February 14, 2003
Indonesian Literature
The new era of Indonesian young woman writers might have just started since around the last 5 years. It began by the appearance of a controversial novel Saman written by Ayu Utami (1998), because of her courage on demonstrating political repression, religion intolerance, and woman sexuality. Some pros praised her unpretend depiction on those 'taboo'-things, while some cons critisized it.Thanks to Farid who has wrote that in his blog several days ago. I just happy by that since I remember to note a discussion who held on Jakarta last week at Gramedia Matraman. The discussion present all above womens except Ayu Utami who can't attend.And then some other young woman writers come out from their hiding place and succesfully enliven Indonesian literature such as Fira Basuki (Trilogy Novels: Jendela-Jendela, Pintu, and Atap), Dewi 'Dee' Lestari (Supernova), Djenar Maesa Ayu (Kumpulan Cerpen: Mereka Bilang Saya Monyet), Violetta Simatupang (Kumpulan Puisi: Anak-Anak Vampir), and many more.
The Indonesian women's writer is really phenomenon, while their works has been surprisingly appreciated by the growing quantities of Indonesian readers, though it might be not on qualities (both on readers and writers). Talking literature, we must remember to call some works (both on fiction and non-fiction) who could be aspire and become inspiration for all their readers. We could say like famously Indonesian writer Pramodya Ananta Toer and poet artist Chairil Anwar. They, the women, i think still didn't, except for their matter of increasing popularity become a passion for young that they could imagine to be like them. Though, this is still too good to get to :) Maybe some more years, and some more works could prove my critic was wrong. Let's hope and see!
Posted at February 14, 2003 05:54 PM | Indonesia
