Matthes

Benjamin Frederik Matthes is a linguist, but he stammers and knows nothing about South Celebes. Even so, the Netherlands Bible Society sends him to the mission field to translate the Bible into Bugis and Makassarese. Trying to understand a people regarded with contempt as uncivilised, he is drawn into a dangerous adventure: he hunts for old manuscripts and meets Colliq Pujié, a woman of the court of Tanette. Soon he has a personal mission that he believes is no less important than the Bible translation. The first book of a planned trilogy set in nineteenth-century South Sulawesi, around the collecting of the I La Galigo manuscripts.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

442 pages in the original

Genres

Historical (assigned by AI)

Set in

Indonesia, 19th century

First published

2024 by Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia

ISBN

9786231342188 (original)