Literary Stuttering in the Digital Space

Fear of ideas is often manifested in the form of repression against books.

A phenomenal example of book banning in this country, which is frequently cited in discussions, is the censorship of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s works during the New Order era, though many other cases could be mentioned.

In essence, the act of repressing literary texts is rooted in anxiety regarding the emergence of new perspectives.

Recently, the cancellation of a book discussion titled ‘Memburu Muhammad’ by Feby Indirani at the Bogor Literature Week, due to intimidation by a group of masses, demonstrates that the pattern of threats against literary works has not yet shifted.

In the era of social media, which caters to algorithms of massiveness and a lack of thorough reading, ‘literary stuttering’ is finding an increasingly suitable place. This is a failure of decoding.