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Nyai Dasima and the Problem of Interpretation : Intertextuality, Reception Theory, and New Historicism

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Nyai Dasima and the Problem of Interpretation : Intertextuality, Reception Theory, and New Historicism NYAI DASIMA AND THE PROBLEM OF INTERPRETATION : INTERTEXTUALITY, RECEPTION THEORY, AND NEW HISTORICISM Umar Junus' ue to the prevalent concept of lite- but what is said to have happened . And in rature being a document, recording this case the respective incident has been an incident, as well as the lack of filtered through the dominant ideology of the Dproper historical documents, people tend to late 19th century Indonesia among the peo- take for granted that the description of a ple surrounding Francis' life . It can be com- society in a literary work as an authentic pared to Lucien Goldmann's statement description of the society it describes . Seja- (1964, 1967) on Racine's dramas . Racine rah Melayu "Malay Annals is then simply did not report an incident in ancient Greece . regarded as an authentic description of the He simply used them to express his Jan- Malay society in the Sultanate of Malacca . senist ideology. And the phenomenon can They never bother to questioning it although be compared as well to F .R. Ankersmit's they know it was written more than 100 statement (1983 :8). The facts are there, but years after the fall of the Sultanate - for a as they are put in a narrative writing of his- further discussion please refer to Umar tory they are then subjected to the narrative Junus, 1984 and Cheah Boon Kheng, 1998 . logic rather than to the facts as facts . In this Accordingly, one might take the same atti- case we have to refer as well to Alun Mun- tude towards Cerita Njai Dasima "Nyai Da- slow's discussion in Deconstructing History sima story" by G. Francis (1896) which re- (1997) which emphasizes the fact that eve- lates an incident in 1813 . In this case, I ry thing is a discourse . It has to be seen as agree with Kenji Tsuchiya (1991 :476) who belonging to a syntagmatic system rather reminds us about the time difference bet- than to a paradigmatic one as I have pre- ween the incident and the time the work, viously discussed (1989 :3-18) and, it can be which reported it, was written and published compared as well to the statement by Ri- which does not allow us to take it as an chard Harland in discussing the super- authentic description of the respective inci- structuralism and beyond . However, we al- dent. It is quite possible that the incident did so have to take note on what Tineke Hell- take place in 1813 . And as it was reported wig says in her 1992 article . She believed by Francis only in 1896, his source was Dasima was fictional . She questioned the simply one's memory rather than the actual authenticity of Dasima's photograph (3-4) in incident - in this case it can be compared to Francis' text. It is quite possible that the the role of memory as discussed by Mark function of the respective photograph is Freeman (1993). Francis then simply based simply to authenticate the story, similar to his report on somebody else's report and those in Pertemoean "The Meeting" (Abas this fits very well to Michael Maranda's sta- Pamoentjak n.S, 1927) and Rol Patjar Me- tement regarding the nature of a historical rah Indonesia "The Role of Indonesian fact (1998 :416). It is not what has happened Pakar Sastra, pernah menjadi guru besar di Universdi Malaya . 82 Humaniora No. 12 September - Desember 1999 Umar Jun s Scarlet Pimpernel" (Matu Mona, 1940) as I re Iity, dialogs among texts - Julia Kristeva have previously discussed (1988). de eloped the concept of intertextuality Goldmann treated Racine's dramas as fro that of dialogic of Mikhail Bakhtin and an epiphenomenon to the Jansenist world bo now develop into two different ideas . In view . He started with the Jansenist idea of as .ition to that, Tempo Doeloe was pu- the hidden God, le Dieu cachee, and then bs' hed at the same period with Toer's tetra- look for it in Racine's dramas . He was then lo y, starting with Bumi Manusia "The Earth able to establish the relation between the of Mankind" (1980), in which a nyai, " a na- Jansenist world view and Racine's dramas . ti • concubine of an European master", He used the information regarding a certain a o plays an important role, although she period or thing to explain the factors res- w s of a different quality . At least we can ponsible for the creation of certain works . r late it to the hyperreality phenomenon as However, there are other ways of seeing a di cussed by Umberto Eco (1987) . There is certain phenomenon . In this case I would en an ideology - in Althusserian sense like to employ ideas developed within the ( f. Catherine Belsey, 1980 :5) - behind its intertextual studies, the