At Qantara.de Monika Griebeler reports that Indonesia -- this year's 'Guest of Honour' at the Frankfurt Book Fair -- is ... A land without readers.
So, for example:
No, not okay.
Also:
(Meanwhile, it's good to see guest of honour-status helping spotlight what there is coming out of Indonesia (beyond even Pramoedya Ananta Toer !) -- New Directions and Verso are each bringing out an Eka Kurniawan novel this fall, for example, and longtime readers have repeatedly heard me extol Lontar's 'Modern Library of Indonesia' (and for all the Southeast Asian literature under review at the complete review, see this index).)
So, for example:
"Literature as it's known in the West isn't taught at schools. Children do learn when Jane Austen lived, but they don't usually read any of her books," says publisher John McGlynn, whose Lontar Foundation translates Indonesian works into English.I'm not really sure what to say about someone like Goenawan Mohamad, chairman of the national committee for Indonesia is guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair (!), spouting stuff like:
We Indonesians are more sociable and love a good dose of noise. Aside from that, of course, we don't have long winters for sitting inside to read War and Peace for example.Okay .....
No, not okay.
Also:
Most of what comes onto the Indonesian market is straightforward bestsellers translated out of English. That's what earns the publishers money, says John McGlynn. "The books with the largest print runs -- if we can call them that -- are popular novels and those with a religious leaning: a woman finds first God and then a husband," he says with a critical note. "More and more books are being published, but many of them are terribly written."Stil, I see some promise in that 'more and more' .....
(Meanwhile, it's good to see guest of honour-status helping spotlight what there is coming out of Indonesia (beyond even Pramoedya Ananta Toer !) -- New Directions and Verso are each bringing out an Eka Kurniawan novel this fall, for example, and longtime readers have repeatedly heard me extol Lontar's 'Modern Library of Indonesia' (and for all the Southeast Asian literature under review at the complete review, see this index).)