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Pramoedya Ananta Toer

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The Fugitive Hardcover – January 1, 1990

by Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Author), Willem Samuels (Translator)

4.3 11 ratings

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In the twilight days of Japanese power in his country, an Indonesian army officer sparks an insurrection against the occupation army but is forced to flee into the jungle when he is betrayed by one of his own comrades

Print length

171 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow & Co
Publication date

January 1, 1990
Dimensions

0.9 x 5.9 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

0688086985
ISBN-13

978-0688086985
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Indonesia under Japan's brutal occupation during WW II is the setting for this electifying novel, written in 1947 while Pramoedya was in a Dutch forced-labor camp. The hero, Raden Hardo, a young Indonesian platoon commander, leads a nationalist army revolt that is quashed when a co-conspirator leaks the plan. Disguised as an itinerant beggar, hunted by Japanese soldiers, Hardo returns to his hometown in Java. His mother is dead; his half-crazed father drowns his sorrow in compulsive gambling; his fiancee has moved away; and his father-in-law-to-be promptly reports his whereabouts to the Japanese. The plot, an explosive mix of love, betrayal, collaboration and revenge, is ironically heightened by the fact that the Japanese are only a day or two away from surrendering to the Allies. The prose is lyrical, musical, yet hard as shrapnel. Pramoedya is now under arrest in Jakarta, his works banned in Indonesia. Anti-colonialist but nondidactic, this shattering tale is a microcosm of innumerable personal tragedies of lives pulverized by war and conquest.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Indonesian novelist Toer has been a political prisoner in his native land for much of his writing life: All the novels by this winner of the 1988 PEN Freedom Award, including this, his first, have been banned by the Indonesian government. Written in 1947 while Toer was imprisoned in a forced labor camp, this is the powerfully told story of Raden Hardo, betrayed by a fellow officer while leading a revolt against the Japanese army. Disguised as a beggar, Hardo flees through the countryside, for if he is captured he will be executed. Hoping to see his fiancee, Hardo cautiously returns to his native village, where he encounters his father and future father-in-law. Although he refuses to reveal his identity to his family, he is recognized and betrayed again, thus setting into motion a tragic chain of events. Toer's tough, unsentimental style forcefully expresses his view of art as an instrument for political protest and change. Recom mended.
- Christine Stenstrom, New York Law Sch. Lib.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow & Co; First Edition (January 1, 1990)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 171 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0688086985
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0688086985
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.9 x 5.9 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,716,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #164,259 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.3 11 ratings

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4.3 out of 5

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K. Gibson

Open Your Eyes

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2009

Verified Purchase

It was my good fortune to discover and read this book many years ago. I recently bought fresh copies to share with others.

Other reviewers for Amazon see certain aspects of this novel as faults while I see them as virtues.

Mary Whipple's very useful comments remindeded me of the distinctions in tone with which Pramoedya characterizes conversations between the different players. Mary, if you can speak to your mother-in-law as informally, comfortably and confidently as you speak to your mother (is that a bad example) you are rare, even in America, or long married. Consider the traditional culture of Indonesia half a century ago. I think Pramoedya is telling us something by the way he says something even more than by what he says.

S. Kelly, who seems forced to be in Indonesia and forced to read Pramoedya, is in my heaven. I was in Jakarta on a quick business trip, two decades ago. When I came home I told my wife I had fallen in love with a country I hardly knew. Pramoedya helps me maintain the affair. Consider "The Fugitive" in the context of the land that brought the world the shadow play.... You might like "The Girl from the Coast."

For those with a hearty appetite I recommend the Buru Quartet - four novels "written" through oral recitation and memorization committed to print once the author was out of prison. This man is a literary giant and a political hero.

Please note that this slim paperback is way overpriced at the publisher's list price. I got my new copy from amazingsalebooks, an Amazon seller, for $9.35 including shipping. The pristine, new copy arrived in two days by USPS. I am only allowed to give a paperback copy to one of my former students who finds himself a prisoner at juvenile hall. My new hardcover copy (also pristine) cost less than the paperback!

