Ziarah

“Ziarah” is one of the most unusual novels to have ever been published in Indonesia. It is a complex mixture, uniting a poetic lyricism with meditation on life, death and art. The novels chief characters are an artist and a cemetery overseer; the former representing emotion and the latter, reason, conflicting aspects of human nature. Despite the characters’ antagonism and cruelty they are, in some ways, very similar: both represent forms of creativity, philosophy and art. Both exist outside conventional society. Both are searching for genuine human values and are aware of their shortcomings. In “Ziarah” , the chaos of thought and feeling represent the chaos of life’s own randomness. When first published, “Ziarah” was hailed as the first really modern Indonesian novel and the beginning of a completely new path in Indonesian writing.