Interview: Damhuri Muhammad
On Indonesian Literature, Philosophy, and the importance of Literature in a Global Context
Damhuri Muhammad is a writer, editor, and teacher. I had the pleasure of interviewing him over email to discuss his role with Porch Literary Magazine, the institutional difficulties for writers in Southeast Asia, and his work teaching philosophy. This is the first of a multi-part series focused on Indonesia for Isthmus.
What is life like in Jakarta for a writer? What is the literary culture like?
DM: Jakarta is an overcrowded city, the capital, as well as a trade city. It was the city where all dreams are to be achieved, including the dream of becoming a writer. Many people, from various regions in Indonesia want to urbanize to Jakarta, though surviving as Jakarta-dwelled is not easy. Competition among job seekers in Jakarta is very tight. Without adequate competence, you’ll be unable to compete in Jakarta. Likewise the competition for recognition as a writer. One of the considerations for getting that recognition is literary work’s publication in prominent newspapers which provide a literary page every week. The next problem is, the payment for accepted submission in the major media is too small and can’t support the writer's daily living expenses. Consequently, a writer must work as an employee, so that he could fulfill basic needs. Can you imagine how to write fiction in a situation when you are obligated by office hours every day? Furthermore, you also have to adapt to traffic jams, inadequate public transportation services, and threatening street crime in every single days.
Talking about literary culture in Jakarta, I prefer to shout it “literary politics” precisely. How come? In Jakarta, the school of art, or literary orientation is determined by influential figures who have their literary institutions. I won’t mention their names, but if a writer is not a part of them or doesn’t follow their school of art, it will be difficult to get opportunities for literary work’s publication in the major newspaper as I explained above. Not only publication opportunities will be hampered, but also opportunities to participate in various overseas writing residency programs.
This is because the organizers of the overseas writing residency program will ask the influential literary figures for the names of potential participants, and of course they will recommend writers who have the same artistic ideology as the institution they lead. Writers who are outside their group, will not get a chance at all. And such partisanship seems to me very ridiculous and shameful.
What is your writing process like? Do you compose in English?
DM: I’m a short story, literary criticism, and opinion column writer. I came from the West Sumatra, about 1300 km from Jakarta, therefore I’m one of the writers who has worked hard to get recognition as a writer in the capital, Jakarta. I wrote on the sidelines of my office hours as a lecturer and specialized staff in the parliament of the Republic of Indonesia. I don't have a specific time to write, because I really don't have that. But I want to still have the chance to write, got an acceptance by major newspapers and literary magazines, and finally got an opportunity to publish my book in mainstream publishers.
Definitely. I also wrote in English and submitted them to international literary magazines, both in Asia, the USA, and Europe. I knew that I’m not a native speaker, Yet, I would like to have the opportunity to be published internationally. I realized, this way is so hard, but so far, my literary fiction has been accepted in several international literary magazines based in Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia, the USA, Canada, and Europe such as Active Muse, Kitaab, Pandan Weekly, Thrash to Treasure Lit, The Unconventional Courier, Icarus The Writing Collective, The Pine Cone Review, Switch Microfiction Journal, and elsewhere. Honestly, I don't really agree with translation works, particularly if the translator is a native speaker. In my view, those foreign translators didn't understand my nation culture. How could they possibly translate Indonesian-language literary works, without deep comprehension of Indonesian culture, or at least Southeast Asian culture? So, I wrote in English. I’ve familiarized Southeast Asia's literary traditions to world readers by writing in fluent English.
I know that you've studied and taught philosophy. Has philosophy influenced your literary work?
DM: Exactly. I graduated with a master's degree in philosophy from a state university in Indonesia, with an ultimate concern in Western Philosophy. I really like Edmund Husserl's Phenomenology and Martin Heidegger's Existentialism as well. I taught Hermeneutics in the Literature Department at Darma Persada University in Jakarta. Unquestionably, Western Philosophy influenced the soul of my literary writing. Philosophy is my reasoning instrument, by the way, and then I blended it with my writing craftsmanship. Meanwhile, Western philosophers who at the end of their lives became poets, like Jean-Paul Sartre, habitually become my encouragement in fiction writing. I’m also a big fan of Umberto Eco, both as a philosopher and as a novelist.
Who are some of your favorite Southeast Asian writers that a Western audience probably hasn't read?
DM:There are quite a number of Southeast Asian writers who are still unfamiliar to Western readers. For example, the legendary Indonesian novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, especially the first piece of “The Buru Quartet” (This Earth of Mankind) although it has been translated into many languages. You might also need to know young writers such as Arafat Nur (Aceh, Indonesia), Dyah Merta (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), Gretchen Filart (Manila-based writer), and Jonathan Chan (Singapore). There are so many names from Southeast Asia that seem to be hidden from the eyes of Western audiences, whereas they have the best works that continually voicing the Southeast Asian culture.
The theme of this Substack is how language connects us. Would you say literature can work to bridge the many things that divide us?
DM: In my view, only language could unify the reader in the entire world. That's why I founded Porch Literary Magazine.I provided a publication space for Southeast Asian writers who write in fluent English so that global readers can recognize their works. Southeast Asia’s literary works that are only written in local languages will be isolated in their respective countries. Even if there are several anthologies of short stories and novels that have been translated into English, because most of the translators are native speakers who do not comprehend Southeast Asian culture, the depth of their meaning can’t be reached by world readers. Thus, the only way for Southeast Asian writers to go global is to compose in fluent English. That way, their literary works will unify the Eastern and Western worlds, and we could name them as part of world literature.
Damhuri Muhammad is a Jakarta-based writer and was nominated for The 2023 Pushcart Prize. He is the founder of Porch Literary Magazine, a bimonthly web-publication to internationalize Southeast Asian writers. His recent works have appeared in The Unconventional Courier, The Pine Cone Review, Active Muse, Trash to Treasure Lit, Switch Microfiction Journal, Pandan Weekly, Kitaab, and elsewhere.
What an insightful interview on shared struggles as Asians.
Humbled to be on your list, Damhuri!