In preparation
for a trip to Bali, I was frustrated by the few books that I could find which were
applicable. I could find almost no novels that were written about Bali, and
there seems to be no Balinese literature. There was one novel written in 1937
and another 1937 travel book, but beyond basic travel books, and there was
no was no current literature. How could there be no literature about Bali? Finally,
after meeting Maria, the owner of Villa Wastra in the bamboo forest area of Bali, an
educated, worldly and articulate woman, I got the recommendation for Indonesia, Etc., which was only
published a few days before my travels began. Maria explained the dearth of literature by saying the educational system in much of Indonesia is poor and people simply don't read. How sad.
Elizabeth
Pisani, a former journalist and epidemiologist specializing in HIV/AIDS, spent
many years in Indonesia, and in preparation for this book, took 13 months to
travel extensively through the country’s back roads. This nation was cobbled together
at the end of World War II, with the defeat of the occupying Japanese army, when the charismatic Sukarno announced its
independence. The nation is comprised of over 13,000 islands and its peoples
speak more than 700 different languages. Given the contrast between modern and
crowded/crazy Jakarta with the largely very primitive outer islands, Pisani
realized that her task of trying to write a single book about Indonesia was
impossible. She does give a quick and interesting history of the islands before
they were settled by the Dutch, and then she discusses the impact of the Dutch
rule. Overall, this is an interesting travel book by a capable travel writer, so if you’re
headed in the direction of Indonesia, I’d recommend this book.
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