No, I am not there, but one of the loyal — and an MIT grad student at that — made a special request for this topic…
My favorite things Indonesian
Previous post: Business and the cost of health care
Next post: Interview with Guillermo Calvo
Our Books
Modern Principles of Economics
Launching The Innovation Renaissance
The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will(Eventually) Feel Better
Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World
Discover Your Inner Economist
Good and Plenty: The Creative Successes of American Arts Funding
Judge and Jury: American Tort Law on Trial
Markets and Cultural Voices: Liberty vs. Power in the Lives of Mexican Amate Painters (Economics, Cognition, and Society)
The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society (Economics, Cognition, and Society)
Creative Destruction: How Globalization Is Changing the World's Cultures
Changing the Guard: Private Prisons and the Control of Crime
What Price Fame?
In Praise of Commercial Culture
Entrepreneurial Economics: Bright Ideas from the Dismal Science
Contact Us
In Holland, real mavens draw a distinction between Indonesian food and Dutch East Indian food, which is what you often get at an Indonesian restaurant. Rijstaffel is apparently a Dutchified, rather than an indigenous, creation. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it, of course. I believe the real Indonesian joints cluster in The Hague. Is that right?
Your nod for Pramoedya is much appreciated. He is one of the most evocative writers I have ever read, despite being completely alien to the subject matter. As for Indonesian painters, the Balinese are the best. Le Mayeur and Arie Smit are absolutely top notch, as is Gunarsa. Sasya Tranggono is excellent too, and still alive. As for films, there are no good ones. Indonesia’s film industry is all but dead, notwithstanding a slew of excellent blue films in the ’70s. You missed out on the most impressive thing about Indonesia however, and that is their temples. The Indian and Buddhist traders in the early centuries created stunning stunning stunning monuments to the Gods. For starters, try Borobudur and Prambanan. Then look to Bali for Tanah Lot and Bedugul in particular, the latter of which consists of several temples on a lake that you must row to get to.
Some of Garin Hugroho’s works are quite good. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0637838/
There are not many Indonesian novels that have been translated into English, I think. Among others, see Mochtar Lubis’ Tiger! and Achdiat K. Mihardja’s Atheis.
Having been smitten by Sumatran food, a question: do you know of any restaurants serving Sumatran food in the DC metro area? I don’t, and it’s not from lack of trying to find one.
Well said, Ann.
For some reasons, the worlds, it seems, just forget what Pramoedya had done (or should have done) to his colleagues in the early 1960s. Having said that, of course, I agree that Pramoedya’s works are some of Indonesia’s best.
Btw, here is other Mochtar Lubis’ works: http://www.serve.com/inside/edit83/p23_hill.html
Does anyone know of any 1950s or pre 50s painters who painted wayang kulit figures as, as I have (3) large ones and want to know more about them, thanks, John.
Comments on this entry are closed.