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Jennifer Mackenzie
Borobudur and other poems
by: Jennifer MackenzieAt the time of the construction of the Borobudur in the ninth century, Buddhism had been established in Java for several centuries. Jennifer Mackenzie’s Borobodur, an exquisite long poem, tells the story of its legendary architect, Gunavarman, and of Indonesia’s mystical monument with cultural understanding, sensitivity, and great feeling. Like Gunavarman by the poem’s end,
Rp95.000
At the time of the construction of the Borobudur in the ninth century, Buddhism had been established in Java for several centuries. Jennifer Mackenzie’s Borobodur, an exquisite long poem, tells the story of its legendary architect, Gunavarman, and of Indonesia’s mystical monument with cultural understanding, sensitivity, and great feeling. Like Gunavarman by the poem’s end, Mackenzie becomes a “dot on the horizon” leaving us stilled in silence
ISBN: 978-979-25-1007-2Publish Date: 2012
Page Count: 110 p.
Additional information
| Dimensions | 15 x 22 cm |
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“Borobudur and other poems”
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Antologi Drama Indonesia, Jilid 2 (1931-1945)
Antologi Drama Indonesia Jilid 1 (1895-1930)
In the end of the 19th century, the Dutch Indies grew a new style of performing arts with Malay language known as “Komedi Bangsawan” or the vaudeville. The appearance triggered by urbanization and the need of entertainment. Nevertheless, as shown by the nine plays in this first chapter, the author– mixed or locals – then exploits the opportunity to understand Malay language not just for entertainment but also to disseminate ideas, social concepts, and new philosophies. Slowly, this art performance can be said as the new people’s theatre.
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Testimony Rp175.000
Testimony
Rendra (1935-2009) is one of Indonesia’s most important poets and dramatists. During his lifetime he embodied the Indonesian sense of what a true artist should be. He was a flamboyant personality, often dubbed “the peacock”. His dedication to his art was absolute, and he gave honest and creative expression to his emotions and thoughts. His writing used a simple, flexible long-limbed free verse that is attractive and immediately accessible.
Raised within a mystical Javanese milieu, Rendra saw nature, the individual and society as potentially forming one harmonious whole. In his poetry and his plays this commitment to personal authenticity and social justice was expressed through stories. He wrote about all sorts of people: himself, his family children and grandchildren, those he met in daily life, the poor, the marginalized, victims of social injustice, women and children forced to live without love. Rendra’s criticism of New Order government development policies led to his detention and the banning of his public reading and performance of his works for almost a decade. His message to those who held power but lacked compassion was simple: “we say NO! and NO! to you”. To life itself, he said: “be and continue to grow” – be present, be centered, and at the same time be constantly in motion, constantly flowing. This book is his testimony to the sacredness of life in all its beauty.
Available in e-book
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What’s Left & Other Poems Rp100.000
Taufik Ikram Jamil’s poetry is filled with references to the geography, history and classic Malay literature. With their Malay flavor and diction, his poems convey a tension between the past and present, between the colloquial and the literary, and between regionalism and nationalism. The poet bequeaths the wealth of the Malay language.
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To Love To Wonder Rp150.000
In 1953, when Sitor Situmorang published his first collection of poetry, Green Paper Letters (Surat Kertas Hijau), he established himself as a prominent poet. In an essay he wrote some thirty years later, he would state that the poems of this collection expressed a single theme only: “love and wanderlust being two aspects of one and the same experience.”
To Love, To Wander, with poems dating from throughout Sitor’s productive writing career, is a travelogue, describing forty years of ontinuous love and wandering. It would be difficult to characterize his poetic work as a whole, even though the travelogue we could draw on the basis of a careful reading seems to deny every idea of development and change.
The main characteristic of Sitor’s poetry is the simplicity of its wording, the clarity of its syntax. The tales and descriptions bear a deceptive transparency: they suggest a coherence and control that is only confirmed in the regular rhymes and rhythms – but once readers set themselves to a serious interpretation, that transparency fades. The very lucidity leaves many open places that are not filled by making connections with other poems. Sitor’s poetry is a poetry of words, evoking concepts, calling up series of pictures and images that never come full circle.
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The Starling Si Jalak Rp150.000
Arrested as a leftist-activist in 1966, Putu Oka Sukanta was imprisoned until 1976. In The Starling, he speaks of the terrible degradation of humanity and the inner strength and solidarity of comradeship which emerge in the extreme conditions of imprisonment. The poems go on to explore the painful steps in the reconstruction of life and social meaning after the prison gates have opened.
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