Description
Must violence leave those it touches silenced? Or can words emerge from suffering, terror and domination to bring understanding, compassion and even healing?
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Putu Oka Sukanta is one of Indonesia’s few writer to grapple with such crucial questions. The richly textured stories in Wounded Longing show us the humanity behind the headlines, the emotional lanscape of those strugling to endure political violence, state tyranny and the grinding pain of everyday life in cultures fractured by gender discrimination and relenless poverty.
Putu Oka Sukanta’s works hold a special place in Indonesia’s literatury hidytory for their strikingly realistic depictions of the lives of the oppressed. His characters are not powerless victims of circulstances, but complex humans, honest in their efforts to survive, caught up current of history that they themselves do not always understand. Whether writing about a political prisoner returning to hir village after the mass violence of 1965, a sex worker for whom madness becomes the only language of resistance, a man who finda in his daughter’s birth a painful poetry on inequality, or a farmer cheated by his hopes that tourism can lift his family out of hardship, Putu Oka Sukanta weaves empathy into his words in a way that leaves the reader profoundly touched. Finely crafted and depply moving “Wounded Longing” is essential reading for those seeking to understand Indonesia’past and to help heal its hurta for the future.
—Degung Santikarma
Putu Oka Sukanta, was born in Singaraja, Bali, in July 29, 1939, and has been writing since the age of 16. He has traveled widely invited for lecture, seminar and reading his writings to Asian countries, Europe, USA, and Australia. He was invited to follow the Festival and Workshop Human-Writes, in Manoa, Hawaii, year 2001. He have awarded NEMIS prize from Chili for his short story “Luh Galuh”. He also active in HIV/AIDS programs and producing documentary films. As a member of Lekra, he was imprisoned by New Order without trial for ten years (1966—1976).
His books in literature:
Poems collection: Selat Bali, 1982; Tembang Jalak Bali/The Song of the Starling, 1986; Salam/Greeting, 1986; Tembok—Matahari Berlin/Die Mauwer—Die Sonne Berlin, 1990; Perjalanan Penyair, 1999; Surat Bunga dari Ubud/Flower Letter from Ubud, 2008.
Novel: Merajut Harkat, 1999; Di Atas Siang Di Bawah Malam, 2004; Kerlap Kerlip Mozaik, 2001.
Short stories collection: Keringat Mutiara, 1990 / Sweat of Pearls, 2002; Rindu Terluka, 2005 / Wounded Longing, 2005; Bukan Kematian, 2006.
Putu’s writing also published in:
Indonesian Contemporary Progresive Poetry, Indonesia, 1963; The Prison Where I Live, London, 1996; Voice of Conciences, USA, 1995; Bali Behind the Seen, Australia, 1997; Black Cloud Over Paradise Isle, USA, 1997; Menagerie IV, Indonesia, 1998; Silenced Voices, Hawaii, 2000; Another Paradise, Boston, 2008; Titian, Jakarta 2008; Lobakan, Jakarta, 2009.
