Fontane (1897): "The old-fashioned battles with all their battalions--even though they still keep on multiplying--they're disappearing from modern history. From real history, I mean, the kind that's worth reading about. And if they themselves aren't disappearing, interest in them is in any case."

As far as we know José Rizal (1861-1896) never met Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) during his sojourn in Berlin in the winter of 1886/87, but as the young Asian author moved outwards to embrace European ideas we find a corresponding outward movement to the world, to Asia, in Fontane's late works.

Spheres of influence were no less relevant for Filipino nation builders like José Rizal in the late nineteenth century than they are for us today. Rizal's sketch shows American, British, Dutch, French and Spanish spheres of influence in the Pacific. Image source: Archive.org