‘Impossible to write well about Indonesia without looking at the colonial archives’: an interview with Norman Erikson Pasaribu

In this monthly column, writer Sohini Basak sets out to interview contemporary writers from Asia to understand the nuances of cultural practices, power hierarchies, literary lineages, gender norms, all the while asking the question: Is there an Asian way of thinking? The hope for the column is to not only celebrate, but also sharpen our understanding of the countries geographically closest to us, and heighten our collective curiosities about the shared colonial histories, mythologies, sentimentalities and anxieties. Here’s an excerpt from her interview with writer Norman Erikson Pasaribu:

One of the first thoughts that came to mind on finishing Happy Stories, Mostly, was that the author must be a very, very good listener. Indonesia’s Norman Erikson Pasaribu (b. 1990) is one of the most exciting writers today, writing poetry, short stories, novels, who is unafraid to take risks. Their short story collection Happy Stories, Mostly, in Tiffany Tsao’s English language translation, won the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize and was longlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize. Talking about this title, Norman said in an interview, “Hetero readers hate sad-all-the-time fictional gays, but often put in zero effort to make us, who are gay in flesh, happy.”