Book Review: “An anthology that’s a one-stop shop for everything Rizal”In “
Rizal +: A One-Stop Shop For Everything Rizal,” a book review of the recently published coffee table book commemorating the various facets of Dr. Jose P. Rizal and his life, Manila-based budding photojournalist Francis Layf Custodio says that the accounts about the Philippine National Hero in the book are not simply a retelling of what we as students had picked up in school: “The colorful entries included in this compilation present the distinguished doctor from perspectives quite untold. They unlock the different sides of this historical giant in a way that could tickle the fancy of both the well-versed Rizalian or any ordinary Tom, Dick, or Harry who’d want to know more about him.”
Writing in the California-based
Positively Filipino website, Custodio comments at some length on Rizal’s intellectual, political, and literary depth as elucidated or dissected separately by the book’s scores of contributors. Specifically on Rizal’s English-language skills, Custodio noted: “Delving further into the written word, we can find in Jose Carillo’s essay ‘Did Rizal Ever Speak and Write in English?’ an in-depth analysis of the distinguished doctor’s proficiency in the English language, especially as one of his preferred modes of storytelling. Carillo briefly dissects a letter Rizal sent to one of his dearest friends, Ferdinand Blumenttrit, showing how he could have improved on his grammar and word choice despite already being self-conscious about his use of the language.”*
IMAGE CREDIT: FROM THE BOOK “RIZAL +”Custodio sums up his impressions of the 176-page, full-color anthology: “So many parts of this invaluable anthology excite and intrigue the reader, leading to sundry questions that Rizal himself might have imagined in his inimitably prescient way as a genius, Renaissance man and paragon of moral, intellectual and aesthetic worth.”
Read Francis Layf Custodio's “Rizal +: A One-Stop Shop For Everything Rizal” in the Positively Filipino website now!---------
*The essay “Did Rizal Ever Speak and Write in English?” in this Rizal anthology was excerpted with permission from Jose Carillo’s series of essays on Rizal with the same title that appeared in Jose Carillo’s English Forum on January 28, 2010. The series can be accessed in full in the Forum by clicking this link to “Did Rizal ever speak and write in English?”
“Did Rizal Ever Speak and Write in English?”
