• Bilangan Fu dan serialnya

    Bilangan Fu adalah novel yang saya tulis dengan latar belakang meningkatnya kekerasan atas nama agama di awal Reformasi. Saya persembahkan “untuk Indonesia, yang dengan sedih aku cinta.”
    Buku ini lumayan tebal untuk rata-rata pembaca Indonesia. (Indonesia bukan bangsa pembaca.) Saya mencintai tokoh-tokohnya. Karena itu mereka saya hidupkan lagi dalam seri Bilangan Fu. Yaitu, seri novel petualangan, yang lebih tipis dari induknya, sehingga lebih mudah dibaca oleh yang tak terlalu kuat membaca. Seri petualangan ini selalu berlatar kekayaan khazanah pusaka nusantara, antara lain candi-candi.

    Bilangan Fu mendapat Khatulistiwa Literary Award 2008. Di tahun yang sama saya juga mendapat penghargaan Majelis Sastra Asia Tenggara (Mastera).

  • The Number Fu and its series

    I wrote The Number Fu when violence in the name of religion began to intensify in Indonesia soon after General Soeharto stepped down. I dedicated the book “to Indonesia, whom I love with sorrow.”
    The book was rather thick for many of my Indonesian readers. (Indonesians are not avid readers.) Since I’ve already fallen in love with the characters, I resurrected them through The Number Fu series. It is a series of adventure stories, each will be lighter than the master novel so to make it more readable for common readers in Indonesia. The adventures will take the richness of Indonesia’s heritages such as ancient temples as its background.

    The Number Fu won the Khatulistiwa Literary Award 2008. In the same year I received an award from the South East Asian Literature Council (Mastera).

On the personal level The Number Fu was initially inspired by the life story of my future-husband. He had been a rock climber until his bestfriend died in an accident. We visited the cemetery and put the book with red roses on his tomb stone.

  • Bilangan Fu, 2008

    (fiksi)
    Dua pemuda pemanjat tebing dan satu gadis terlibat segitiga eros yang halus. Mereka memanjat di petebingan dekat desa Sewugunung di pantai selatan Jawa. Satu kematian terjadi di desa itu, disusul dengan hilangnya jenazah dari makam. Orang desa tradisional percaya bahwa si mati memiliki kesaktian, tapi satu kelompok agama justru menganggap ia musyrik dan mayatnya ditolak bumi. Perseteruan meningkat bersama masuknya perusahaan tambang untuk menggerus pegunungan kapur. Tiga protagonis cerita—Parang Jati, Sandi Yuda, dan Marja—terjebak di sana.

    Istilah spiritualisme kritis pertama muncul di buku ini. Ilham linguistiknya dijelaskan dalam catatan akhir. Dalam cerita, Parang Jati menyatakan cara beriman barunya ini, yang bertentangan dengan lawannya, si pemimpin kelompok agama yang baru kembali ke tanah air.

    Buku ini mulai ditulis dua tahun setelah peristiwa Bom Bali. Kekerasan atas nama Islam meningkat. Bilangan Fu mencoba tidak melihat akar kekerasan pada Islam secara khusus, melainkan pada segala macam bentuk dogmatisme, yang tak hanya terdapat pada agama tetapi juga pada pandangan-pandangan sekular.

    Bilangan Fu telah diterbitkann dalam Bahasa Belanda. Penerjemah: Maya Liem.

  • The Number Fu

    (fiction)
    Two local rock climbers and their girlfriend were involved in a soft erotic triangle affair. They were climbing the limestone cliffs not far from Sewugunung village on the south coast of Java when one peculiar death occured in the village, followed by the disappearance of the remains buried. The locals believed that the dead had supernatural powers, but one religious group condemned him as a devil-worshiper whose body was rejected by the earth. The conflict was exacerbated by a stone mining company, wanting to exploit the limestone hills. The three protagonists—Parang Jati, Sandi Yuda, and Marja—were caught in the conflict.

    "Critical spiritualism" is first mentioned here. Its linguistic inspiration is explained in the end notes.
    In the story, Parang Jati proclaims his new way of belief, placing him at odds with his rival, a young Islamist leader who has just come back from abroad.

    The Number Fu was written two years after the Bali bombings. Violence cases in the name of Islam were increasing.The Number Fu tries not to search the root of violence within that particular religion, but within all forms of dogmatism, in religions and the secular views.



    The Number Fu has been published in Dutch. Translation by Maya Liem.

Manjali & Cakrabirawa, Lalita, Maya... The Number Fu series will continue until the twelfth.

  • Manjali dan Cakrabirawa, 2010

    (fiksi)
    Manjali dan Cakrabirawa bercerita tentang pencurian di percandian Jawa Timur, yang menyibak peristiwa rahasia pembunuhan perwira komunis di tahun 1966.

  • Manjali and Cakrabirawa

    (fiction)
    Manjali and Cakrabirawa tells about a thievery in an old temple in East Java. The incident opens a secret about the assassination of a communist military officer in 1966.

  • Lalita, 2012

    (fiksi)
    Lalita bercerita tentang seorang ilmuwan Eropa yang beralih minat pada theosofi. Ia pergi ke Indonesia dan hilang di sekitar Borobudur.

    Terjemahan Inggris oleh Margaret Augusta.

  • Lalita

    (fiction)
    Lalita tells about the mystery of a European scientist turned theosophist. He moved to Indonesia and went missing around Borobudur.

    English translation by Margaret Augusta.

  • Maya, 2013

    (fiksi)
    Maya bercerita tentang sebuah batu cincin yang dipercaya memiliki kekuatan gaib. Dipercaya, pemimpin Indonesia harus memilikinya agar kekuasaannya langgeng.

    Maya termasuk dalam semi finalis Khatulistiwa Literary Award dan dalam finalis buku sastra terbaik versi majalah Tempo serta finalis buku pilihan Goodreads 2014.
    Terjemahan Inggris oleh Margaret Augusta.

  • Maya

    (fiction)
    Maya’s mystery is centered around an agate that is believed to have magical power. Many people believe that Indonesia’s first man should have it in order to keep his power.

    Maya is longlisted for Khatulistiwa Literary Award and finalist for best literary books by Tempo Magazine, and finalist of Goodreads' favourite book 2014.
    English translation by Margaret Augusta.

One of the most exciting parts in writing The Number Fu series is doing research on different temples...

...or fantasizing some romantic scenes in nature.

Excerpt

If you find the English version wrong... correction is welcome. Please send it here.