Expert 'struggles' to understand 10 best stories<\/p>\n
By Lie Hua<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Understanding a short story is a daunting job
\nfor many people, including literary experts.<\/p>\n
Apsanti Djokosujatno of the School of Letters at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia discussed on Nov. 21 the 10 best stories
\npublished in Horison, virtually Indonesia's only literary
\nmagazine, between 1990 and 2000. The discussion took place at
\nGaleri Cipta II in the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
She shared with the audience the outcome of her \"struggle\" in
\nunderstanding these 10 stories, chosen by a panel of judges made
\nup of the magazine's editorial team -- Agus R. Sarjono, Hamsad
\nRangkuti, Jamal D. Rahman and Sutardji Calzoum Bachri -- and
\npublished in July 2000 in a special edition of the magazine to
\nmark its 34th anniversary.<\/p>\n
These 10 stories, which were deliberately not listed in a
\nhierarchical order, were written by Budi Darma, Helvy Tiana Rosa,
\nTaufik Ikram Jamil, Oka Rusmini, Ramadhan KH, Agus Noor, Syahril
\nLatif, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Motinggo Busye and Waluya DS.<\/p>\n
A lecturer of literary criticism, among other subjects,
\nApsanti praised the panel of judges for not placing the stories
\nin a hierarchical order, saying the present tendency, especially
\nin developed countries, was that evaluating literary work was no
\nlonger the job of the critics, but rather of prize-awarding
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
Of the writers, she was pleased to see they represented
\ndifferent ethnic groups and were not dominated by the so-called
\nestablished writers. She lamented, though, that from the 10 there
\nwere only two women writers (Helvy Tiana Rosa and Oka Rusmini),
\nwhich she said could be construed as the tendency for male
\ndominance. She maintained there were some good stories by women
\nwriters published in the magazine that were not chosen for the
\nspecial edition.<\/p>\n
Apsanti was also happy to find the 10 stories dealt with a
\nvariety of themes and revealed quite a wide range of narrative
\ntechniques.<\/p>\n
The short story, she reminded the audience, must be viewed as
\nan independent narrative form and not, for example, as a shorter
\nform of the novel. Therefore, the short story, she said, is an
\nindependent genre with its own characteristics, which include,
\namong other things, economy in character and description, and
\nwell-maintained suspense.<\/p>\n
Of the 10 stories, she said the most appealing to her was
\nLelaki Tua dari Noumea (Old Man from Noumea) by Waluya DS, for
\nits depiction of the resoluteness of a woman. In the story, a
\nJavanese family migrates to Australia, where one of them, the old
\nman, tries very hard to keep true to the values of his Javanese
\nnobility, even at the expense of his wife's happiness.<\/p>\n
His granddaughter, Dewi, however, seems to live in quite a
\ndifferent world. She speaks English to him freely and, what is
\nmore surprising, she openly tells him and his wife that she has
\nbecome pregnant outside of marriage.<\/p>\n
What is most appealing about this story, said Apsanti, is that
\nthe old man's wife has always shown her dedication to her
\nhusband, but in the case of Dewi's pregnancy she steadfastly
\ntakes sides with Dewi.<\/p>\n
Not born to a Javanese noble family, she always allows her
\nhusband to indulge himself in his memories of the grand Javanese
\nnoble values. This is her sacrifice to make him happy. Yet in the
\ncase of Dewi, she does not want to sacrifice Dewi simply to make
\nher husband happy. She holds fast to her belief that Dewi has her
\nown life to lead.<\/p>\n
She boldly tells her husband: \" ... I love you. I don't care
\nwhether you love me or not .... True love never expects anything
\nin return. It is sacrifice itself.\"<\/p>\n
She also says to him: \"Rio, what are we looking for in life
\nbut happiness? Nothing else matters to me as long as Dewi enjoys
\nher own happiness.\" These words melt his heart and lift a heavy
\nburden from his shoulders.<\/p>\n
Waluya DS, Apsanti said, has successfully painted the
\nresoluteness of a woman through the depiction of the old man in
\nthe free-flowing course of storytelling.<\/p>\n
Another story Apsanti said she very much enjoyed was Enclave
\nby Ramadhan KH. Here, Ramadhan seems to violate the principle of
\nstorytelling, which requires that certain elements in the story
\nbe given prominence over others. However, upon a closer reading,
\nthe story may be taken as a satire.<\/p>\n
In Enclave, the daughter of a rich Japanese man marries an
\nIndonesian man. Her father buys them a piece of land under the
\nname of the daughter. Then he invites another Japanese man to
\nIndonesia and asks him to marry an Indonesian woman. This friend
\nagrees and then buys a piece of land under the name of his wife.
\nIn Indonesia no aliens are allowed to buy land.<\/p>\n
The friend invites another Japanese friend, a contractor, to
\ndevelop the land. Very soon, the locals have to move. The
\nJapanese have powerful connections in Jakarta, and an enclave for
\nJapanese is soon established.<\/p>\n
The locals find it difficult to become angry with them because
\nthese Japanese are related by marriage with some of them. By
\ngiving equal prominence to the characters, Ramadhan hits home
\nwith his satire of the collusion between the Japanese and
\nIndonesian government officials.<\/p>\n
The other stories have their own attractions, ranging from
\nrealism to supernaturalism. On the whole, however, all 10
\nstories, in Apsanti's observation, lack descriptive settings.
\nThey are packed with people only. Places are simply mentioned
\nwith scant attention to detail.<\/p>\n
This is, however, a general weakness of Indonesian short
\nstories, said Apsanti, who hopes that Indonesian short story
\nwriters will describe the settings of their stories in greater
\ndetail, given that people and their environment are inseparable.<\/p>\n
Despite the variety of topics these 10 stories dwell on, she
\nnotices that none of them touch on maritime life. She expressed
\nwonder at the fact that while Indonesia is a maritime state,
\nhardly any novelists or short story writers have written about
\nthe sea. This, again, she added, shows Indonesian writers'
\nseemingly indifferent attitude toward the environment, focusing
\nall of their interest on people and their conflicts without
\nrealizing that man and nature are inseparable.<\/p>\n
Before concluding her discussion, she again expressed the hope
\nthat more women writers would be included in the magazine's best
\nshort stories.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, as if anticipating Apsanti's sorrow over the
\ninadequate room given to women writers, a young short story
\nwriter, Nia Sutiara, launched on Nov. 16 at News Cafe in Jakarta
\nher new collection of short stories, titled Hati Perempuan (A
\nWoman's Heart), in which she explores various problems that women
\nencounter in their lives.<\/p>\n
Arswendo Atmowiloto and Budiyati Abiyoga, who commented on the
\nbook during the launch, agreed that Nia had captured the
\nsteadfastness of women in coping with life's different
\nsituations.<\/p>",
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