要 旨:
Almost every town plaza or schoolyard in the Philippines today has a statue
of Jose Rizal. His profile is etched on the most circulated and basic unit
of currency---the one-peso coin. There are Rizal avenues and streets in
every nook of the archipelago. Even commerce is not spared a reference
to the historical: Rizal Cement, Rizal Bowling Lanes, Rizal Commercial
and Banking Corporation, Rizal Matches, Rizal Bakery, Rizal College and
even Rizal Funeral Homes.
Despite the growing bibliographical listing on Rizal, there is much that
remains to be explored and uncovered in his life, his times, and his writings.
This informal seminar will survey the present state of Rizal studies to
illustrate how a return to the primary sources--25 volumes of Rizal's collected
writings--- will prove that Rizal as "National Hero" is everywhere
and nowhere in the Philippines today.