S. Rodgers Imagining tradition, imagining modernity; A southern Batak novel from the 1920s In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 147 (1991), no: 2/3, Leiden, 273-297 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl SUSAN RODGERS IMAGINING TRADITION, IMAGINING MODERNITY: A SOUTHERN BATAK NOVEL FROM THE 1920s Introduction Navigating the journey from a-'traditional past' of purportedly limited social horizons toward a more cosmopolitan and 'enlightened' modern existence in a multi-ethnic Indonesia has been a central, recurrent theme of Indonesian-language fiction since the 1920s. The social dilemmas and emotional pain entailed in this transition from tradition (often, ethnic tradition) toward modernity typically provides much of the tension of novels as diverse as Abdul Muis's Salah Asuhan (1928), Merari Siregar's Azab dan Sengsara (1927), Marah Rush's Sitti Nurbaya (1922), and Pra- moedya Ananta Toer's much more recent BumiManusia (1980) and Anak Semua Bangsa (1980).1 Different generations of Indonesian novelists have portrayed the purportedly competitive worlds of tradition and modernity in different ways, as have important essayists such as those who discuss the same matter in the pre-war issues of Pudjangga Baru. Some writers have been optimistic about the chances of moving into an age of moder- nity, while others (a larger group) have generally taken the bleaker view that life in a modern state will necessarily lay personal lives to waste.2 The latter tended to be the consensus view of many of the more prom- inent Balai Pustaka novelists of the 1920s and 30s. Their familiar love story novels and accounts of growing up are often 'journey novels' of 1 Particularly good background sources on this general topic include Keith Foulcher's study of the imagery of time in 1920s poetry (1977), C.W. Watson's thesis (1972), and Freidus's examination of the early Minangkabau novelists (1977). Teeuw 1967 provides a frame- work within which to understand Tapanuli literature of the pre-war years, although he concentrates on the better-known Indonesian-language works. It should be noted that for the rendering of all Indonesian names and titles, including those from the earlier period, the modern Indonesian spelling has been followed throughout the present article. So I have written Rusli instead of Roesli, Nurbaya instead of Noerbaja, etc. 2 See Keith Foulcher's Pujangga Baru (1980) for a comprehensive discussion of these writers' views of tradition and modernity. SUSAN RODGERS is associate professor of anthropology at Holy Cross College in Wor- cester, USA. She obtained a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Chicago and has previously published 'Batak Tape Cassette Kinship', American Ethnologist 13-1, 1986, and Power and Gold: Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Dr. Rodgers may be contacted at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Holy Cross College, Worcester, MA 01610, USA..