A Strategy for Finding True Love

By AS Laksana; Translated by Pamela Allen

Seto could have carefully explained religious conversion and the reasons behind it. He would have provided valid and realistic reasons, beyond the fact that all religions are good, citing his own case as an example. It must be noted that Seto’s decision to change his religion was initially based on a very trivial event. That’s a common phenomenon in the emergence of various forms of enlightenment. As you know, Newton was inspired by an apple that fell from a tree and Archimedes by the water overflowing from his bathtub.

From the short story “A Strategy for Finding True Love”

While the stories in this anthology are in and of Indonesia, they are more than tales about Indonesia. To read them is to be taken to unexpected places in time and space. Indeed they often seem to transcend time and space. AS Laksana explores the nature of human relationships and seeks to reveal what it is that connects us as humans and what it is that makes us have to disconnect. The stories range in style from gritty realism to domestic drama to flights of fancy, and take us from the early days of Dutch colonialism to modern Indonesia. Notable for the prevalence of feisty female protagonists, the stories also feature a cast of eccentric and sometimes elusive characters, from hapless rulers to inept magicians to bereft lovers to the enigmatic Everyman character Seto. Told in uncompromising, sometimes brutal, language, these  stories remind the reader that, difficult as they might be, relationships are at the heart of the human condition. When relationships fail, when communication breaks down, things fall apart.

Dimension: 14 x 21.5 cm
Publisher: The Lontar Foundation
Year: 2024
Category: Fiction, Short Stories