Dissertation

Literary Infrastructure in West Sumatra, Indonesia

On the 26th of May Sudarmoko successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Author

Sudarmoko

Date

26 May 2021

Links

Leiden Repository

This study is about the literary infrastructure in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The components of this infrastructure are: (1) publishing houses, (2) literary clubs, (3) bookstores, used bookstores, and lending libraries (taman bacaan), and (4) support provided by government and non-government institutions and individuals. I chose these components to be examined in this study based on their contributions to the literary field in the province, as well as the actual impact of their contributions. The primary research question which is examined in this thesis is: what is the literary infrastructure in West Sumatra, what are its roles with regard to literature, and what kind of literary practices does it facilitate? These literature-related components build a system that enables the production process of work as a whole. In this thesis, I describe how the literary infrastructure operates in West Sumatra, Indonesia. It has revealed the local literary dynamics in West Sumatra through its main components, which drive and support the literary journey in the field. With its exploration of the West Sumatran literary field, this study shows how many parties - the main actors being publishers, clubs, bookshops, government institutions, and of course writers - support the literary field.

Supervisor: prof. dr. Ben Arps.