In the summer of 1876, the French poet Arthur Rimbaud arrived on the Indonesian island of Java. He enlisted in the colonial Dutch army but deserted after only two weeks. This brief escape remains a mystery nearly 150 years later.
In Salatiga, a city in Java, a plaque at the mayor’s residence is the only recognition of Rimbaud’s visit. His influence is so profound that the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture is considering creating a memorial trail to honor his time in Java.
Salatiga-born writer Triyanto Triwikromo stated, “Nearly every Indonesian poet who sees poetry as an expression of the subconscious and surrealism has read Arthur Rimbaud at least once.”
In Rimbaud’s poem “Bad Blood,” he wrote, “My daytime is done; I am leaving Europe. The air of the sea will burn my lungs; lost climates will turn my skin to leather.”
Rimbaud’s French hometown will celebrate his 170th birthday on October 20. He envisioned leaving for “peppery, soggy countries” and “archipelagos of stars.”
He arrived in Batavia, now Jakarta, on July 23, 1876, after signing up for six years in the Dutch army. Rimbaud then traveled to Semarang, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) away, and boarded a colonial railway built for transporting troops and spices.
According to Jamie James, author of Rimbaud in Java: the Lost Voyage, Rimbaud traveled southward to Ambarawa town with other recruits, including some French compatriots.
Today, the Ambarawa station is disused and serves as a railway museum, offering steam train rides to Tuntang. From Tuntang, Rimbaud walked the last 10 kilometers to Salatiga.
Okta, a local tour guide, remarked, “I’ve never heard of Rimbaud.” However, she added, “It’s a fascinating story that we should tell to our visitors.” The city attracts about 100,000 tourists annually, with 30 percent being foreigners.
On August 15, 1876, Rimbaud deserted his barracks before being sent to battle in Aceh, on Sumatra island. Local authorities are planning a memorial trail to commemorate his stay in Salatiga from August 2 to 15, 1876.
Hilmar Farid, a director-general at the Ministry of Education and Culture, expressed openness to initiatives that highlight Rimbaud’s time in Java.
Sri Sarwanti, head of Salatiga’s library and archives, stated they aim to “strengthen and remind people of what Arthur Rimbaud has brought to our region.”
Rimbaud may have sought refuge in a hut at the foot of Merbabu volcano after leaving Salatiga, a small town with about 1,000 residents at the time, compared to around 200,000 today. He might have tried to experience the pastoral life he imagined in “Bad Blood.”
In his writing, he expressed a desire to “swim, trample the grass, hunt, above all smoke: drink hard liquors like boiling metals — as those dear ancestors did round the fire.”
The final weeks of Rimbaud’s life in Indonesia remain unknown. After deserting, he set sail for Europe, later traveling to Cyprus, Yemen, and Ethiopia.
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