Pramoedya Ananta Toer is probably the best known internationally of all Indonesian writers. A Heap of Ashes is a collection of five of his stories written in the early fifties, before he attained his present fame. The stories are autobiographical or semi-autobiographical in content, and they constitute a personal trace of Indonesian history from the period of Dutch colonial rule and early nationalist unrest through to the traumas of the Japanese occupation, the Revolution, the Madiun uprising and the early years of independence. Although they lack the polish and sophistication of Pramoedya's more recent novels, the stories in A Heap of Ashes have a vigour and directness that makes them powerfully evocative.

January 1994

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Related reviews:

- Pramoedya Ananta Toer - This Earth of Mankind
- books about Indonesia + Indonesian history
- more Indonesian literature
- more short fiction
- books published by University of Queensland Press