CHAPTER I Introduction National literature, regional perspective Indonesia’s literary world is heterogeneous, but based on language use and form its literature can be broadly divided into two sections: national literature and regional literature. National literature, also known as modern Indonesian literature, is that which is written in the Indonesian language, while regional literature is written in regional languages such as Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese and Buginese. The term ‘regional literature’ is ambiguous, because apart from referring to literature written in regional languages, it is also used somewhat pejoratively to refer to literature in Indonesian that originates at a regional rather than a national level. In this context, the term regional literature is defi ned in ‘a negative way as being of appeal only to restricted audiences’ (Kratz 1991:193). Similarly, the term ‘regional writers’ often has an inferior connotation when comparison is made with ‘writers from the centre’ – a term that refers to writers who live in the capital, Jakarta (formerly Batavia), have been nationally recognized or have written work regarded as part of the Indonesian literary canon. Both regional literature and its writers are considered, in post-colonial terminology, as ‘an inferior Other’ (Newton 1997:283). The study of Indonesian literature continues to concentrate predominantly on its canon, a body of work written by nationally recognized writers and published in Jakarta – the political, economic and cultural centre of Indonesia. Good examples of this are the intensely studied novels of Pramoedya Ananta Toer and more recently those of Seno Gumira Ajidarma and Ayu Utami. Studies that focus on this canon exclude much signifi cant work I Nyoman Darma Putra - 9789004253636 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 08:06:50PM via free access 2 A literary mirror from outside the capital and reinforce the idea that Jakarta is the centre of all literary activity (Sumardjo 1979 cited in Hellwig 1994:4; Hill 1993:246-7, 253). But, as Henk Maier (2004:494) has pointed out, although Jakarta ‘has set the tone in the political as well as in the cultural arena of the Indonesian nation as whole’ it remains a ‘location that can in no way claim to represent life and experience’ throughout the archipelago. In terms of literary life, Maier’s point is that it is not possible to claim a comprehensive view of Indonesian literature without giving due attention to its manifestations at a regional level, beyond Jakarta. Will Derks’ opinion (2001:369) that ‘in the study of modern Indonesian literature almost all energy has been devoted to the literary work of authors published in the capital, Jakarta’ clearly suggests that critics or scholars of Indonesian literature should also devote some energy to the study of national literature originating from regional centres. A trend toward applying a regionally oriented approach to the study of Indonesian literature began to emerge in the late 1970s. Examples of this are Alberta Freidus’s 1977 examination of the contribution of Sumatran writers to the development of Indonesian literature, Rosslyn von der Borch’s 1987 study on art and activism in Central Java and Farida Soemargono’s 1979 survey of literary groups in Yogyakarta between 1945 and 1960. Soemargono argues that while Yogyakarta is only a regional centre it is nevertheless vital to the overall development of Indonesian literature (Teeuw 1996:47). Andries Teeuw (1996:207) acknowledges the importance of Soemargono’s study and suggests that similar research should be ‘undertaken for other regional centres before it is too late and the materials are lost forever!’. His statement accepts that away from Jakarta, there are other centres where Indonesian literature is developing, with much literary work and activity that is worth studying. Among others, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, West Java, East Java and Bali are valid candidates to satisfy Teeuw’s concept of ‘other regional centres’. Nearly two decades after the studies by Freidus and Soemargono, Derks, building on Soemargono’s example, published a number of studies on the development of regional Indonesian literature (Derks 1996a, 1996b, 1996c, 2001, 2002). In his essay on Indonesian sastra pedalaman (hinterland literature), Derks emphasizes the lively activities I Nyoman Darma Putra - 9789004253636 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 08:06:50PM via free access Introduction 3 of literary communities in various towns throughout the archipelago including Palembang, Pekanbaru, Bandung, Solo, Semarang, Ngawi, Malang, Denpasar, Pontianak, Banjarmasin and Makassar. Quoting Melani Budianta, he also notes an expansion in the number of literary groups and clubs, now numbering around fi fty, that has taken place in Jakarta and its surrounds, including Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, and that they are ‘only remotely connected to the literary establishment in the capital’ (Derks 2002:344). This growth in literary activity in areas beyond the Jakarta ‘centre’ indicates that ‘any endeavour to map the tradition of modern Indonesian literature in general can no longer afford to ignore or even dismiss these phenomena’ (Derks 2002:344). There has still been insuffi cient attention given to the development of national literature in regional centres. Among the few studies so far are those on Indonesian literature from Bali by Thomas Hunter (1998), I Nyoman Darma Putra (1998a, 1998b, 2000a), I Nyoman Wijaya (2000), Maya Sutedja-Liem (2000, 2003) and one on contemporary poems in Indonesian from West Java by Ian Campbell (2006). It is clear from the dates of these studies, and those of Derks, that they emerged during and after the last years of the centralizing New Order government, which fi nally gave way to a reformation movement in May 1998. The radical decentralization of government processes in the post-Reformation period and the increase in literary activities outside Jakarta has particularly encouraged these studies. Regional autonomy has made ‘the region’ an interesting subject of study (Aspinall and Fealy 2003; Schulte Nordholt and Van Klinken 2007), in the arts and culture as well as in the areas of politics and government, and regional studies will complement the nationally focused studies of Indonesian literature. This book eschews a nationally oriented approach and follows the path pioneered by Freidus and Soemargono and established by Derks and others, using Bali as a case study. Bali has already proved to be a productive fi eld for studies of anthropology, history, tourism, arts and traditional literature, but there has never been a comprehensive study of its modern literature in Indonesian. In reality, from the mid- 1920s onwards the island started to produce a challenging range of work in modern literary genres, written in the national language (see I Nyoman Darma Putra - 9789004253636 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 08:06:50PM via free access 4 A literary mirror Chapter II). This study has two interrelated aims: to examine the development of Indonesian literature that comes from Bali and locate it within the totality of the national literature, through understanding the role played by Balinese writers in the progress of modern Indonesia’s national literary traditions; and also to analyse how this literature refl ects the changing ways Balinese have perceived their identity between the late colonial period and the end of the twentieth century. Stuart Hall (1997:51) points out that identity is ‘a ‘’production’’, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation’. This raises two points: that identity is not a fi xed, fi nal and static label for individuals or groups of people, as has conventionally been understood, but a changing, fl uid, dynamic process; and that identity can be traced from a variety of forms of representation. Hall’s position is supported by Simon During (2005:150) who emphasizes that ‘all identities are in constant mutation’. Literature is a form of cultural representation, and can therefore be used to investigate the ongoing transformation of personal or collective identities. Following the dynamic view of identity, Jeff Lewis (2008:398) has argued that individuals ‘have a degree of choice about who they are and which cultural elements they wish to mobilize in order to express their identity’. Using these concepts of identity, this book examines how changes in identity construction are refl ected in the literature that Balinese writers have written in Indonesian and how social and cultural politics infl uenced such identity mutation. Indonesian literature; An overview To understand the heterogeneous and multi-centred nature of Indonesian literature it is fi rst necessary to present a broad overall survey of its development. Attempts to defi ne what constituted the beginning of Indonesian literature continue. This involves a consideration of whether particular literary works should be included or excluded, the position of literature in regional languages, and works that were written by ethnic groups. The social and political situation I Nyoman Darma Putra - 9789004253636 Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 08:06:50PM via free access Introduction 5 has always played an important role in the construction of the history of Indonesian literature. A recent attempt to include regional literature or literary work in regional languages such as Acehnese, Javanese, Sundanese and Buginese in the world of Indonesian literature, as seen in the anthology Dari Fansuri ke