Bumi Manusia

Author: Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Category: Fiction, literature, classics

Language: Indonesian

Publication Year: 1980

Pages: 535

Description:

The Buru Tetralogy novel series is set against the backdrop of Indonesia's early 20th-century beginnings. Reading it transports us back in time to live in the era when the national movement first took root. It captures the intertwining of emotions, the soul's unease, love, and the anonymous struggles of the heroines who nurtured the foundations of a nation that would eventually become modern Indonesia.

The first part of the novel, "This Earth of Mankind," portrays a period of sowing and restlessness, where Minke, as both actor and creator, is a priyayi (Javanese aristocrat) striving to break free from the cocoon of his Javanese heritage to become a liberated and independent person. At the same time, he grapples with his European influences, which symbolize the pinnacle of knowledge and civilization.

Personal Notes:

I read this book in the 1990s while Soeharto's regime banned it. The young nowadays must be grateful that they can easily find and read this book.