| Title | : | Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 9814914177 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9789814914178 |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | Published February 1, 2023 |
In 1981, a new company, Hasta Mitra, founded by three men just released from over a decade in prison, published a novel written in a prison camp by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. The novel was This Earth of Mankind. It told the story of the early gestation of the Indonesian national awakening. The dictatorship eventually banned it after several months of tactical struggle by the three men, Pramoedya himself and the fighters of Hasta Mitra, Joeoef Isak and Hasyim Rachman. In defiance of the dictatorship, they went on to publish the three sequels to This Earth of Mankind, each time followed by another battle and then a ban.
Indonesia Out of Exile: How Pramoedya’s Buru Quartet Killed a Dictatorship Reviews
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A great book to read about Indonesia's history and how important Pramoedya Ananta Toer and other related important figures helped shape and change the country's understanding of itself in the 20th century. It has definitely spurred on my pre-existing desire to read the Buru Quartet and Max Lane is deeply insightful in his analysis of the works' impact on Indonesia's discovering of itself. I think he was the right person to write this book.
My only criticism is that some parts of the book were a bit convoluted in making the points it was trying to make, and I did notice some typos in the text that gave me the impression that it was maybe a bit rushed to get it to publication or the editors hadn't gone through as rigorous a process in getting it to its final draft. Perhaps some of the ideas could have been explored in more clear terms with another pair of eyes checking it over.
Overall this is a very informative and nuanced look into Indonesia's history and how important literature is to both understanding and inspiring revolution.