reception theory r printing. It can be also related to Toer's and the new historicism .. • ort of introducing a new paradigm to the The presence of other versions of an in- s udy of Indonesian literary history . Instead cident regarding Nyai Dasima allows us to • starting with the novels published by Ba- detach Nyai Dasima story from a (possible) I i Pustaka, a literary agency established by real incident supposed to take place in • Dutch colonial power, he started the 1813. It does not concern us whether the in- I donesian literary history with novels of cident really took place or not as we are no arlier period published in colloquial Malay longer concerned with the authenticity of y private publishers which is usually asso- the report. We simply concern with the pu- iated with non-Malay people : Chinese or blication of the works, discourses, directly urasian. For him, the genesis of Indone- related to the situation around 1896 - the ian literature is not the classical Malay, year Francis published his work, 1940 - the sually associated with the palace . life, but year Roestam St . Palindih published his 'th literary works in the colloquial Malay Dasima, not Nyai Dasima, based on a mo- hich was responsible for spreading the vie story, and 1965 the year S .M. Ardan pu- alay beyond its natural boundary . He then blished his Nyai Dasima. They take us to ccordingly called the literature as sastra the world of text: Francis', Palindih's and Ar- ra-Indonesia, "literary works of pre-Indone- dan's texts respectively . To these we can an period" . And this is simply a continua- add Pramoedya Ananta Toer's text which is on of what the communist party had pro- more than a simple re-publication of Fran- pagated before their 1965 abortive coup . cis' text, especially seeing it from the follow- There is another version of Nyai Dasima ing perspectives . He published it as Tjerita story but I would not discuss here as it is in Njai Dasima "Nyai Dasima Story" only while Dutch . It was written by A. Th. Manusama Francis published it as Tjerita Njai Dasima, in 1926 under the title: Njai Dasima, het soewatoe korban daripada pemboedjoek slachtoffer van bedrog en misleiding . Een "Nyai Dasima, a victim of temptress" . As historisch zedenroman van Batavia "Nyai Toer's title is different from that of Francis, Dasima : a victim of cheating and temptress . his edition might lead the audience to a dif- A historical moral novel of Batavia" . Manu- ferent perspective . In addition to that, Toer sama did not mention the presence of Fran- published Nyai Dasima story in Tempo cis' version . He based his version on a "co- Doeloe "The Yesteryear" (1982) together medy" performed by a Komedie Stamboel with other works from the same period group in Indonesia as he also regarded which according to him seemed to have the himself as a writer for "comedies" perform- same characteristics . It is then no longer an ed by such group . He was also the writer of independent discourse. It now belongs to a "Stephan de Lima", "Krontjong" and "Kome- wider discourse consisting of several dis- die Stamboel" . Although his story line is not courses. This encourages us to compare different from that of Francis but he did so- Dasima story to other works, an intertextual me changes to the structure of the story Humaniora No. 12 September-Desember 1999 83 Umar Junus telling, by reorganizing it. And this might It is neither a movie story as such as it has lead the audience to a different perspective been narrativized . I assume Mak Buyung but I have no intention of discussing it here . was never labeled as Iangkaneb," a poiso- Manusama also did other changes . It was nous leave", in the movie - langkaneh is a no longer a simple Master Edward W, it was Minangkabau idiom for someone who only now Master Edward Williams or Master creates trouble for other people . Palindih Williams. He extended the story to the court gave her that label in the story as the narra- sentencing people responsible for Dasima's tivity allowed it . Accordingly, Palindih's text death. Poeasa, no longer Poasa, got a de- has to be treated as a story rather than as a ath sentence . Samioen got a life sentence, screenplay. However, we can not erase the while each Saleha, Hajati and Mak Boe- trace of a movie from it. There are more joeng was sentenced 15 year prison . Koen- than mere facts in it, according to Ankers- toem, Samioen's slave, was bought by mit's idea (1983 :7). Master Williams and was set free . Williams Our first problem is the intertextuality . and Nancy then left Indonesia for England . There are so many discussions on intertex- In addition to that, Manusama also added tuality but for convenience I would like to re- an introduction and a historical background fer here to an anthology edited by Jay Clay- of the story.
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