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Drama dari Krakatau (Drama of Krakatoa) is a 1929 vernacular Malay novel written by Kwee Tek Hoay, first published as a serial in his magazine Panorama between 7 April and 22 December 1928. Inspired by Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii and the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, the book centres on two families in 1920s Batam with siblings who were separated in 1883. The brother becomes a political figure, while the sister marries a Baduy priest-king who ultimately sacrifices himself to calm a stirring Krakatoa. Before the final instalment had been published, the novel had already been adapted for the stage. Although Kwee was known as a realist and researched the volcano before writing, Drama dari Krakatau is replete with mysticism. Thematic analyses have focused on the depiction of indigenous cultures by Kwee (himself ethnic Chinese), as well as geography and nationalism. As with other works of Chinese Malay literature, the book is not considered part of the Indonesian literary canon. (Full article...)

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The Commonwealth Games open in the Gold Coast, Australia (athletes' village pictured).
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In American college basketball, the NCAA Division I Men's Championship concludes with Villanova defeating Michigan.
China's first space station, Tiangong-1, re-enters the atmosphere and crashes into the South Pacific Ocean.

On this day...

April 7: National Beer Day in the United States

Fridtjof Nansen

1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach debuted the St John Passion, a musical representation of the Passion, at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
1788 – American pioneers established the town of Marietta (now in Ohio), the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
1896 – An Arctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (pictured) reached 86°13.6'N, almost three degrees beyond the previous Farthest North mark.
1948 – The United Nations established the World Health Organization to act as a coordinating authority on international public health.
2010 – Violent protests in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek resulted in the collapse of the Kurmanbek Bakiyev government.

Toussaint Louverture (d. 1803) · John Bernard Flannagan (b. 1895) · Dave Arneson (d. 2009)

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The winding tower of Shaft 12 at the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, Germany. Mining activities took place from 1851 until 1986, and over this period twelve shafts were opened. The last of these, built in the New Objectivity style, began operations in 1932. It has been considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, being termed the "most beautiful coal mine in the world". The Zollverein Complex was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.

Photograph: Thomas Wolf

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