The previous blog post was an introduction to picture book biographies. This blog post is about the most important element for creating a story: the Narrative structure in biographies. Why is the Narrative Structure needed? The Narrative Structure is the framework of the story. Without it, the story collapses—no matter
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This blog post is the summary of my research to answer one question. How to write a biography like a story, not a Wikipedia article? Most biographies give interesting facts but there don’t read like a story. And more importantly, how can I revise my biography manuscripts—picture books and
Info dump in picutre book biographies Read More »
What is a picture book biography? Although picture book biography is a subcategory of picture books, their nature is different than other subcategories; they are NOT fictitious. A biography is based on heavy research and each line of the book should be 100\% verifiable and documented. The writer has
Introduction to picture book biography Read More »
This blog post is part of the blog post series I wrote about picture book biographies. Here is the complete list. To summarize a person’s life in 32 pages with less than 1000 words, we need to select the time frame carefully. The simplest and the most obvious choice
Time Frame in picture book biographies Read More »
In the previous blog post, I discussed the time frame and the possibilities we have. This blog post is about another decision we have to make: the Narrator and accordingly the Point Of View (POV). Previously, I have published two blog posts about Point Of View (POV) in picture
POV in picture book biography Read More »
I will write here later
I read this book merely because of its title. My reasoning was that when an author is so careful with the title, the story will most likely be good. And it was not good, but brilliant.
Seven resin collectors
The story happens in a small, impoverished fictional village called Dukuh Paruk in the middle of Java Island. The main character, the 14-year-old Rasus, is in love with an 11-year-old girl, Srintil, whose grandfather believes she has a talent for Ronggeng—the Javanese dance. Moreover, in Rasus’s imagination, the girl is a replacement for Rasus’s mother, whom he had lost in childhood. A Ronggeng dancer isn’t a simple entertainer. The dancer is considered a sacred vessel for the village’s ancestral spirit and is expected to be available to the men of the village! I am not sure if it is comparable to the “sacred prostitute” in the temples that we read in the ancient Sumerian stories.
I read the first book in the trilogy in German—Die Tänzerin von Dukuh Paruk. Sadly, the other two volumes aren’t available to buy. In English, the trilogy is published in one volume with the title “The Dancer”.
The central conflict of the story is that Rasus has to emotionally put up with the tradition that everyone in his village believes in or benefits from. Rasus grows out of this calamity; he criticizes his village and its culture. In a nutshell, the story is the classic archetype: a boy becomes a man.
Tohari’s writing voice brings this archetype to life, especially his descriptions of nature and animals, which immerse me in the atmosphere of a Javanese village. The main theme of the story is the battle between tradition and humanity. In spite of the dire atmosphere in the story, it is very optimistic. Poverty and tradition cannot kill the humanity in Rasus.