Australian writers, scholars mark the passing of an era

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 05/07/2006 11:15 AM  |  Life

Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne

Being of a generation that studied Pramoedya Ananta Toer in secondary school, where his early writings such as Cerita dari Blora (Tales from Blora) and Keluarga Gerilya (Guerrilla family) were compulsory texts, I subconsciously associated his later writings, Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) and the other novels of the Buru Quartet, to a different persona: one with extraordinary inner strength and mental lucidity, whose defiance of adversity yielded amazing literary works.

Thanks to his Australian friend and translator Max Lane, Pramoedya's books have been widely read by Australians, especially during the 1980s. Even in the late 1990s and early 2000s after his release from Buru island, those who had the oppportunity to meet and talk with Pramoedya have always regarded the experience as a privilege, and would recount it with pride.

While fewer of the younger generation read Pramoedya's works today, readers among them know of him. In fact, many do not know any other Indonesian writers.

Pramoedya was a source of admiration until the day he died, and mostly likely, will be for many years to come.

The sad news of his passing on April 30 has brought a sense of loss to those in Australia who have been touched by him in many ways. One of the traits most admired, it appears, is his uncompromising stance.

Well-known poet Judith Rodriguez and her writer-academic husband Thomas Shapcott expressed deep regret over his passing.

""Despite suffering long-term restrictions on his freedom, he set an example of not compromising his insights. We are his debtors for his brilliant and courageous novels,"" they said.

Poet and English Literature Emeritus Professor at Melbourne University Chris Wallace-Crabbe said: ""Pramoedya was one of the greatest writers in our quarter of the world. His works were deeply realist, in the most honourable sense of that word, and his artistic role was heroic. He had a vision which he would not compromise.""

Those more intimate with Indonesian affairs are more effusive in their expressions of regret. Melbourne University's History Department Associate Professor Charles Coppel believes that Pramoedya should have been the first Indonesian to receive a Nobel Prize for literature.

""He was Indonesia's greatest novelist, is world-famous for his works of fiction which have been translated into various languages, including English, but among those who cannot read Indonesian, he is less well known for his contribution to understandings of modern Indonesian history,"" Coppel said.

""In the early 1960s when he taught at Universitas Res Publica in Jakarta, he and his students carefully documented and revealed the story of the emergence of a modern Indonesian literature in the early 1900s. That was long before the colonial government's Balai Poestaka (bureau for popular literature) came into being.""

Coppel acknowleges Pramoedya's invaluable achievements despite being aware of his flaws. ""He was not a saint: he treated the intellectuals of the Manikebu (Cultural Manifesto) group unfairly. But his suffering was much greater than theirs.""

The regrets of George Quinn, Australian National University's Head of Southeast Asia Centre, go beyond ""the huge emptiness in the modern Indonesian literature and in the intellectual life of the country"" he believes Pramoedya's death leaves.

""He is the only Indonesian writer to have claimed a substantial readership right across the world, thanks mainly to translations of his Buru Quartet into English, Japanese and other major languages. But his earlier works like Keluarga Gerilya, Bukan Pasar Malam (It's Not an All-night Affair) and Cerita dari Blora remain little-known abroad and are relatively little known even in Indonesia.

""After his arrest in 1965 and exile to Buru, an entire generation of Indonesians, now in their middle years of life, were denied contact with his early writing,"" said Quinn.

Of the general readership who reads world literature, Director of Asialink Arts Program Allison Carrol may have explained why readers who do not specifically read Indonesian literature still find his works fascinating: ""His books open a window into the times when Indonesia's nationalism began to develop. It is interesting to learn how the peoples in Southeast Asia influenced each other's sense of nationalism, and how Dutch colonialism and Japanese occupation were seen by the local population at the time. The pictures depicted in his novels are illuminating to those outside that culture.""

Pramoedya's legacy in Australia will be stronger than mere memories and regrets, because his works have been copiously quoted in academic theses at universities across the country. A recent scholarly book by Wollonging University's Asian Studies Professor Adrian Vickers, A History of Modern Indonesia, for example, borrows passages from Pramoedya's novels to illustrate the life and ambience of an historical period.

Whatever they may have felt about the author and what he did during his lifetime, readers and others in the literary community of my generation will undoubtedly feel the sadness of an era passing.

Pramoedya certainly deserved the public appreciation, the various awards he received, for bringing Indonesian literature to a global readership.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.