indonesian_open Challenging tradition - from past ASILE

[Rochayah Machali]

Teman-teman yang baik,

the paper on Saman that I and Ida presented back in the Melbourne 
ASILE is now available on-line. The new title is: "Challenging 
Tradition: The Indonesian Novel Saman"

http://www.fpbahasa.ukm.my/ppbl/GemaCurrentIssues.asp
Volume 5 (1) 2005

Abstract
Indonesia has witnessed the birth of a new generation of (female) 
writers. Many of them are young, cosmopolitan female whose work often 
challenges tradition, and are quite radical at that. One such writer, 
Ayu Utami, had won an award for her first novel Saman. This novel has 
invited critics, particularly because the writer has challenged 
tradition, both in the theme and content as well as in narrative 
style. Themes such as sexuality, which had been considered taboo in 
the past, is explored and challenged in an almost blunt way. Her 
frequent references to female body parts have been most strikingly 
merged into her critical views on tradition. Also, her rejection of 
conventional ways of writing can be seen, for example, in her almost 
'stubborn' way of switching from first person to third person on the 
same character in virtually the same paragraph. This, as many have 
said, would confuse readers. She concocts her challenges to tradition 
by intertwining the shifts in her narration. These two main aspects 
of Saman, ie content and narrative style are analysed in this 
article, with an emphasis on the first, as it is this aspect that 
most clearly reflects the writer's break from tradition.

Key words: challenging tradition, magical realism, gender and 
sexuality, religious dimension.

*****
Salam,
Rochie (and Ida)


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