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Putu Oka Sukanta brings historical memory to wider audience
Spaces is a novel that transforms former political prisoner Putu Oka Sukanta’s historical memory – of being imprisoned without trial from 1966-1976 to withstanding torture and human rights abuses – into fiction.
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In English: Author and activist Putu Oka Sukanta is set to release his latest novel 'Celah' (Spaces: Reflections on a Journey) in Jakarta. (Lara Norgaard/-)
T
he story starts in present-day Jakarta, on the morning of a human rights conference. An older narrator wakes up and argues with his wife as married couples do. He chats with the taxi driver on the way to the meeting hall before taking the stage.
The narrator, it becomes clear, is a former political prisoner from Soeharto’s New Order regime. As he speaks to the crowd, memories flood in. Traumatic images pull readers away from a conference room into a distant but heavy past.
“The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I heard the voices of a crowd walking along beside a number of men with their hands tied behind their backs. With them was a man brandishing a machete. Once I realized I was still on my feet, I started reading again from my notes.”
The book detailed above is Putu Oka Sukanta’s Celah, to be released in English as Spaces: Reflections on a Journey. It was translated by Keith Foulcher and published by Lontar.
The launch will take place on Oct. 30 from 12 noon to 8:30 p.m at Goethe-Institut, Jakarta, with programming and book releases to honor the Balinese writer’s long-term dedication to human rights and literature on the year of his 80th birthday.
Spaces – a novel that transforms historical memory into fiction – is an ideal showcase for the commemorative event.
The novel’s narrator is a fictionalized version of Putu Oka himself, who was imprisoned without trial from 1966 to 1976, withstanding torture and human rights abuses and then decades of social stigma and legal probation.
