The World Odyssey of a Balinese Prince - by Idanna Pucci (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

**Skipping Stones Honor Award Winner**

The true story of a prince from Bali, whose fascinating life was shaped by uncommon events and exotic places.

Born in 1919, Prince Made Djelantik witnessed pivotal moments of history: the twilight of a feudal age, the Second World War in Nazi-occupied Holland, Indonesia's long battle for independence from four hundred years of Dutch colonial rule, and finally, the great changes provoked on his island by unbridled development.

Driven by an early passion for medicine, the prince set sail for Europe on the eve of WWII to study at the University of Amsterdam. His calling then took him to far-flung corners of the planet, where he encountered everything from a pirate ambush in the South China Sea and a night attack by a famished army of rats, to a deadly volcanic eruption and his arrest by Saddam Hussein's secret police. When he returned to Bali in the mid-1970s, his public identity as a doctor took precedence over his royal lineage and he was known simply as "Dr. Djelantik" on the island. The doctor implemented the successful campaign which finally eradicated malaria from Bali and established the island's first hospital.

Author Idanna Pucci's evocative narrative of this unusual life is told in short story form, making The World Odyssey of a Balinese Prince an easy read for anyone who finds themselves dreaming of distant places. More than 40 of Dr. Djelantik's own watercolors--done when he was in his 80s--help to illustrate his adventures in vivid detail.

Review Quotes

"A must read! With an insider's touch, the author pays homage with her vivid storytelling to the prince's fascinating and dramatic life that spans much of the 20th century--from Bali's feudal times to our global age." -- Jane Perlez, The New York Times, Beijing bureau chief

"Astonishing! These episodes are swashbuckling adventures and forgotten histories, but perhaps most movingly, the celebration of a decades-long friendship between the author and the protagonist." -- Stephen Lansing, anthropologist, Director of the Complexity Institute, NTU, Singapore, and author of Perfect Order: Recognizing Complexity in Bali

"I celebrate this book and welcome its place in our world; there is so much we can learn within its pages." -- Joesoef Isak, Publisher, Hasta Mitra, PEN International Freedom to Publish Award

"The temptation of this epic is irresistible! The learning begins and ends with a note that it may be a good idea, in our violent time, to recreate the possibility of joy." -- Goenawan Mohamad, founder of Tempo magazine, essayist, poet, playwright, and author of Faith in Writing

"These marvelous stories and illustrations carry the graceful promise that it is possible to be both vividly local and profoundly global." -- Mary Catherine Bateson, cultural anthropologist and author of With a Daughter's Eye: A Memoir of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson

"This book offers a great example of how to retell someone's life in a novel format. Instead of taking a linear path, it offers glimpses of the most interesting events in the hero's life. The story comes alive and you feel as if you are standing right there with him on his odyssey through life."--Skipping Stones magazine

"This book reminds us how another truth exists within the law of 'cause and effect' in the material world, and this truth is made of luminous coincidences, wonders, and miracles." -- Francesco Clemente, Italian painter, designer and member of the Transvanguardia Movement

About the Author

Since leaving her ancestral home in Florence, Italy, Idanna Pucci pursued her interest in diverse cultures by traveling all over the globe. Various writing assignments for Asia Magazine enabled her to travel throughout the Indonesian Archipelago, Asia and across the Soviet Union on the last steam engine of the Trans-Siberian railway.

During her studies in Comparative Literature at Columbia University, she became intrigued by the ceiling paintings of the Court of Justice in the ancient royal capital of Bali. Her literary quest resulted in the volume The Epic of Life: A Balinese Journey of the Soul (Little, Brown & Co.). She is also the author of Brazza in Congo: A Life and Legacy (Umbrage Editions) and The Lady of Sing Sing (Simon & Schuster).

She has given life to award-winning documentaries such as Black Africa White Marble that sheds light on Central Africa's colonial past and its troubled present; and Talk Radio Tehran about those women in Iran who fulfill their aspirations in spite of the gender-apartheid system that dominates their lives. She lives with her husband in New York City.

Dr. A.A. Made Djelantik (1919-2007) built a string of small clinics in remote corners of the Indonesian archipelago in the turbulent years following the country's independence. Later, he traveled with the World Health Organization to Somalia, Iraq & Afghanistan. He founded a medical school in Bali, as well as the famed Academy of Dance, and authored Balinese Painting and The Birthmark: Memoirs of a Balinese Prince.