Nearly all reviews of and comments on Banu’s Semua Untuk Hindia have missed the radically subversive character of the anthology. Neither the jury of the Khatulistiwa Literary Award, nor prominent poet and cultural critic Nirwan Dewanto who writes a preface to the anthology, acknowledges these qualities in their musings. Apparently, to this reading public what exists outside the state-sanctioned propaganda is simply unimaginable or incomprehensible.
Heryanto, Ariel (2016) “A post-colonial subversive”, Inside Indonesia, 123 (Jan-Mar), http://www.insideindonesia.org/a-post-colonial-subversive
keywords: Dutch East Indies, Iksaka Banu, Inside Indonesia, post-colonial, Semua Untuk Hindia, short stories, subversive
Ariel Heryanto 