Between clarity and obscurity: translating danarto's gergasi

Danarto (1940-2018) was an Indonesian author, and one of the pioneers of magical realism in Indonesia’s literary scene. He began writing short stories in the 1960s and published several collections throughout his life. Gergasi was one of these collections and was first published in 1993. It has never been translated into English. Each story in this collection touches on human interaction with the divine, which often takes the form of mothers, fathers, or the forces of nature. His tales teem with spirituality, religion, and mysticism, while being mostly set in an identifiably Javanese setting. Containing seven of the thirteen stories featured in Gergasi, this translation concerns balancing Danarto’s Javanese background and unconventional style as well as clarity and accessibility for the English-speaking reader.