A denouement of defiance and death Escaping the liminal space and phase of a Japanese internment camp in Ismail Marahimin's And the War is Over

Increasingly, the importance of Indonesian perspectives is emphasized for the understanding of the Dutch colonial past. In this article, I examine the work of Indonesian author Ismail Marahimin. His only novel, Dan Perang Pun Usai (And the War Is Over), was published in 1977 and is set in the latter days of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. What is remarkable about the story is not only the diversity of characters, but especially how they are each connected to a Japanese internment camp in Sumatra. This article shows how the idea of “liminality,” or a period and space of uncertainty and transition, recurs in the novel in various ways, not least for the Dutch internees, who are preparing an escape. This focus lays bare how liminal spaces and liminal phases produce fundamental changes for the actors involved, but also how they produce changes in how we culturally remember the past.