The Color Curtain
World Publishing Co. | |
Publication date | 1956 |
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Background
While living as an expatriate in
Contents
Introduced by Gunnar Myrdal, The Color Curtain contains five chapters: "Bandung: Beyond Left and Right", "Race and Religion at Bandung", "Communism at Bandung", "Racial Shame at Bandung", and "The Western World at Bandung". In "Bandung: Beyond Left and Right", Wright narrates his pre-conference research into Asia and Indonesia, describing interviews conducted in Europe with several unnamed Asian, Indonesian, and Dutch informants. He also documents the reactions of the Western news media to the upcoming conference. Toward the end of this opening chapter, Wright arrives in Indonesia and, hosted by Mochtar Lubis, meets Indonesian cultural figures and interviews Indonesia's first prime minister, Sutan Sjahrir, as well as the country's fifth prime minister, Mohammed Natsir.
In "Race and Religion at Bandung", Wright travels from Jakarta to Bandung to attend the Asian-African Conference. He recounts the Indonesian President Sukarno’s opening speech: "Before [Sukarno] had uttered more than a hundred syllables, he declared: 'This is the first international conference of colored peoples in the history of mankind!'"[8] Later in the chapter, Wright recounts speeches by several other delegates, including by Prime Minister of Ceylon Sir John Kotelawala, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Kojo Botsio of the Gold Coast, Prince Wan of Thailand, and Carlos Romulo of the Philippines, among others. Wright states: "As I sat listening, I began to sense a deep and organic relation here in Bandung between race and religion, two of the most powerful and irrational forces in human nature."[9]
In "Communism at Bandung", Wright discusses
In "In Racial Shame at Bandung," Wright discusses the unofficial presence of the African-American US Congressman
In "The Western World at Bandung", Wright notes that the West's influence permeates the conference, observing that English is the meeting's main language of communication. But he cautions that the West has only a limited window to appeal to and influence the postcolonial world. If the West does not use this window, "it faces an Asian-African attempt at pulling itself out of its own mire under the guidance of Mr. Chou En-lai and his drastic theories and practices of endless secular sacrifices."[12]
Reception
The Color Curtain was widely reviewed in Western media, with reviewers offering praise and criticism.
The Indonesians who hosted Wright also reacted to Wright's travel account of his travels in Southeast Asia. After reading Wright's Encounter article "Indonesian Notebook" (which was later published in The Color Curtain), Mochtar Lubis responded that Wright "wrote with great passion and feeling" and that “Mr. Wright’s notebook makes interesting reading" but that his Indonesian hosts, including "one of the best-known novelists", were "amazed to read Mr. Wright’s notebook…in which Mr. Wright quotes them saying things…to which they did not put meaning as accepted by Mr. Wright."[15] Later in 1956, reviewing the French translation of The Color Curtain, the Indonesian writer Frits Kandou noted that Wright was "able to document various matters rather well. For example, his way of illustrating the colonial mentality was very original."[16] Elsewhere, Wright's Indonesian hosts Asrul Sani and Beb Vuyk offered commentary and critiques of writing that was published in The Color Curtain.[17] Vuyk's 1960 essay "A Weekend with Richard Wright" has been called "a ferocious newspaper attack"[18] as well as "the most significant account given of Wright's Indonesian travels by any of his interlocutors in Indonesia."[17]
Legacy
The Color Curtain is frequently cited in narratives of the Bandung Conference and the postcolonial world, appearing as a significant first-hand account in postcolonial and Afro-Asian studies. In 2006, Vijay Prashad stated: "The book that Wright produced from his [Indonesian travels], The Color Curtain, inaugurates our tradition of AfroAsian studies."[19] Wright's narratives of interaction with Mochtar Lubis, together with other passages from The Color Curtain, also appear prominently in the Indonesian news magazine Tempo’s April 2015 special issue on the Bandung Conference's 60th anniversary.[20]
References
- ^ Kiuchi and Hakutani (2014). Richard Wright: A Documented Chronology, 1908–1960. McFarland. p. 317.
- ^ Wright, Richard (1994). The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference. Banner Books. pp. 11–12.
- ^ Kiuchi and Hakutani (2014). Richard Wright. pp. 317–318.
- ^ Kiuchi and Hakutani (2014). Richard Wright. pp. 325–327.
- ^ Ward and Butler (2008). The Richard Wright Encyclopedia. Greenwood. p. 81.
- ^ Roberts, Brian Russell (2013). Artistic Ambassadors: Literary and International Representation of the New Negro Era. University of Virginia Press. pp. 148–149.
- ^ Fabre, Michel (1973). The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright. Morrow. p. 422.
- ^ Wright (1994). The Color Curtain. p. 136.
- ^ Wright (1994). The Color Curtain. p. 140.
- ^ Roberts and Foulcher (2016). Indonesian Notebook: A Sourcebook on Richard Wright and the Bandung Conference. Duke University Press. pp. 25–26.
- ^ Wright (1994). The Color Curtain. p. 190.
- ^ Wright (1994). The Color Curtain. p. 220.
- ^ a b Kinnamon, Keneth (1988). A Richard Wright Bibliography: Fifty Years of Criticism and Commentary, 1933–1982. Greenwood. p. 383.
- ^ Durdin, Tillman (March 18, 1956). "Richard Wright Examines the Meaning of Bandung". The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- ^ Roberts and Foulcher (2016). Indonesian Notebook. p. 10.
- ^ Roberts and Foulcher (2016). Indonesian Notebook. p. 145.
- ^ a b Roberts and Foulcher (2016). Indonesian Notebook. p. 185.
- ^ Rowley, Hazel (2001). Richard Wright: The Life and Times. University of Chicago Press. p. 520.
- ^ Raphael-Hernandez and Steen (2006). AfroAsian Encounters: Culture, History, Politics. NYU Press. pp. xi.
- ^ "Panggilan Bandung Kembali Menggema". Tempo. Indonesia. April 20–26, 2015.