Bumi Manusia

About “Bumi Manusia”

The first book in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Buru Quartet, first published by Hasta Mitra in 1980. Set at the end of Dutch colonial rule, it was written while Pramoedya was imprisoned on the political island prison of Buru in eastern Indonesia. He first narrated the story verbally to fellow prisoners in 1973 because he lacked permission to write, and it spread among the inmates until he was granted permission to write it down in 1975. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.)