Surat dari Pejompongan: Keharuan

Kawan Moer, Di seruas jalan perdesaan di Slavetin, Republik Ceko—saat hendak mengunjungi desa kelahiran penyair Konstantin Biebl bersama beberapa mahasiswa dan dosen Studi Indonesia Universitas Charles, Praha, musim gugur 2017—aku pernah terharu oleh sebuah...

Ruminations by John McGlynn: What’s in a Name?

As an altar boy at Saint Anthony’s in my youth, when the Roman Catholic vernacular was Latin, I had to memorize all the Latin prayers of the Mass but my first true experience in trying to communicate in a foreign language was when I was in high school and the study of...

Greetings from the Executive Director: May 2021

Do Indonesians have a culture of reading?  Not really was the finding of experts debating the issue on the occasion of the National Book Day on May 17, which coincided with the establishment of the National Library 41 years ago. Despite the increasing number of books...

Ruminations by John McGlynn: Borders

Without translation I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. [The translator] introduces me to the world. Italo Calvino As a youngster, “vacation” was for me an unknown term. Never once in my memory did my parents...

Surat dari Pejompongan: Cerita Anak

Saudara Anu, Apakah masa kecil Saudara bahagia? Jika iya, apa yang membuat Saudara bahagia? Jika tidak, kalau boleh tahu, apa sebabnya? Apa pun jawaban Saudara nanti, saya ingin bersangka baik bahwa ketika kecil Saudara termasuk anak yang bahagia. Salah satu sebabnya...