Durga Umayi: A Novel

This first English edition of the satirical Indonesian novel (1991) affords an overview of the Sukarno and Suharto eras and insight into the postcolonial condition This scathingly satirical and hilarious novel, first published in Indonesia in 1991, affords both a blithely irreverent overview of Indonesian history in the Sukarno and Suharto eras, and brilliant insights into the postcolonial condition. Mangunwijaya (1929-2001) was a well-known Indonesian political activist and writer, as well as a Catholic priest, engineer, and architect. Framed by the world of ritual shadow plays - the realm of witches like Durga and the goddess Umayi - Mangunwijaya’s novel gives an unblinking but remarkably compassionate account of people caught up in the great nationalist maelstrom of Indonesia’s recent history.