Chairil Anwar

Author profile

born

July 26, 1922 in Medan, Indonesia

died

April 28, 1949

gender

male

genre

Poetry

About this author

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Chairil Anwar was one of the famed figures of the “1945 Generation,” that group of luminaries who brought heat and light to Indonesian literature in the formative years of the new nation.
Through his poetry, Chairil Anwar succeeded in infusing Indonesian verse with a new spirit and bringing a new enthusiasm to Indonesia’s cultural arena. He also provided friends and acquaintances with never-ending tales to tell of his personal eccentricities, including his hobby of stealing books from the shops, his tendency to plagiarize from foreign poets, his many lovers, his numerous ailments, and his bohemian lifestyle.
Born on July 22, 1922 in Medan, North Sumara, Chairil attended the Hollands Inlandsche School (HIS), a Dutch elementary school for “nat...more Chairil Anwar was one of the famed figures of the “1945 Generation,” that group of luminaries who brought heat and light to Indonesian literature in the formative years of the new nation.
Through his poetry, Chairil Anwar succeeded in infusing Indonesian verse with a new spirit and bringing a new enthusiasm to Indonesia’s cultural arena. He also provided friends and acquaintances with never-ending tales to tell of his personal eccentricities, including his hobby of stealing books from the shops, his tendency to plagiarize from foreign poets, his many lovers, his numerous ailments, and his bohemian lifestyle.
Born on July 22, 1922 in Medan, North Sumara, Chairil attended the Hollands Inlandsche School (HIS), a Dutch elementary school for “natives.” He then continued his education at the Meer Uitgebreid Lager Onderwijs, a Dutch junior high school, but he dropped out before graduating. At the age of nineteen, after the divorce of his parents, Chairil moved with his mother to Jakarta where he came in contact with the literary world. Despite his unfinished education, Chairil had an active command of English, Dutch and German, and he filled his hours by reading an international selection of authors, including Rainer M. Rilke, W.H. Auden, Archibald MacLeish, H. Marsman, J. Slaurhoff and Edgar du Perron. These writers became his references, directly influencing his own poetry and later helping him shift the gaze of Indonesian literature to fall upon Europe. This westward turn was one of the major differences between Chairil’s “1945 Generation” peers and the previous cohort of Indonesian writers, the “New Authors Generation” of the 1930s, who were more oriented toward traditional verse forms. Chairil’s poetry was not only topically fresh, it struggled with individual and existential issues, in contrast to the writers of the “New Authors Generation” who were more concerned with giving voice to nationalist enthusiasm.
Chairil began to gain recognition as a poet with the publication of “Nisan” (“Gravestone”) in 1942. At that time, he was only twenty years old. He had apparently been shocked by the death of his grandmother, which awakened him to the fact that death could at any moment tear one away from life. Most of the poems he wrote after this point referred, at least implicitly, to this awareness of death. All of his poems—the originals, the adaptations and those suspected of being plagiarisms—have been collected in three books: Deru Campur Debu (“Roar Mixed with Dust,” 1949); Kerikil Tajam Yang Terampas dan Yang Putus (“Sharp Pebbles The Seized and the Severed,” 1949); and Tiga Menguak Takdir (“Three Tear Open Fate,” 1950, a collection of poems with Asrul Sani and Rivai Apin).
Chairil’s poetic vitality was never in balance with his physical condition, which grew weaker as a result of his chaotic lifestyle. Before he could turn twenty-seven, he had already contracted a number of illnesses.
On April 28, 1949, Chairil Anwar passed away at the CBZ Hospital (now R.S. Ciptomangunkusomo) in Jakarta. And indeed, he was buried at Karet Cemetery the next day. In memory of the words he left behind, April 28th is now celebrated as Literature Day in Indonesia.(less)

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Books by Chairil Anwar

Average rating: 3.86 · 1,074 ratings · 105 reviews · 11 distinct works

	Aku Ini Binatang Jalang by Chairil Anwar, Pamusuk Eneste (Editor) 3.85 avg rating — 777 ratings — published 1986	My rating:
	Deru Campur Debu 3.93 avg rating — 101 ratings — published 1949	My rating:
	Kerikil Tajam dan Yang Terampas dan Yang Putus 3.94 avg rating — 79 ratings — published 1949	My rating:
	Derai-derai Cemara 3.93 avg rating — 59 ratings	My rating:
	Pulanglah Dia Si Anak Hilang: Kumpulan Terjemahan dan Esai 3.48 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2003	My rating:
	Edisi Kritis Puisi Chairil Anwar 3.69 avg rating — 16 ratings	My rating:
	Voice Of Night: Complete Poetry and Prise of Chairil Anwar by Chairil Anwar (Translator), Burton Raffel (Contributor) 4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1993	My rating:
	The Complete Poetry and Prose of Chairil Anwar 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1970 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Islam dan tantangan kemanusiaan abad xxi 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2000	My rating:
	Selected Poems 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1963	My rating:

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Quotes by Chairil Anwar

“Cinta adalah bahaya yang lekas jadi pudar”
― Chairil Anwar

tags: cinta , puisi

33 people liked it

“Nasib adalah kesunyian masing-masing”
― Chairil Anwar

tags: nasib , sunyi

32 people liked it

“sekali berarti sesudah itu mati”
― Chairil Anwar

tags: poetry , puisi

22 people liked it

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Goodreads Indonesia: Baca Bareng Buku Puisi "Aku Ini Binatang Jalang" oleh Chairil Anwar	139	315	Sep 15, 2009 09:06pm
Goodreads Malaysia: Komuniti Peminat Buku Indonesia	105	252	Feb 21, 2012 09:00pm
A 2012 Challenge:...: Valerie's List	13	21	May 17, 2012 01:42pm

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Chairil Anwar

Author profile

combine editionsBooks by Chairil Anwar

Quotes by Chairil Anwar

Topics Mentioning This Author

combine editions
Books by Chairil Anwar