In the BeginningThere Were Words

Islamic boarding schools and seminaries have not only produced kiai (Muslim clerics) and pastors who give sermons and proselytize. They have also given birth to literary figures who have enriched Indonesian literature.

August 1, 2013

In the middle of last month, Tempo invited poet Joko Pinurbo to Magelang to return to his first source of inspiration. This inspiration was to be found between the trees and buildings of the Seminary Middle School of St. Petrus Canisius in Mertoyudan, Central Java. He studied at this school for future Catholic priests 36 years ago. The writer, now based in Yogyakarta, later decided not to become a priest, but while there he discovered another cal

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