From Russia with Love
Nusantara (the Land In-Between, another name for Indonesia) was quite a distance away, to the east of India. The place was exotic, and sometimes deadly. That was Indonesia, according to Russian writers up until the 18th century, as revealed in Images of Nusantara in Russian Literature, a book by Vladimir I. Braginsky and Elena M. Diakonova. Articles by our editors, excerpts from this illuminating book, and a discussion follow.
March 18, 2003
Nusantara, or the Land In-Between, is explored through the character of a mute Malay slave in one of Ivan Turgenevs works. In The Song of Triumphant Love (1881), Turgenev describes the dark-brown Malay as a clever man who, despite his cut tongue, could understand Italian well. This man hid in the shadows of his master, yet excelled in the art of magic.
This work by Turgenev, set in Italy in the 16th century, charts the journey of two friends figh
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