Sang Gresik Bercerita.
Book Review – Sang Gresik Bercerita.
Gresik Traditional Stories (Sang Gresik Bercerita – Kisah Kisah Kearifan Lokal Gresik Tempo Dulu) is very much an unusual book. This collection of short stories was compiled from 60 young writers under the direction of Prof. Dr. Ayu Sutarto (University of Jember) and Prof. Dr. Budidarma (University Surabaya) with the sponsorship and support of PT. Smelting (a copper smelting company) and Mataseger (Charity of history and culture of Gresik).
The Sang Gresik Bercerita book contains many folk law stories, often reflecting local wisdom, good values and poetry that have been passed down trough the generations, or have survived in the few manuscripts from the 19th Centenary. These stories were passed down in Javanese, Arabic and a variety of local dialects that creep into this Bahasa Indonesia book, making it sometimes a challenge for outsiders to read and appreciate the stories. This book contains 91 short stories. It was apparently published in conjunction with Indonesia’s 17 August 2014 national day of independence.
- Smelting then collaborated with Radar Gresik and SMAN 1 Gresik to produce a children story book (Dolanan Anek Gresik) of 69 stories (Bahasa Indonesia) written by 36 young writers as supervised by 4 local teachers. This book was published in February 2017.
- Smelting again collaborated with the charity Mataseger to publish a second book on traditional stories (Sang Gresik Bercerita Lagi) that was published in April 2018. This second story book was prepared by Kris Adji Aw and friends. This book contains a further 91 stories that are grouped under the concepts of customs, art, traditional knowledge, ritual, oral tradition etc.
- Smelting, the Gresik copper smelting & refinery company, is to be commended on their series of 5 such books. These publications not only demonstrate the company’s commitment to the local community, but also provide the broader community with a record of Gresik’s traditions and culture that otherwise may be lost in todays “screen world”. These books are located in various libraries, and may be found by writing to PT. Smelter.