This Earth of Mankind (Buru Quartet) [Paperback]

Pramoedya Ananta Toer (Author), Max Lane (Translator, Afterword)

Book Description

Series: Buru Quartet | Publication Date: May 1, 1996

Minke is a young Javanese student of great intelligence and ambition. Living equally among the colonists and colonized of 19th-century Java, he battles against the confines of colonial strictures. It is his love for Annelies that enables him to find the strength to embrace his world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Indonesian novelist and political dissident Toer's compelling tale of love and colonialism is narrated by a young native student in turn-of-the-century Java who becomes involved in the intrigues of one of the island's leading families.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Protagonist Minke is due all the honors of a Dutch high school graduate in his native Java. Though the 20th century is just dawning, he is a champion of science, technology, and openness amongst the many ethnic levels of Java's colonial society. Himself a Native, Minke marries Annelies, a Mixed-Blood daughter of an astute concubine, one whose owner has left her alone to develop and manage a vast business. When Minke moves in with Annelies and her mother, they form a family at once perfect within yet challenged from without by racial and legal threats that eventually destroy them all. Toer's novel is a beautiful archetype of the evils inherent in colonial and racially stratified societies. The novel was written during Toer's 14 years as a political prisoner, and his continuing city arrest in Jakarta is testimony to its power. Such extraordinary struggle has produced a novel worthy of its author's sacrifice.
- Paul E. Hutchison, Pequea, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140256350
• ISBN-13: 978-0140256352
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great political novels of this century, October 13, 2000

By 

Devin Rambo - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Earth of Mankind (Buru Quartet) (Paperback)

The Kirkus review printed above damns Toer's novel with faint praise when it states that the book is "too obvious a polemic." Too obvious for whom? I wonder if the reviewer would take the same view of any other number of political novels which were used by their authors as a barely disguised fictional framework to attack flawed or unjust cultural values. Is The Grapes of Wrath too obvious a polemic? Of course not, and neither is This Earth of Mankind. Toer makes no effort to disguise the nature of his critique of the social and political values of colonial Indonesian society. Toer's narrative is brilliant; the characters are vivid and developed so well that we have no trouble identifying with them personally, and yet at the same time they are patently obvious symbols of the different racial and social strata in the world of which the novel is set. Toer has been accused of being overly melodramatic in this novel, and while I think that is a reasonable criticism, I have to disagree. The antagonists here are hissable characters, but Toer plays fair with them. They have a clear rationale for what they do and the justification for their actions may seem reasonable and even honorable to them even if we view it as an outrage. Toer balances this all with a tone that never comes across as angry, although given the hardships he himself has endured would make it perfectly understandable if the novel had been tinged with more brimstone. But the narrative does give one the sense of social and political displacement felt by Minke, the book's narrator, and by the family he meets in whose fate he becomes entangled. In This Earth of Mankind, Toer exposes the evils of a society based on and obsessed with castes of race and money, and in doing so has produced one of the essential political novels of the 20th Century.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Subject, Fine Writing, October 22, 2005

By 

Francoise Noy "educator, traveler, reader" - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Earth of Mankind (Buru Quartet) (Paperback)

This is a good start to understanding how colonialism can affect culture and history.
The narrative is perceptive and well-written. Indonesians, especially the Javanese, will find this book compelling and all can walk away with a better understanding of the history of Southeast Asia.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Love Story Introduction to Indonesian Nationalism, June 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: This Earth of Mankind (Buru Quartet) (Paperback)

The history of South East Asia is often misunderstood and misrepresented. By itself, this book stands as a classic love story of a timeless beauty. As an historical passage, this book brings home an understanding of the seeds of Indonesian nationalism. Anyone wishing to learn more about South East Asian history around the period of colonial rule and/or the struggles of a people against a cycle of abuse will find this story compelling, especially given the circumstances under which it was written. I loved the book from both the love story and historical perspectives.