Publisher's Synopsis
Volume 1 of 'The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Short Stories' presents 48 stories dating back to the days of rising nationalism in the first part of the century to just before the downfall of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, and the rise of a militaristic government following the tragic events of 1965. Stories from the 1920s that drew on oral storytelling traditions and were suffused with nationalistic ideology were gradually replaced by fiction written with realism as a guiding principle. At all times, writers were the unofficial spokespeople for the issues affecting their generation.