This Earth of Mankind
Overview
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
Pramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemic and histories of his homeland and its people...
's epic quartet called Buru Quartet
Buru Quartet
The Buru Quartet is a literary tetralogy written by Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer. It is composed of the novels This Earth of Mankind, Child of All Nations, Footsteps, and House of Glass.-External links:...
, first published by Hasta Mitra in 1980. The story is set at the end of the Dutch colonial rule
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
and was written while Pramoedya was imprisoned on the political island prison of Buru
Buru
Buru is the third largest island within Maluku Islands of Malay Archipelago. It lies between the Banda Sea to the south and Seram Sea to the north, west of Ambon and Seram islands. The island belongs to Maluku province of Indonesia and includes the Buru and South Buru regencies...
in eastern Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. The story was first narrated verbally to Pramoedya's fellow prisoners in 1973 because he did not get permission to write. The story spread through all the inmates until 1975 when Pramoedya was finally granted permission to write the detailed story.
The central character and the narrator of This Earth of Mankind is a Javanese boy, Minke, who is fortunate to attend an elite Dutch school because he is a descendant of Javanese royalty.
Discussions
