Red

By Iwan Simatupang (author), Harry Aveling (translator)

Red is Iwan Simatupang at his exhilarating best. The novel is the story of a tramp and two very different women, both of whom love him. It explores human identity, love and the nature of faith in a chaotic postmodern world. In so doing, it rejects old fashioned notions of character, plot, artistic commitment and logical content. Instead, it favours spontaneity, contextual authenticity and the exploration of naturally occurring situations. For Iwan Simatupang there is no morality that can prescribe how one should live in the face of human existence. It is something one just does. “Philosophy” is a verb, not a noun. And life is a journey, not a destination.