Saving Ceecee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Image Link

Cecelia Rose Honeycutt. Who wouldn't love this sweet name?

Unfortunately, Ceecee had a life that was not as beautiful as her name. Her mother, Camille Honeycutt, suffered from sort of mental illness. She was once a winner of a beauty pageant contest, and she always remembered the days of her victory. And yet, only that particular memory which stuck in her mind. Camille used to wander around neighborhood wearing gown with tiara on top of her head, which embarrassed Ceecee.

Ceecee spent her 12 years of life living with her mentally ill mother, and she had no friends. Her father traveled around the country because of his work, and he seemed to abandon his wife and only daughter. Ceecee once ever insisted her father to take her mother to the hospital to get rehabilitation, yet her father refused it. As a result, one day Camille was hit by a car when she wandered around, and she died wearing her beauty-pageant dress.

During her grief, Ceecee was not accompanied by no one except Mrs. Odell, her next door neighbor. Mrs. Odell like to garden and she was the only one who could make Ceecee felt comfortable. However, her life once again turned upside down. Her father actually had another girlfriend ever since Camille was still alive. He decided to move away to forget his past and gave Ceecee away to Talullah, her great-aunt, to live in in Savannah. Ceecee insisted to stay with Mrs. Odell, but her father refused her request. It made Ceecee hurt even more.

From that moment, Ceecee knew that her father had been erased from her Life Book (the 'book' that was fulfilled by her journey and the people along the journey). She carried the hatred and sadness toward his father along with her new life in Savannah. And, her new life began with the people she never knew before. Surprisingly, Talullah, or who was well-known as aunt Tooty, was such a great woman. She had a beautiful and grand house in Savannah. Ceecee was surprised that she could easily befriend with aunt Tooty and her cook, Oletta. Aunt Tooty also had a great and noble job: saving wrecked houses. She believed that every house had a great history behind it, and the building needed to be preserved to liven the histories.

Aunt Tooty was such a great woman who had great girlfriends. She, for example, befriended with Oletta, who was technically black and a cook, but she didn't seem care about that. Oletta was like family to her. This story had 60s background where racism and segregation between the whites and nonwhites still pretty obvious. The Southern part back then had many racial cases in the U.S. However, this story as if tells us that, among that, there was still friendship, there was still hope, tears, laughter, and stories, that could be built together without finger-pointing who I was and who you were. In addition, this story is told from a child's point of view, which made the story pure and innocent.

Overall, Saving Ceecee Honeycutt is a story of women, friendships among women, and hardships that encountered by women. The point of view from a 12-year-old is what makes this story interesting. In the end, this story tells us that, we never know where life will lead us. Sometimes the pain hurts us so bad. Sometimes the horrible past haunts us. But one thing for sure, in the end, we somehow will overcome all of them. And feel grateful for anything we have now.

Lian Gouw: Membawa Sastra Indonesia ke Dunia Internasional

Hari ini saya sangat beruntung karena mendapat kesempatan menghadiri seminar yang mendatangkan Lian Gouw, seorang penulis kelahiran Indonesia yang menerbitkan buku Only A Girl dan memiliki penerbit di Amerika Serikat bernama Dalang Publishing.

Image Link

Mrs. Gouw merupakan seorang keturunan Tionghoa yang dilahirkan di Jakarta, Indonesia dan hidup pada zaman kolonialisasi Belanda. Karena pada masa pemerintahan Presiden Soekarno seluruh buku berbahasa Belanda dimusnahkan, sementara beliau hanya bisa berkomunikasi menggunakan bahasa Belanda, Mrs. Gouw akhirnya memutuskan untuk pindah ke Amerika Serikat. Menurutnya, keterbatasan bahasa membuatnya membisu pada masa itu sehingga beliau memutuskan pergi meninggalkan tanah air. Setelah kurang lebih 40 tahun menetap di Amerika Serikat, pada tahun 2010, Mrs. Gouw kembali menginjakkan kakinya di Indonesia.

Berlatar belakang kecintaan terhadap tanah air, Mrs. Gouw mendirikan Dalang Publishing. Dalang Publishing mengkhususkan menerbitkan buku-buku sastra fiksi sejarah berbahasa Indonesia ke dalam bahasa Inggris. Mrs. Gouw sangat menginginkan Indonesia menjadi sebuah negara yang dikenal luas oleh masyarakat Amerika Serikat. Tagline dari penerbit ini adalah "Bringing Indonesian Literature to the World." Karena berdasarkan pengalamannya, banyak dari mereka yang belum begitu tahu di mana letak Indonesia. Banyak yang mengira Indonesia sama dengan Indocina atau India. Dan setelah ditunjukkan peta yang memperlihatkan betapa luasnya Indonesia, Mrs. Gouw ingin memperkenalkan Indonesia yang hanya dikenal sebatas pulau Bali menjadi lebih luas lagi.

Selain itu, semenjak pertama kali beliau menginjakkan kaki setelah puluhan tahun merantau, ada keprihatinan terhadap kelangsungan bahasa Indonesia. Beliau menyebutnya sebagai "bastardization language" di mana bahasa yang sesungguhnya tidak perlu digunakan justru digunakan. Misalnya, penggunaan terminologi bahasa Inggris yang sesungguhnya kita miliki padanan katanya dalam bahasa Indonesia. Padahal menurutnya, bahasa Indonesia itu sangat indah dan kita harus bangga menggunakannya.

Mrs. Gouw baru-baru ini menerbitkan satu karya penulis Indonesia yang diterjemahkan ke bahasa Inggris, yaitu Perempuan Kembang Jepun atau Potions and Paper Cranes karya Lan Fang. Novel ini mengisahkan beberapa karakter sekaligus, yaitu Sulis, Lestari, Tjoa Kim Hwa, Kaguya, dan Matsumi. Kisah mereka berlatar belakang daerah Kembang Jepun di Surabaya pada tahun 1940-an.

Dalam proses penerjemahan novel ini ke dalam bahasa Inggris, Mrs. Gouw mempertahankan nilai-nilai dan budaya lokal yang ada, misalnya cara memanggil menggunakan kata "Mas". Beliau juga tidak ingin membuat pembaca pusing dengan banyak menyisipkan footnote. Istilah-istilah yang terdengar asing beliau kumpulkan di bagian glossary yang terdapat di halaman belakang. Proses pemilihan judul pun cukup rumit. Beliau mengakui harus menerjemahkan judul yang bisa dengan mudah dilafalkan oleh penutur bahasa Inggris dan juga tetap merepresentasikan kebudayaan Indonesia. Akhirnya dipilihkan judul Potions (yang mewakili jamu tradisional) and Paper Cranes (yang mewakili budaya Jepang).

Setelah menerbitkan bukunya sendiri yang berjudul Only A Girl, Remy Sylado Namaku Mata Hari / My Name is Mata Hari, dan Lan Fang Perempuan Kembang Jepun / Potions and Paper Cranes, Mrs. Gouw banyak mendapat sambutan positif dari pembacanya. Misalnya, setelah membaca Namaku Mata Hari, seorang pembaca benar-benar melancong ke Borobudur untuk melihatnya dengan mata kepalanya sendiri. Dengan begitu, bukan hanya dunia literatur Indonesia yang dikenal secara luas, tetapi juga kebudayaan kita yang mendapat tempat di hati para pembaca internasional.