Kalah dan Menang

by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana

Roman Kalah dan Menang menceritakan peristiwa-peristiwa selama Perang Dunia II, pendudukan Jepang di Indonesia serta perjuangan untuk kemerdekaan.Roman ini mempertentangkan jiwa humanisme dalam bentuk seorang cendekiawan Swiss dengan jiwa bushido Jepang dalam bentuk seorang samurai. Meski tidak seia dan sekata, tapi antara keduanya telah terjadi percintaan yang mesra. Roman ini sarat akan konflik batin dan dialog seputar soal rasio, keuniversalan, humanisme dunia modern serta perang itu sendiri yang tidak jelas makna dan tujuannya.

Genres: Roman, Fiction, Literature

530 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (STA) menamatkan HKS di Bandung (1928), meraih Mr. dari Sekolah Tinggi di Jakarta (1942), dan menerima Dr. Honoris Causa dari UI (1979) dan Universiti Sains, Penang, Malaysia (1987). Diberi nama Takdir karena jari tangannya hanya ada 4.

Pernah menjadi redaktur Panji Pustaka dan Balai Pustaka (1930-1933), kemudian mendirikan dan memimpin majalah Pujangga Baru (1933-1942 dan 1948-1953), Pembina Bahasa Indonesia (1947-1952), dan Konfrontasi (1954-1962). Pernah menjadi guru HKS di Palembang (1928-1929), dosen Bahasa Indonesia, Sejarah, dan Kebudayaan di UI (1946-1948), guru besar Bahasa Indonesia, Filsafat Kesusastraan dan Kebudayaan di Universitas Nasional, Jakarta (1950-1958), guru besar Tata Bahasa Indonesia di Universitas Andalas, Padang (1956-1958), dan guru besar & Ketua Departemen Studi Melayu Universitas Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (1963-1968).

Reviews

[Jersy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the market for World War fiction is very saturated, this is a perspective we don't see very often and I must admid, as tired as I am of WWII, I hardly knew anything about what was going on in Asia at the time. This novel makes it easy to grasp events and what circumstances as well as cultural believes and costumes led to them. The reader gets to know views from different sides: the dutch colonists, the Indonesian people and even a Japanese officer, broadening the understanding and refraining from having either side be merely good or bad.
While this is excellent in portraying history in a very informative and accessible way, it sometimes felt more like a history textbook than a compelling story with characters to feel for. Some chapters consisted purely of exposition dumps or lists of arguments presented by characters to each other, but even the ones focusing more on the individual fates, while being good examples, didn't make me feel much. I could understand what they were going through, but I never felt connected with any of the characters or was fascinated by their personalities. It also bothered me that there were huge chunks of the book were one character wouldn't appear or the book focused only on one POV.
While the individual plots probably won't stick with me, I appreciate at this as a well written account of history.

[Henrik]

Purchased this in Ubud, Bali (Indonesia), at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2008, October.

This is the First Edition in English. It was originally published in 1978, but has never been been published in English translation before that Festival.

Sounds quite intriguing. And it's quite something else for me to read, but one can always benefit from trying a new thing once in a while;-)

[Afifah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roman-roman STA menurutku menarik, karena banyak memberikan informasi baru. Settingnya pun pekat, asyik. Sayangnya liukan-liukan alurnya sering kali sangat datar, kurang groovy gitu :-)

Bagaimanapun, untuk saat itu, roman beliau, termasuk Kalah dan Menang, menurut saya luar biasa. Jadi tahu, bagaimana sih kehidupan para pekerja buku zaman kolonial.

[Leo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sekilas mirip dengan war and peace karya Leo Tolstoy

[Michiyo 'jia' Fujiwara]

Bukunya ilang waktu pindahan ruangan kantor,,, huaaaaaaaaa :"(

[Yanita Fauzia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sudah baca buku ini waktu jaman SMP, engg.. atau SMA??

[Septian Haryadi]

bukunya baguuuuus

[Mega]

Iya