Makamisa (The Search For Rizal's Third Novel)

In Hong Kong, in 1892, Jose Rizal began writing a sequel to El Filibusterismo. He began in Tagalog, called the opening chapter "Makamisa", then started anew in Spanish, and eventually left behind two texts comprising an unfinished third novel. In 1987, while working in the National Library, Ambeth Ocampo stumbled on the Spanish drafts of Makamisa with a 245page manuscript labelled Borrador del Noli Me Tangere. He reconstructed the unwieldy drafts into a translation and a full narrative, which is the core of this book. He provides context for this by detailing for the non-specialist reader the scholarly chase that led to the discovery of the manuscript, the process of research, and the task of authentication that led to the conclusion that Makamisa is Rizal's third novel, and not, as previously thought, the unfiished work know as "Tagalog Nobility." Makamisa brings forward a new Rizal work for students and their families, historians and scholars, to enjoy -- one in which Filipinos can see themselves and part of their history. Through it Ocampo proves that Rizal is not a closed book, and that even as we approach the centennial in 1996, ther still is matter for study on, research on, and enlightenment from the enigma that is Jose Rizal.