Revisiting Pram’s Bumi Manusia

Between an Exile, Cosmopolitan Subject, and World Literature

Abstract

This paper addresses complexity of Pram’s identity (as an exile) and Bumi Manusia (as a product of exile), which relates to cosmopolitan subjects. It will be firstly focused on examining Pramoedya as the writer experiencing a life in exile. The discussion will, furthermore, connect to Minke, the central character in Bumi Manusia, which performs as if a cosmopolitan. This will draw a connection between these two subjects as they presumably reflect the opposites. Secondly, this paper intends to explore the term exile in order to extend the understanding on how ‘exile’ offers different realities to be construed through Pramoedya and Bumi Manusia; contrastively enough with the Indonesian’s political situation, the book earned a worldwide readership. All the juxtapositions above will be approached with Cheah’s concept temporalities which gives a clear understanding that literature “cannot be destroyed by normative forces”, along with Beecroft’s concept related with literature from the ‘center’ and ‘periphery’. Based on the analysis, it is indicated that both Pramoedya and Minke in Bumi Manusia, although being confined, reflect what is understood as temporalities. With this potential of, in Cheah’s concept, ‘opening a new world’, stories like Bumi Manusia, even though being regarded ‘coming from periphery’ does not have to be ‘reactive’, but instead it is able to offer an extension what in the actual world was.