Skip to main content

About Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Pramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics, and histories of his homeland and its people. A well-regarded writer in the West, Pramoedya's outspoken and often politically charged writings faced censorship in his native land during the pre-reformation era. For opposing the policies of both founding president Sukarno, as well as those of its successor, the New Order regime of Suharto, he faced extrajudicial punishment. During the many years in which he suffered imprisonment and house arrest, he became a cause célèbre for advocates of freedom of expression and human rights.

Pramoedya was born on February 6, 1925, in the town of Blora in the heartland of Java, then a part of the Dutch East Indies. He was the firstborn son in his family; his father was a teacher, who was also active in Boedi Oetomo (the first recognized national organization in Indonesia) and his mother was a rice trader. His maternal grandfather had taken the pilgramage to Mecca.[2] As it is written in his semi-autobiographical collection of short stories "Cerita Dari Blora", the name was actually Pramoedya Ananta Mastoer. But he felt that the family name Mastoer (his father's name) seemed too aristocratic. The Javanese prefix "Mas" refers to a man of the lowest rank in a noble family. Consequently he omitted "Mas" and kept Toer as his family name. He went on to the Radio Vocational School in Surabaya but had barely graduated from the school when Japan invaded Surabaya (1942).

During World War II, Pramoedya (like many Indonesian Nationalists, Sukarno and Suharto among them) at first supported the occupying forces of Imperial Japan. He believed the Japanese to be the lesser of two evils, compared to the Dutch. He worked as a typist for a Japanese newspaper in Jakarta. As the war went on, however, Indonesians were dismayed by the austerity of wartime rationing and by increasingly harsh measures taken by the Japanese military. The Nationalist forces loyal to Sukarno switched their support to the incoming Allies against Japan; all indications are that Pramoedya did as well.

On August 17, 1945, after the news of Allied victory over Japan reached Indonesia, Sukarno proclaimed Indonesia's total independence from all colonialists. This touched off the Indonesian National Revolution against the forces of the British and Dutch. In this war, Pramoedya joined a paramilitary group in Karawang, Kranji (West Java) and eventually was stationed in Jakarta. During this time he wrote short stories and books, as well as propaganda for the Nationalist cause. He was eventually imprisoned by the Dutch in Jakarta in 1947 and remained there until 1949, the year the Netherlands accepted Indonesian independence. While imprisoned in Bukit Duri from 1947 to 1949 for his role in the Indonesian Revolution, he wrote his first major novel The Fugitive.

Awards Major Works
  • Kranji-Bekasi Jatuh (1947)
  • Perburuan (The Fugitive) (1950)
  • Keluarga Gerilya (1950)
  • Bukan Pasarmalam (1951)
  • Cerita dari Blora (1952)
  • Gulat di Jakarta (1953)
  • Korupsi (Corruption) (1954)
  • Midah - Si Manis Bergigi Emas (1954)
  • Cerita Calon Arang (The King, the Witch, and the Priest) (1957)
  • Hoakiau di Indonesia (1960)
  • Panggil Aku Kartini Saja I & II (1962)
  • The Buru Quartet
    • Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) (1980)
    • Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations) (1980)
    • Jejak Langkah (Footsteps) (1985)
    • Rumah Kaca (House of Glass) (1988)
  • Gadis Pantai (The Girl from the Coast) (1982)
  • Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (A Mute's Soliloquy) (1995)
  • Arus Balik (1995)
  • Arok Dedes (1999)
  • Mangir (1999)
  • Larasati (2000)
click here: Wikipedia


Comments

Post a Comment