Violence, money, and melodrama are the volatile ingredients of The Rape of Sukreni. Written in the 1930s by A.A. Panji Tisna, Soekreni Gadis Bali was published in 1947. Sukreni is a modern Indonesian classic concerned with the Balinese-Hindu notion of karma, while its main thematic thrust is in fact the impact of modern commerce on Balinese society. Modern commerce, the author argues, is animated by a morality which robs people of their humanity. Even more telling today than it was when it was written, The Rape of Sukreni offers a unique and dark insider's view of the island's future that violently challenges the conventional image of Bali as a honeyed paradise filled with artists and happy tourists.
