Remembering Budi Darma, Through an Interview with Sapardi Djoko Damono
On Saturday morning, August 21, 2021, the Indonesian nation has lost one of its best writers, Budi Darma, at the age of 84. Budi Darma is a Professor at the Faculty of Language and Arts Education, State University of Surabaya, East Java.
Citing the website of the Language Agency of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Budi Darma was born in Rembang, Central Java, on April 25, 1937. Budi Darma married on March 14, 1968 to Sitaresmi. They have three children.
Budi Darma studied at the Department of English Literature, Faculty of Letters, Gadjah Mada University, and graduated in 1963. Budi Darma attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, USA, for a year in 1967. He also received a scholarship from the East West Center to study cultural studies. foundation at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.
In 1975, Budi Darma earned his M.A. from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States, with the thesis The Death and The Alive. Five years later, he earned his Ph.D. with the dissertation title Character and Moral Jugment in Jane Austin’s Novel at the same university. And he was listed as a member of the Modern Language Association New York in 1977 - 1990 and his name appeared in the book Who’s Who in The World in 1982 - 1983.
Budi Darma contribution to literary life is enormous. He entered the Southeast Asian Literary Council or Mastera and mentored young short story writers and essayists from various countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, and Malaysia, in the Mastera Writing Program in 1998 - 1999. Budi Darma also guided various workshops and literature upgrades for Central employees. Language and young lecturers from various Indonesian universities.
Budi Darma also pioneered the application of the collage technique or pasting pieces of cinema advertisements and show tickets in his works, such as Bloomington’s People and Olenka.
A writer and translator from Australia, Harry George Aveling said "Even though he looks like an ordinary person, after looking at his essays I think Budi Darma has some rather strange views. As in his opinion, the world of literature is a world of ups and downs and logically unimportant.”
In April 1947, one of the leading literary magazines in Indonesia, Horizon Magazine made Budi Darma and his work the magazine’s headline. In addition to containing some of Budi Darma’s short stories, there are also interviews with the editorial board of Horizon magazine, Sapardi Djoko Damono with Budi Darma.
In today’s era, many may not know that a great poet like Sapardi Djoko Damono once interviewed a Budi Darma. This conversation is interesting, because it is one of the artifacts of memory in the world of literature and culture that we cannot avoid.
The following is Sapardi Djoko Damono interview with Budi Darma.
S: Why do you not like to include the names of the roles in most of your short stories?
B: Although it can cause certain complications that are sometimes serious. A name is just a sign for one particular neighborhood. Once people leave their environment, once people don't know each other. And basically every person is a stranger to others, even to himself, even though people know who he is.
S: Do you feel surrounded by strange people in your daily life? Do you have many enemies?
B: Although I don't like generalizing people, I see a lot of people who are basically weird. Enemy? I don't have any enemies. It's just these extraordinary symptoms that cause me to be disappointed and want to rebel.
S: Who are your favorite Indonesian and foreign short story writers? Which writer do you think was the most influential in your writing work?
B: I like Umar Kayam, only I wonder why people never see his storytelling style is Hemingway's style. I love Kafka and Hemingway. Their writing seems to be nothing, but in fact there is a lot of nothing. Many writers influenced me, but the one that impressed me the most was Kafka.
