Achdiat Karta Mihardja
Achdiat Karta Mihardja (March 6, 1911 – July 8, 2010) was an Indonesian author, novelist and playwright. He is best known for his novel, Atheis, which was published in 1949. Atheis is considered one of Indonesia's most important literary works following World War II.[1]
Biography
Mihardja was born on March 6, 1911, in
In 1950, he helped to found
In 1961, he became a professor of Indonesian literature and language at Australian National University, on invitation from the university. He ultimately chose to settle in Canberra in Australia in the 1960s where he lived for more than 40 years. However, he continued to receive recognitions for his work in Indonesia. He was presented with Indonesia's arts award in 1971.[1]
His last visit to Indonesia was in June 2005. The visit was to promote the release of Manifesto Khalifatullah, a follow-up novel to Atheist which went on sale on June 7, 2005. He described the novel as his answer to issues raised in Atheist and its main message to be that "God made man to be His representative on earth, not that of Satan." In 2009 he expressed an interest in writing his autobiography, but he was unable to complete this work.[1]
He suffered a stroke in July 2010 and died of complications in Canberra on July 8, 2010, at the age of 99. He was survived by his wife, Tati Suprapti Noor, and four children. He was buried in Canberra on the same day.[1]
The actor and singer, Jamie Aditya, is his grandson.[6]
References
- ^ Jakarta Post. 2010-07-09. Archived from the originalon 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ "Biography of Mihardja, Achdiat K. (Achdiat Karta), 1911-2010 | Southeast Asia Digital Library". sea.lib.niu.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
- Taman Ismail Marzuki cultural centre in central Jakarta. See Desi Anwar, 'Desi Anwar: Lost for Words', The Jakarta Globe, 1 September 2012.
- ^ The story of the book, and some details of the film that was based on it, are at Olin Monteiro, 'Rethinking Atheism Through an Indonesian Filmmaker's Lens', The Jakarta Globe, 27 March 2012.
- ^ Roberts and Foulcher (2016). Indonesian Notebook: A Sourcebook on Richard Wright and the Bandung Conference. Duke University Press. p. 18.
- ^ "Profil - Achdiat Karta Mihardja". merdeka.com. Retrieved 2021-11-10.