In this article Olenka Budi Darma Tiffany Tsao
By Tobias Carroll, originally published in Words Without Borders
Jul 30, 2026
Read the full article here.
By Tobias Carroll, originally published in Words Without Borders
Jul 30, 2026
What the publisher says: “In Bloomington, Indiana, Fanton Drummond’s life changes when he encounters Olenka Danton in an elevator. Infatuated at first sight, Fanton begins to see Olenka everywhere, from bus stops and parks to the imagined settings of his mind’s eye. Soon they begin an affair, and Fanton steps deeper into Olenka’s mysterious world.”
What Ted C. Fishman at Newcity Lit says: “. . . if one reads it, as I do, as a kind of Indonesian samizdat in which critical literature is smuggled in under the guise of being set abroad with no Indonesian characters, Olenka, in addition to its literary merits, is a passport to Indonesia during that era. An era which, ironically, presaged the politics and fear in Middle America today.”
What I say: Imagine a supercollider into which a series of seemingly disparate elements are placed: a knowing look at the world of literary magazines in the late 1970s; a narrator’s unexpected romantic pursuits; a collection of found photographs; and the inspirational sports drama Breaking Away. Olenka somehow combines all of these into a structurally sound whole while also adding some formally impressive aspects into the mix. It’s like nothing else you’ll read this year.
What Ted C. Fishman at Newcity Lit says: “. . . if one reads it, as I do, as a kind of Indonesian samizdat in which critical literature is smuggled in under the guise of being set abroad with no Indonesian characters, Olenka, in addition to its literary merits, is a passport to Indonesia during that era. An era which, ironically, presaged the politics and fear in Middle America today.”
What I say: Imagine a supercollider into which a series of seemingly disparate elements are placed: a knowing look at the world of literary magazines in the late 1970s; a narrator’s unexpected romantic pursuits; a collection of found photographs; and the inspirational sports drama Breaking Away. Olenka somehow combines all of these into a structurally sound whole while also adding some formally impressive aspects into the mix. It’s like nothing else you’ll read this year.
Read the full article here.
WWB
