Essay – IDWRITERS

The Literary Canon Today, Part 3: The State Of Publishing Canonical Literature

October 3, 2023 by

Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. – Cassio (Othello, Act 2, Scene 3) So far, my focus in this series of essays (see part 1 here and part 2 here) has been how we write and talk about the … [Read more...]

Seeing Fiction in an Environmental Lens

July 3, 2023 by

It should not be a surprise to know that fiction books can carry heavy messages within them. For instance, George Orwell’s “1984” includes issues like censorship among many, Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway” touches on the damage of war, and Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” has something to say … [Read more...]

When We Became the People from Bloomington

February 9, 2023 by

In late March 2020, I sent a WhatsApp message to the Indonesian author Budi Darma asking him to be careful about the new virus spreading around the globe. I worried that if he contracted it, the consequences might be dire. By all reports, the elderly were especially susceptible, and he was about to … [Read more...]

Two West Papuan Authors You Should Read

August 11, 2018 by

Many of you have probably seen or read about Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s powerful TED talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.” In sum, she argues that if we only hear one story about a place or a group of people then we risk stereotyping, misunderstanding, and reducing that place or … [Read more...]

From Book Review to the Canonization of Literature

July 28, 2018 by Leave a Comment

If we visited a bookstore recently, we can easily get the latest literary books from new authors. Those books were written by authors who, apologetically, I know almost nothing on their writing’s history. It was like they were born this early morning, when we all slept soundly. In the world of … [Read more...]