Kampus Kabelnaya
Friday, September 28th, 2007 @ 03:05
Menjadi Mahasiswa di Uni Soviet
by Koesalah Soebagyo Toer (2003)
A collection of vignettes about his study in the former USSR, Kampus Kabelnaya is divided into two parts: the first written as a recollection, the second more of diary entry-like short pieces, written during Toer’s study. Most of the pieces in the first part are longer, carefully-thought of (taking age into consideration), while the second has the youthful (if sometimes naive) romanticism.
Written in a simple manner, Toer’s undisguised leftish inclination is obvious, especially in the second part. One might be tempted to draw comparisons to his brother, the famed Pramoedya Ananta Toer; certainly both their writings strongly support Communism, heavily peppered with its cause and slogan. Even taking into account our hindsight, his hagiography on Chernevsky and condemnation against “arts for the sake of arts” (echoing Pramoedya’s staunch vilification against non-socialist realism arts) seem unabashedly naive for a person who’d lived for years in the USSR, especially in the glaring absence of any substantial criticism to the general conditions and repressions in the country. Still, it offers interesting insights into a subject rarely brought into public lights.
December 19th, 2007 21:18
Yah, gw cuman sempat ngintip dua bab waktu buku ini dipamerin di Petra. XDDD (keburu pindah ke Jakarta) Kapan datang lagi ke Jakarta? Pinjem. ;-)