He was banned from writing during his imprisonment on the island of Buru. But he created his best-known series of work , the Buru Quartet. It is a series of four historical fiction novels telling about the development of Indonesian nationalism. The books are partly based on his own experiences growing up. The English titles of the books are: "This Earth of Mankind", "Child of All Nations", "Footsteps", and "House of Glass". The main character of the series is named Minke. He is a minor Javanese royal. The character is similar to an Indonesian journalist named Tirto Adhi Surjo. He was active in the nationalist movement.
The quartet includes strong female characters of Indonesian and Chinese ethnicity. The books show how hard it was for these people to live under colonial rule. They experienced racist discrimination and attacks. They struggled for personal and national political independence. These books are typical of much of Pramoedya's writing. They tell personal stories and focus on individuals caught up in the movements of a nation's history.
Pramoedya had done research for the books before he was sent to the Buru prison camp. When he was arrested his library was burned and much of his collection and early writings were lost. On the prison colony island of Buru he was not permitted even to have a pencil. Pramoedya thought that he would ever be able to write the novels on paper. He told the stories of the novels to his fellow prisoners. Other prisoners listened to the stories then helped him. They did extra labor so that Pramoedya did not have to work as much. So finally he was able to write the novels down. The final books took their name, "Buru Quartet," from the prison where he created them. They have been collected and published in English. Maxwell Lane translated them. They are also in many other languages. By 2005, they had been published in 33 languages (BIWP). Many people outside of Indonesia though that these wre excellent books. They won many awards. But the Indonesian government banned publication in Indonesia. So one of Indonesia's most famous literary works was almost impossible to find the country's people whose history it addressed. Indonesians abroad scanned copies and shared them on the Internet with people inside the country.
Pramoedya's works on colonial Indonesia recognised the importance of Islam as a vehicle for popular opposition to the Dutch. His works are not about religion and do not have clear religious themes. He opposed people who used religion to control how people think. Sometimes he wrote negatively about the religiously pious.
Pramoedya was freed from prison in 1979. But, he was still under house arrest in Jakarta until 1992. During this time he released "The Girl From the Coast", another semi-fictional novel based on his grandmother's own experience (volumes 2 and 3 of this work were destroyed along with his library in 1965). He also wrote "Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu" (1995); "A Mute's Soliloquy", an autobiography based on the letters that he wrote for his daughter from imprisonment in Buru but were not allowed to be sent, and "Arus Balik" (1995).
He wrote many columns and short articles criticizing the Indonesian government. He wrote a book "Perawan Remaja dalam Cengkeraman Militer" ("Young Virgins in the Military's Grip"), a documentary written showcasing the plight of Javanese women who were forced to become comfort women during the Japanese occupation and were subsequently subject to oppression by their own Indonesian society. The Japanese military took these women Buru island. They were raped and sexually abused by the Japanese. Many stayed there instead of returning to Java. Other political prisoners on Buru with Pramoedya were able to meet some of these women. They told the women's stories to Pramoedya. He wrote them down in narrative form in the 1970s. This was the start of the book published in 2001.
Pramoedya was hospitalized on April 27, 2006 for complications from diabetes and heart disease. He was also a heavy smoker of Kretek (clove) cigarettes and had endured years of abuse while in detention. Pramoedya was praised for his writing and won many awards. Many thought he was best candidate for a Nobel Prize in Literature from Indonesia and Southeast Asia.
Pramoedya's writings on Indonesia address the international and regional currents caused by political events in history and how these events flowed through his homeland and buffeted its people. Pramoedya also shares a personal history of hardship and detention for his efforts of self-expression and the political aspects of his writings, and struggled against the censorship of his work by the leaders of his own people.
Books on Pramoedya Ananta Toer
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