Great people, great minds

I was thinking about this last night before I got to sleep, about authors who have influenced me personally or intellectually. So, I am making a list about five authors who have shaped the way I think. Check the list, and I also want to know yours, if you have one.

1.George Orwell
Basically, reading Orwell’s works has opened my mind. It grows the critical side of me. Period. And I deeply thank Mr. Nicky Wire for introducing me to George Orwell *bows*.

2.Aquarini Priyatna Prabasmoro
From all the feminists’ writing that I have read, I feel most connected with Mrs. Prabasmoro’s writings. Maybe because she writes in local perspectives it feels so familiar. I love how she shares her personal experience and relates it with the feminist thoughts. FYI, she’s a lecturer in Unpad.

3. Edward Said
Mr. Said surely has opened this unexpected door of the relation between the west and the east. With his phenomenal book, Orientalism, Said has dug out that power relation between the west and the east in some western novels. His point is representation of the west and the east most of the time is political. But instead of keeping the border line between the east and the west, his writings suggest the union between the so-called separated worlds.

4. Roald Dahl
If you think children’s books should be non-violent, read Dahl’s works! However, behind the ‘violence’, Dahl spreads this idea of love in his unique way.

5. Oscar Wilde
My first encounter with gay novel is when I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. And since then my interest in gay-themed novels has been improving. Not only that, Wilde’s idea about good books and bad books is something that I truly believe until now. Morality sometimes has nothing to do with the quality of art.