Sitor Situmorang | |
|---|---|
 Situmorang,c. 1955 | |
| Born | (1924-10-02)2 October 1924 Harianboho,North Sumatra,Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 21 December 2014(2014-12-21) (aged 90) Apeldoorn, Netherlands |
| Occupation | poet, writer, journalist, university lector |
| Language | Indonesian |
| Nationality | Indonesia Netherlands |
| Genre | poetry,short story,drama,essay,autobiography |
| Subject | Batak people, and others |
| Literary movement | 45 |
| Notable works | Surat Kertas Hijau |
Sitor Situmorang (2 October 1924 – 21 December 2014) was an Indonesian poet, essayist and writer of short stories. Situmorang was born in Harianboho,North Sumatra, and educated inJakarta. He worked as a journalist and literary critic inMedan,Yogyakarta andJakarta for a variety of newspapers and periodicals.[1]
Sitor was considered by Dutch scholar and critic of Indonesian literatureA. Teeuw to be Indonesia's preeminent poet from Angkatan '45 (The Generation of '45) after the decease ofChairil Anwar. "His views were deeply influenced by Frenchexistentialism of the early fifties, and his poetic forms, as pointed by Subagio, display remarkable similarities with Frenchsymbolism (Subagio Sastrowardojo 1976)."[2] Despite the European influence he is still deeply rooted in hisBatak culture.[3]
He was born in 1924[4] inNorth Tapanuli,North Sumatra and moved toJakarta to study at AMS. After graduating from AMS, he went to the US to further studycinematography at theUniversity of California (1956–57).[5]
When he grew up, Indonesia was under Dutch rule and a European-style education was provided only for a small minority of the population. Therefore, during high school he studied mostlyEuropean literature and Dutch, which he found disturbing and provoked his sense of nationalism. When he was 15, he was inspired to translate "Saijah and Adinda" (a poem), a part ofMax Havelaar byMultatuli, fromDutch toBatak which was his mother tongue even though his Dutch was limited for this kind of literature. This was the starting point of his interest in literature. He began reading more and more Indonesian and western literature, and became inspired to work towards becoming a writer.[5]
He started his career as a journalist inNorth Sumatra at Suara Nasional (1945–1946) and Waspada (1947). He was assigned toYogyakarta (1947–1948) and later worked for Berita Indonesia and Warta Dunia (1957).[1]
His first poem "Kaliurang" was written in 1948 in the style ofPujangga Baru and published at Siasat, ten years after he translated Saijah dan Adinda byMultatuli. In the same year, he wrote a review of Gema Tanah Air, an anthology compiled byH.B. Jassin.[5]
During 1950 – 1953, he stayed inAmsterdam and Paris to observe European cultures, funded by a scholarship from a Netherlands foundation.[5] His brief stay inParis influenced some of his works, such as Pertempuran dan Salju di Paris (1956, collection of short stories) and Paris la Nuit[6] (2002, collection of poems).
He published Surat Kertas Hijau (Green Paper Letters) in 1954, a collection of poems, in which he expressed his emotional and intellectual crisis of love and national identity.[5]
This publication established him as a prominent and respected poet.[7]
Since 1950, he was actively involved in culturalpolemic, particularly on the shape and direction of Indonesia culture. He was one of African American authorRichard Wright's contacts and interlocutors during Wright's trip to Indonesia for theAsian-African Conference in 1955.[8] He became a prominent member of the Institute of National Culture (Lembaga Kebudayaan Nasional /LKN), which was closely tied toSukarno, the President of Indonesia at the time. In 1967, following thefall of Sukarno in 1965, he was imprisoned and was not released until 1976, without any trial.[7]
He was once taughtIndonesian atLeiden University, Netherlands during 1982–1990.[5] On 21 December 2014, he died at the age of 91 at his home inApeldoorn, Netherlands.[9]
He won awards for his works: Pertempuran dan Salju di Paris (Struggle and Snow in Paris), (1956, collection of short stories) from Jakarta Arts Council and Peta Perjalanan (Travel Guide ), (1976, collection of poems) from Badan Musawarat Kebudayaan Nasional[5]
Some of his works have been translated to other languages such as : Paris La Nuit (Paris at Night, 2001), a collection of poetry, into French, English and Russian,[10] and Rindu Kelana into English.[7][11] His complete short stories have been translated and published in English in two volumes bySilkworm Books:Oceans of Longing: Nine Stories (2018) andRed Gerberas: Short Stories (2018).
Some of his poems, such as Surat Kertas Hijau, Kaliurang and La Ronde have been set toart song by Indonesian composer and pianistAnanda Sukarlan and now are popular among classical music vocalists.
