As the world moves into the twentieth century, Minke, one of the few European-educated Javanese, optimistically starts a new life in a new town: Betawi. With his enrollment in medical school and the opportunity to meet new people, there is every reason to believe that he can leave behind the tragedies of the past. But Minke can no more escape his past than he can escape his situation as part of an oppressed people under a foreign power. As his world begins to fall apart, Minke draws a small but fervent group around him to fight back against colonial exploitation. During the struggle, Minke finds love, friendship, and betrayal—with tragic consequences. And he goes from wanting to understand his world to wanting to change it. Pramoedya's full literary genius is again evident in the remarkable characters that populate the novel—and in his depiction of a people's painful emergence from colonial domination and the shackles of tradition.
From Publishers Weekly
A vibrant portrait of a people coalescing into nationhood, this third volume of a projected tetralogy (the Buru quartet) by Indonesian novelist Pramoedya continues the story begun in Child of All Nations and This Earth of Mankind. The protagonist is again expelled Javanese medical student Minke, who now becomes a journalist, then a grass-roots political organizer and eventually a crusading publisher of the archipelago's first Native-owned daily newspaper. Set in the period 1901 to 1912, this novel measures Minke's dream of a unified, multiethnic Indonesia free of Dutch rule, against the harsh realities of colonial occupation. The picture is bleak: oppression, exploitation, slavery and brutal subjugation of the Netherlands Indies' indigenous people by the Dutch military, working in concert with a local ruling elite. Inspired by the life of Indonesian journalist Tirto Adi Suryo, the story is rich in human drama and history. Minke corresponds with Ter Haar, a roving liberal Dutch journalist; battles his old nemesis, racist terrorist Robert Suurho; and matures emotionally through two dramatic marriages. Lane's introduction will help readers new to these books to plunge into the engrossing narrative.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
In the third volume of the "Buro Tetralogy" (e.g., This Earth of Mankind, LJ 9/1/91), Toer continues the story of Minke, an activist in the struggle for native rights in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He travels to Betawi (now Jakarta) to study medicine but soon realizes that he must fight for an end to the political system of apartheid kept in place by the Dutch government during the early 20th century. The uneven writing style varies between stilted (but heartfelt) expressions of ideology and very moving accounts of Minke's experiences. Toer's books are all banned in Indonesia, and he is under house arrest in Jakarta. Minke's story is a courageous record of colonial repression and unrest. As a novel, however, Footsteps will be most appreciated by those who have read and enjoyed the first two volumes, so libraries should purchase accordingly.
Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Max Lane, a former Australian diplomat stationed in Jakarta, translates and introduces the third novel of Toer's epic tetralogy set in the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the century. From 1965 to 1979, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, an outspoken critic of the Indonesian government, was imprisoned in the notoriously brutal concentration camp on the island of Buru. Since reading or writing was all but forbidden, he began to narrate the gripping saga of Minke, a young native determined to understand and to eventually challenge the repressive social strictures that characterized colonial society in Asia in the early twentieth century, to his fellow prisoners. In Footsteps, Minke travels to Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies, to attend medical school. During his sojourn in Batavia, a hotbed of political, social, and intellectual curiosity and unrest, Minke embarks on a personal odyssey of self-discovery, emerging as an active participant in the movement for self-determination. Absolutely stunning historical fiction set against the vivid and violent backdrop of the dawning of a fledgling nation. Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, born on the island of Java in 1925, was imprisoned first by the Dutch, then by the Indonesian government as a political prisoner. He received the PEN Freedom to Write Award and the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
