Sunday, February 18, 2007
In Search of the Indonesian Writer('s Identity)
Roliflex aka. Tenyom aka. Avie ponders the future of Indonesian literature now that the great Pramoedya Ananta Toer has passed, and fears that the baton will not be passed to a female. Unless some things change first....
While the rest of the nation is disoriented, the great Indonesian writer must push further against the dark. Like Pram who knew exactly what his Indonesia was (whether real or imaginary), she has to re-invent Indonesia in herself. What is Indonesia, after all, if not fiction?
That a darkness must be pushed against I wholeheartedly agree.
We at the Sacred Bridge Foundation have always thought that culturally speaking, Indonesia's biggest problem as a culture is one of identity. Personally speaking, despite Indonesia being an entity forced into being by the forces of historical necessity, it does not mean that we cannot look deep within ourselves (both as an individual and as a complete Indonesian community) to solidly define who we are as a people.
Avie's essay is a most highly recommended read, at least if you have even a merely slight interest in contemporary Indonesian literature.
Reference:
In Search of the Indonesian Writer by Tenyom
But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?
