The Cornell University Southeast Asia Program will host the visit of Indonesia's most accomplished prose writer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, to upstate New York April 15-20, 1999. This is Pramoedya's first visit to the United States which will include travel to New York City, Washington D.C., Ann Arbor, Madison, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He will also visit the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Toronto. Pramoedya is in the United States to participate in an academic conference at Fordham University (NYC) in honor of his achievements, promote his new book and to conduct numerous presentations. He will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Michigan at commencement on Sat. May 1. Accompanying him on this national tour are his wife Ibu Maemoenah, and his Indonesian Hasta Mitra editor, Joesoef Isak.
Pramoedya was born on February 6, 1925, in Blora, Java. His father M. Toer, was the director of a nationalist school and prominent in social and political affairs. It is believed his father's activities had great influence on his son's adult role as a social activist. During the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, Pramoedya worked for a news agency, then joined the pemuda (youth paramilitary organization for independence movement). Later, he was employed as editor of SADAR, the Indonesian edition of The Voice of Free Indonesia and subsequently imprisoned by the Dutch from 1947 to 1949 for this anti-colonial activity. In the years following he held several jobs as an editor and academic lecturer while continuing to write essays and short stories. His critical writings and close alignment with the communist-sponsored cultural group LEKRA led to his arrest by the New Order Army in the course of its bloody suppression of communist sympathizers. From October 13, 1965 to December 20, 1979, he was imprisoned without a trial, and exiled in various places in Jakarta, Tangerang, Nusa Kambangan, Buru, and from August 1969 to November 1979, Magelang, and Semarang. Pram was release from prison in 1980 but was confined to the city of Jakarta and had to report to his parole officer every two weeks.
He has authored numerous works of fiction and non-fiction which have been translated into at least twenty-eight languages. Pramoedya has been nominated as a perennial candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize for literature since 1981. A list of his awards follows:
During his visit to Cornell he will meet with faculty and graduate students of the Southeast Asia Program. On Friday, April 16, he is scheduled to meet with Cornell University president, Hunter Rawlings, at 9:00 am in Day Hall. The Echols Collection on SE Asia at Kroch Library will display an exhibit of their holdings by and about the author in the library's Asia Reading Room from April 10-25. The Southeast Asia Program Office of Publications has recently published a book of Pramoedya's short stories written in the 1950's--translated into English--entitled Tales from Djakarta: Caricatures of Circumstances and their Human Beings. The April 1996 issue of SEAP's journal, Indonesia (#61), features articles about the author and his stories. His latest book is entitled The Mute's Soliloquy was published by Hyperion Press. He achieved international popularity through his series of four books--also known as the Buru Quartet--which includes the titles: This Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, House of Glass, published by Penguin Putnam.
On Monday April 19, at 4:30 pm a reception will be held in his honor at the Andrew Dickson White House on the Cornell University campus. Following the reception, Pramoedya will read one of his short stories in Indonesian with a English translation to follow. This program is free and open to the public. Limited seating and tickets for the signing will be available on a first-come-first-served basis. A booksigning, coordinated by Cornell Campus Store, will be held on site immediately following the presentation. An additional booksigning hosted by The Bookery, located downtown at The DeWitt Mall--corners of Buffalo and Cayuga Streets--in the Bookery II annex, will be held on Saturday, April 17 from 11:00 am-12:30 pm. Copies of his books will be available for purchase at both signings.
For more information about this program contact Penny Dietrich at SEAP's Office of Outreach at (607) 275-9452 or (607) 255-3619, ext. 15; e-mail: pn12@cornell.edu; website: www.einaudi.cornell.edu/SoutheastAsia. For more information on the booksigning hosted by the The Bookery contact Gary Weissbrot at 273-5055; e-mail: gary@thebookery.com. Additional information about the author is available on the World Wide Web at: www.radix.net/~bardsley/prampage.html.
P. Nichols-Dietrich.