The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Poetry: The Twentieth Century in Poetry

The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Poetry presents a wide-ranging selection of twentieth-century poetry, more than 325 poems by more than 180 authors, available for the first time in English translation. In Indonesia poetry enjoys a status far and above all other genres. Popular with the public in a way that's unimaginable in the West, poetry is accessible through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, films and poetry readings. Major historical issues are articulated and negotiated through poetry, such as decolonization and the emergence of national consciousness, ethnic and gendered identities, and the environmental and social effects of modernization. This anthology offers a vivid portrait of twentieth-century Indonesia as seen through the lens of its poetry. As a complement to the Lontar anthologies of Indonesian drama and short stories, The Lontar Anthology of Indonesian Poetry offers the unique opportunity to explore the trajectories of a nation and its people through its poetry, which continues to act as the barometer of Indonesian literary life.

John H. McGlynn (Editor) John H. McGlynn has translated several dozen publications under his own name, and through the Lontar Foundation, which he co-founded in 1987, has ushered into print close to two hundred books on Indonesian language, literature, and culture. He is the Indonesian country editor for MĀNOA, a literary journal published by the University of Hawai’i Press; the senior editor for I-Lit, an on-line journal focusing on Indonesian literature in translation; a contributing editor to Words Without Borders and Warscapes, U.S. based literary journals; and an editor advisor for Jurnal Sastra, an Indonesian-language on-line journal. He is also a frequent speaker at seminars both in Indonesia and abroad.