MODERN LIBRARY OF INDONESIA SERIES

The Fall and The Heart by S. Rukiah

(original title: Kedjatuhan dan Hati), translated by John H McGlynn

The Fall and the Heart by S Rukiah is one of the lesser known
classics of the Indonesian revolutionary era and arguably the
strongest piece of prose writing by an Indonesian woman author
before the 1970s. Rukiah’s account of a young, middle-class
womans’s experiences with her lover, her family, and the struggle
for independence is deceptive in its simplicity and through The
Fall and the Heart Rukiah presents a rare and thoughtful
rendition of the idea and emotions of young people who had one
foot in the revolution for its own sake and the other foot in the
revolution as a reflection of personal crisis. The novella depicts
and interweaves the stories of an individual fate and a family
history more believably than any other work of its time. Rukiah is
one of only a handful of Indonesian writers to have looked at the
negative impact that the Indonesian revolution had on lives and
relationships.

114 pages; 14 x 21.6 cm.; 200 gr.

ISBN 978-979-8083-77-8, fiction, literature, novel

IDR 150.000; US$ 18; EUR 10

S. Rukiah born in Purwakarta in 1927, she published her first literary work, a number of
poems, in Gelombang Zaman. May 1948 she joined the staff of the literary journal Pujangga
Baru. In 1950 she published this novella, Kejatuhan dan Hati (The Fall and the Heart). In
1951 she became editor of the children’s magazine Cendrawasih. Tandus (Barren), her first
collection of poems and short stories, was published in 1952 and won a national literary
award that same year. Also that year, she began to write children’s books and, under her
married name of S. Rukiah Kertapati, published continuously in this field until 1964. It is
not known when Rukiah joined the Institute of Peoples’ Culture (Lembaga Kebudayaan
Rakyat or LEKRA), the cultural wing of the Indonesian Communist Party and she was elected as a member of its
Central Committee in 1959. As a result of her affiliation with that organization, she was one of a number of
writers to have had her books banned following the overthrow of President Sukarno and the banning of the
Indonesian Communist Party in 1965. As a result of the emotional trauma Rukiah suffered in 1965 and the years
following, she never wrote again. She died in Jakarta in 2007.

Available in e-book and print on demand via Amazon.com and publishing-indonesia.com

For more information, please contact our head of marketing, Mrs. Tuti Zairati (Tuti) at The Lontar Foundation:
Office Address: Jl. Danau Laut Tawar A53, Pejompongan, Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia 10210  Tel: +62-21-574-6880,
Fax: +62-21-5720353, Mobile: +62-818-738-231 Email: tuti_zairati@lontar.org  Website: www.lontar.org