The Pilgrim (Ziarah)

First published in 1969, The Pilgrim has been hailed as Indonesia’s first modern novel. The main characters are an artist and a graveyard overseer. The former representing emotion and the latter signifying reason and conflicting aspects of human nature. Despite the characters’ antagonistic nature and their cruelty, they both operate outside conventional society to represent forms of creativity, philosophy, and art. Most importantly, they both are searching for genuine human values as they struggle with their own shortcomings. In The Pilgrim, the chaos of thoughts and feelings represents the chaos of life’s randomness.