Tetralogi Buru

Series · 4 books · 1975-1988

By Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Books in series

Bumi Manusia

1980

Minke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world.

Child of All Nations

1975

In Child of All Nations, the reader is immediately swept up by a story that is profoundly feminist, devastatingly anticolonialist—and full of heartbreak, suspense, love, and fury. Pramoedya immerses the reader in a world that is astonishing in its vividness: the cultural whirlpool that was the Dutch East Indies of the 1890s. A story of awakening, it follows Minke, the main character of This Earth of Mankind, as he struggles to overcome the injustice all around him. Pramoedya’s full literary genius is evident in the brilliant characters that populate this world: Minke’s fragile Mixed-Race wife; a young Chinese revolutionary; an embattled Javanese peasant and his impoverished family; the French painter Jean Marais, to name just a few.

Jejak Langkah

1985

As the world moves into the twentieth century, Minke, one of the few European-educated Javanese, optimistically starts a new life in a new town: Betawi. With his enrollment in medical school and the opportunity to meet new people, there is every reason to believe that he can leave behind the tragedies of the past. But Minke can no more escape his past than he can escape his situation as part of an oppressed people under a foreign power. As his world begins to fall apart, Minke draws a small but fervent group around him to fight back against colonial exploitation. During the struggle, Minke finds love, friendship, and betrayal—with tragic consequences. And he goes from wanting to understand his world to wanting to change it. Pramoedya's full literary genius is again evident in the remarkable characters that populate the novel—and in his depiction of a people's painful emergence from colonial domination and the shackles of tradition.

House of Glass

1988

With House Of Glass comes the final chapter of Pramoedya's epic quartet, set in the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the century. A novel of heroism, passion, and betrayal, it provides a spectacular conclusion to a series hailed as one of the great works of modern literature. At the start of House of Glass, Minke, writer and leader of the dissident movement, is now imprisoned—and the narrative has switched to Pangemanann, a former policeman, who has the task of spying and reporting on those who continue the struggle for independence. But the hunter is becoming the hunted. Pangemanann is a victim of his own conscience and has come to admire his adversaries. He must decide whether the law is to safeguard the rights of the people or to control the people. He fears the loss of his position, his family, and his self-respect. At last Pangemanann sees that his true opponents are not Minke and his followers, but rather the dynamism and energy of a society awakened.

Author

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Author · 33 books

Pramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics, and histories of his homeland and its people. A well-regarded writer in the West, Pramoedya's outspoken and often politically charged writings faced censorship in his native land during the pre-reformation era. For opposing the policies of both founding president Sukarno, as well as those of its successor, the New Order regime of Suharto, he faced extrajudicial punishment. During the many years in which he suffered imprisonment and house arrest, he became a cause célèbre for advocates of freedom of expression and human rights. Bibliography: * Kranji-Bekasi Jatuh (1947) * Perburuan (The Fugitive) (1950) * Keluarga Gerilya (1950) * Bukan Pasarmalam (1951) * Cerita dari Blora (1952) * Gulat di Jakarta (1953) * Korupsi (Corruption) (1954) * Midah - Si Manis Bergigi Emas (1954) * Cerita Calon Arang (The King, the Witch, and the Priest) (1957) * Hoakiau di Indonesia (1960) * Panggil Aku Kartini Saja I & II (1962) * The Buru Quartet o Bumi Manusia (This Earth of Mankind) (1980) o Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations) (1980) o Jejak Langkah (Footsteps) (1985) o Rumah Kaca (House of Glass) (1988) * Gadis Pantai (The Girl from the Coast) (1982) * Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (A Mute's Soliloquy) (1995) * Arus Balik (1995) * Arok Dedes (1999) * Mangir (1999) * Larasati (2000)