notes in code in his diary which were later decoded by Miguel Unamuno, his Spanish friend, upon the request of Wenceslao Retana.

 

Personal writing notes: While David and I explored Rizal’s former stomping grounds, we quickly realized that most, if not all, of Rizal’s residences were pretty much in the same area, a fact that prompted David and I to dub Rizal’s living experience in Madrid as “apartment hopping” as all the places he lived at were within walking distance to each other. Still, we didn’t visit all his residences in order at the same time as hunger and heat took over, halting our tour until cooler climes prevailed. From all that was stated above about this place, I’m thinking of combining Rizal’s experiences in these two residences into one scene though at the time of this writing, I haven’t yet decided how to do that. My options are: to have Rizal recount the experiences in a memory/flashback or to have him simply tell Jeneviere (my protagonist from the present time. I know, it’s a hint of what’s to come but it’s not like I spilled more details to spoil the reading experience). And it’s also worth noting that ever since David mentioned to me about Miguel Unamuno before my trip back to Madrid, I toyed with the idea of linking this Spanish author to Rizal as they were indeed contemporaries of this time period. Turns out, history had already done me a favor by revealing that indeed these two great authors were friends, proof that while there had been tensions between Spain and the Philippines, two men from these opposing countries still shared a fondness and passion for literature and that their friendship transcended these hostile boundaries. 😊  

 

Calle Pizarro 15 (formerly C/. Pizarro 13 , 2º Dcha.)

Rizal wrote a letter to his family, on Aug. 29, 1884 regarding his living with classmates Ceferino de Leon and Julio Llorente at this place very close to the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras at c/ Bernardo where he was to finish his philosophy and letters degree in a year. At this time he wrote to his family why sugar prices had fallen—Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well as the colonies of Great Britain, had replaced the Philippines as the new sources of U.S. imports, the biggest at that time. But by far, the most notable fact was it was here where Rizal quietly started his novel Noli Me Tangere.

 

Personal writing notes: I feel that by far, everything I’d experienced and seen and felt during this tour of Rizal’s old stomping ground were leading up to this moment: the place where Rizal’s famed Noli Me Tangere was conceived (but not born as that moment would come in a different place much later). Every site David and I visited, we tried to imagine what it was like during the time he lived here: the sights, the sounds, the smells. In many ways, the Madrid at the time of Rizal’s residence was more or less no different the Madrid today. Here, in this residence is where I envision writing a scene where Rizal pens his novel with great hope and promise for a better future for his country and people.

 

Calle Cedaceros 11, piso principal

Rizal mentioned in a letter to his family that in this residence, perhaps Rizal’s last in Madrid, he only spent 15 days here, from Oct 1 to 15, 1885 with roommates sharing the place with Ceferino de Leon and Eduardo de Lete.  He informed his parents of his eventual move to Paris and Berlin to study ophthalmology under the best professors at that time.  His mother’s eyesight had worsened and Rizal counted on the best ophthalmological education possible to treat her when would return to the Philippines, a matter his brother Paciano had been concerned about leading him to urge Rizal to stay in Hong Kong instead since it would be the safe option and closer to home.  Rizal earned himself as reputation as an anti-friar intellectual which had become public because of his speech at the Hotel Ingles at the banquet to honor Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo.  According to Paciano, returning to the Philippines would be a death sentence since a lot of Spaniards were awaiting to punish him for claiming that the Indios could be even better than the colonial masters if given the chance to develop themselves.

 

Personal writing notes: Knowing all of this, I feel compelled to show a (flashback) scene of Rizal (or a scene of Rizal recounting this experience) of reading his brother, Paciano’s letter with both concern for his mother—another main reason for his living and studying abroad—and for fear of his life should he return to the Philippines. He’ll recall experiencing anxiety stemming from all this as if anything were to happen to him, who would be the one to cure his beloved mother’s blindness? Was he willing to take the risk of going back home to the Philippines anyway? From a writerly standpoint, I think it’s been nothing short of amazing visiting these places Rizal had inhabited because I could almost feel his anxiety over not being able to cure his mother, and smell the fear of not being able to do what he believed he was put on this earth to do: make a difference in the lives of his fellow Filipinos.

Thank you for reading this part of my writing process as writing about this novel research experience has been giving me the opportunity to relive this exciting literary adventure! Please check back for the continuation of this series…