3 people found this helpful

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Michael Leon

Great read

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2014

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Pramoedya is a great story teller and poet: This book is a pleasure to read, the pages keep turning; Pramoedya creates a suspenseful story that is interesting from start to finish; he does not bog the reader down with unnecessary fluff; is very concise yet very descriptive; the characters are compelling and enigmatic; the descriptive language flows with great fluency and was masterfully translated; the dialogue keeps the reader wanting to know 'what's next?'

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James W. Fonseca

War's Toll in Indonesia

Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2015

A short novel by the classic Indonesian author. Like most of his other work, it focuses on the wars of his country fighting first for independence from the Dutch colonial occupiers and then from the Japanese after their invasion in WW II. Our hero in the book revolted against the Japanese and is now a hunted fugitive disguised as a beggar. So far he has survived several manhunts but just before the defeat of the Japanese he is captured while visiting his home area. His father and fiancée are being held as hostages pending his capture. We are told in the introduction that the book is structured as a Javanese shadow-box puppet play. It has a repetitive negative theme to each of its four chapters: “No, I will not go home; no I am not your son, he lies to his elderly father; no I am not sentimental in still having faith in my childhood friend who betrayed our trust, and no, his fiancée says, I don’t know where the fugitive is.” Like the author’s other work, including All That is Gone, which I have reviewed, the main theme is the human toll of warfare.

2 people found this helpful

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Battatu

Clean copy arrived quickly

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020

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The copy I received was in excellent shape, clean and unmarked as promised.

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Customer

Great for our son's 40 book challenge.

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent!!!

One person found this helpful

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Mary Whipple

Fascinating, but uneven in tone

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2001

Published in Indonesia in 1950, this very early novel by Indonesia's foremost author focuses on the final days of the Japanese occupation during World War II. The main character, Hardo, and two soldier friends had aided the Japanese in ousting the Dutch colonials who had ruled the country for years, their ultimate goal being the independence of the country. After becoming disillusioned by the Japanese, they had attempted a coup, only to have it fail because of betrayal by one of the men. The novel focuses on Hardo, running for his life ever since, in three encounters he has while disguised as a beggar, each encounter showcasing the conflicting loyalties within the country, and developing the suspense.

Though the novel is intriguing and its powerful descriptions of nature are absolutely stunning, it is strangely inconsistent in tone and feels stylistically fragmented. Hardo's first encounter, with his future father-in-law, is positively operatic, resembling a duet between wooden characters, their dueling voices swirling around almost like a canon. "Come to the house," the traitorous father-in-law says, echoing the invitation more than fifteen times, offering Hardo, disguised as a beggar, a variety of enticements, each of which he refuses. In the second encounter, with his own father, the operatic style dies, more communication takes place, and a narrative emerges. The third section, a meeting with co-conspirator Dipo, several others involved in the rebellion, Japanese officers, and the father-in-law is a fully developed theatrical scene, tying together the narrative and themes through dialogue.

With the novel's structure echoing a variety of genres and its characters subordinated to theme, I found it difficult to become emotionally involved with the characters themselves, however much I might have been sympathetic to their plight and fascinated by the subject matter. The novel clearly presages the greatness which comes to fruition in Pramoedya's later tetralogy, This Earth of Mankind, however, and I highly recommend it as an introduction to his more mature work. Mary Whipple

5 people found this helpful

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Jayfred

No.

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2017

This 1950 book did not interest me at all.

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S. Kelly

Predictable with Flat Characters

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2007

I read this book out of obligation as I'm now in Indonesia. I've made myself finish it. I found the dialog false and the characters flat. Every event seems contrived. It's like a puppet show with the strings and less than masterful puppeteer quite visable.

2 people found this helpful

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