Bakri Siregar
| Bakri Siregar | |
|---|---|
Siregar in 1980
|
|
| Born |
14 December 1922 Langsa, Atjeh, Dutch East Indies |
| Died | 19 June 1994 (aged 71) Jakarta |
| Nationality | Indonesian |
| Fields | Literary criticism, playwright |
| Known for | Criticism of Indonesian literature |
Bakri Siregar (14 December 1922 – 19 June 1994) was an Indonesian socialist literary critic and writer.
Siregar was born in Langsa, Aceh, Dutch East Indies, on 14 December 1922. He was active writing by the Japanese occupation in the early 1940s, as evidenced by one of his short stories, "Tanda Bahagia" ("Sign of Happiness"), being published in Asia Raja on 1 September 1944.
After Indonesia's independence, Siregar went to the Soviet Union to further study socialism. He considered their system efficient and beneficial to the populace, which reaffirmed his ideology. He also praised Soviet writers who rejected cosmopolitanism and abstractionism. He published several dramas after returning to Indonesia, including the original Tugu Putih (White Monument; 1950), Dosa dan Hukuman (Sin and Punishment, based on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky), and Gadis Teratai (Lotus Blossom Maiden, based on a Korean folktale).
By 1951 Siregar had reached Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. While there, he took up a position as a high school teacher and, in 1952, joined the leftist oriented Institute of People's Culture (Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat, or Lekra). Siregar published his first analysis of Indonesian literature, Ceramah Sastra (Lectures on Literature), in 1952. In 1953 he published a collection of short stories, entitled Jejak Langkah (Footsteps); that same year, he became the head of the North Sumatran branch of Lekra. The following year he released the stageplay Saijah dan Adinda, based on a story in Dutch author Multatuli's novel Max Havelaar. While a high school teacher, Siregar used his position to spot upcoming actors and direct them to Lekra's stage production company Dinamo.
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