This Earth of Mankind (Bumi Manusia)

I finished reading Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) by the world-famous Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Pak Pram)--the English translation--last night and its sheer humanism and pathos that beautifully and tragically explores the socio-political-cultural landscape of the bygone Netherland Indies (pre-independence Indonesia) never ceases to mesmerize me. Granted that the novel in its original Indonesian text packs more emotional punch and conjures up a more vivid imageries of the time--no least attributed to Pak Pram's unparalleled language facility--but the English version translated by Max Lane is not too shabby either. The price that this courageous translator, Max Lane, had to pay for this excellent and indispensible translation was to be booted out of Indonesia from his diplomatic post at the Australian Embassy at the strong urging of the Soeharto's regime. It was only recently--since 1998, to be exact--that Pak Pram's books were made available to the Indonesian public, though technically, the official ban on his books still exists. Still, his books are really hard to come by in Malaysia, who somehow still maintains a nostalgic solidarity with the deposed Soeharto's regime. I had to go to Indonesia to buy his books, which I'm happy to report that ever since the fall of Soeharto's fascistic Orde Baru has become a SE Asian literary heaven, as Jerome Kugan breathlessly raved in this KakiSeni.com article. Word of advice to Malaysians: Go to Indonesia to buy books, along with cheap pirated DVDs and hand-painted batiks. It's definitely on my agenda this summer. Gramedia, here I come!

The book never loses its magnetic appeal to me even when I'm reading it for the second time. The issues raised by Pak Pram in the book, through his protagonist Minke, still maintain substantial relevancy up to this very day, especially in the nation that is still grappling for its elusive national identity and its raison d'etre. I feel so much empathy and a profound affinity with Minke as each of our worldview, our weltenshauung, is shaped by the dynamics of our Western learning and Eastern upbringing--though my existential dichotomy is not as jarring as Minke's. At least I can still read and write rather proficiently in Malay, or so I thought!

I'm almost embarassed to say that I haven't read the rest of the tetralogy (Bumi Manusia is the first installation of the Buru Quartet.) Buru, by the way, is the name of the penal colony island where Pak Pram was being confined to for fourteen years. The stories were originally told orally since the prison illegalized pen and paper. The best analogy one can make of Pak Pram's predicament is to Sheherezade's exploits in the 1001 Arabian Nights where she told fantastical stories night after night only to stop before each climax in order to stave off her impending death. Only in this situation, Pak Pram was trying to lift up the morale of his fellow inmates and to kindle the flicker of hope within them that all is not lost.

I have the rest of the book series with me now and I'll definitely get to them once I'm done with this semester.