Subagio Sastrowardoyo

Who was Subagio Sastrowardoyo?

Subagio Sastrowardoyo was an Indonesian poet, short-story writer, essayist and literary critic. Born in Madiun, East Java, the Dutch East Indies, he studied at Gadjah Mada University, Cornell University and in 1963 graduated with an MA from Yale University. His debut as a writer came early with the publication of Simphoni, a collection of poems, in 1957. The collection has been described as "cynical, untamed poetry, shocking sometimes". Simphoni was followed by several attempts at short story writing, including the publication Kedjananan di Sumbing, before Subagio settled on poetry as his main creative outlet. Following an extended stay in the United States he published a collection of poems entitled Saldju in 1966. The poems in this collection deal with questions of life and death, and of the need for "something to hold on to in an existence threatened on all sides", and have been described as altogether more restrained than those in his earlier work. Additional works published since 1966 include Daerab Perbatasan, Keroncong Motinggo, Buku Harian, Hari dan Hara Simphoni Dua, and several books of literary criticism. Subagio's collected poems have been published as Dan Kematian Makin Akrab.