Violence in the Writings of Seno Gumira Ajidarma

Seno Gumira Ajidarma (b.1958) is one of Indonesia’s most prominent and productive writers with some 30 books published since the 1980s. His writings cover journalism, novels, short stories, essays and academic studies. Three of Seno’s books have been published in English: Eyewitness (translated by Jan Lingard), Jakarta at a Certain Point in Time (translated by Michael Bodden) and Jazz, Perfume and the Incident (translated by Gregory Harris). As such, Seno’s writings are not yet widely available in English. In fact, a recent article in The Economist states that less than 1% of books published annually in the US and Britain are translated fiction. The Lontar Foundation and academic publications are the main sources of Indonesian literature in translation. Seno’s readership in Indonesia, however, is broad: his stories and essays appear in the mainstream and popular press. Indicative of his popularity is the website Sukab which is dedicated to re-publishing Seno’s articles. Seno’s output has been propelled not only by a broad curiosity and eclecticism, but, also by various publishers, editors and philanthropists who have commissioned him to write short stories and novels.