Can an entire nation be haunted by a trauma that originates from phantoms, ghosts from the past that are not materially real yet exist in the psychical realm? Can fantasies, spurred by a desire for a future that may fail to come true, become the source of a “national trauma”? Can dread of what … [Read more...]
Finding home in the ‘Imaginary City’ by Rain Chudori
June 13, 2018 by
Home is a not a place, but a feeling. There are also people who believe that you can find a home in a person. But what happens when that someone leaves? Rain Chudori provides the answer in Imaginary City. To be exact: she leaves clues and trails so you can find a home in the city, where someone … [Read more...]
‘Apple and Knife’: a riot of unruly women
June 12, 2018 by
A collection of playful and provocative short stories by Intan Paramaditha In her author acknowledgments, Intan Paramaditha thanks “the first disobedient woman” – her mother – who “inspired many of [her] early stories”. Apple and Knife is a riot of disobedient women, including vengeful, neglected … [Read more...]
Lisa Bennett reviews ‘Apple and Knife’ by Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen J. Epstein
June 12, 2018 by
There is an observation in the titular story of Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha’s first collection to be published in English, which can be read as the thematic spine of the book: ‘Sometimes it seemed like there was nothing new to talk about. It was the same old story, repeated over and over, … [Read more...]
Eka Kurniawan’s Man Tiger: Fiction that Brings us Back to the World
June 12, 2018 by
“The tigress had come to him, lying beside him on the surau’s warm rug, while the universe outside froze. As his grandfather had said, the tigress was white as a swan or a cloud or cotton wool. How unbelievably happy he was, for the tigress was more than anything he had ever wanted”. Indonesia’s … [Read more...]
