'Sastrawangi': RI's 'chick lit' or literature lite?<\/p>\n
Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
In the last five years a not so quiet revolution took place on
\nthe local literary scene.<\/p>\n
A band of young, talented women writers emerged, heralded by
\nAyu Utami's ground-breaking Saman and followed by singer-cum-
\nauthor Dewi \"Dee\" Lestari's equally celebrated Supernova. They
\nhave since been joined by Fira Basuki, Djenar Maesa Ayu and, most
\nrecently, Nukila Amal.<\/p>\n
Journalist and short-story writer Bre Redana coined the term
\nsastrawangi (literally \"perfumed literature\") for the new group,
\ndrawing comparisons with the \"chick lit\" -- literature written by
\nand for young women -- that appeared in the United States and
\nBritain in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Women writers are nothing new in Indonesia -- Selasih and
\nS. Rukiah made their names in the years following independence,
\nwhile novelist NH Dini and poet Toety Heriaty established firm
\nreputations in subsequent years.<\/p>\n
But the high-profile public persona of the new group is a
\ndeparture from the past: Not only are their books discussed, but
\ntheir lifestyles and opinions are also prime fodder for
\nincreasingly celebrity-obsessed Indonesian society.<\/p>\n
Dewi has been a breakfast TV host and is now a spokeswoman for
\na skin-care range; Ayu is frequently called upon as a speaker on
\nfeminist issues; Djenar, in an ironic affirmation of that
\ncelebrity status, is the host of a new TV gossip show.<\/p>\n
All the attention about how they look and what they say has
\ndetracted somewhat from examination of their literary merits,
\nalthough Nukila refused to have her photograph put on the jacket
\nof her critically acclaimed book, Cala Ibi. Well-educated, from
\nmiddle to upper-class backgrounds, the women are savvy to urban
\ntrends and developments, their works full of contemporary slang
\nand social references.<\/p>\n
At the core, the problems and issues they discuss are little
\ndifferent from those preceding women \"pop culture\" writers of the
\n1970s and 1980s, like Mira W, Marga T and Titie Said.<\/p>\n
The difference is the times we live in. A change has come over
\nthe public mindset with increasing exposure to Western culture
\nand values, especially through film and media. The country's
\neconomic boom up to the crisis that struck in 1997 groomed a
\nburgeoning middle class accustomed to creature comforts in their
\nlives, and a yearning for a growing openness.<\/p>\n
The fall of the New Order regime provided these women writers
\nthe opportunity to introduce their novels. Their language is
\nfresh, like the lyrics in pop music, open, hiding next to nothing
\nas they delve into subjects once taboo to women writers.<\/p>\n
Their novels and characters are drawn from a cosmopolitan
\nworld they know well -- urban settings, peopled with hip
\nintellectuals whose speech is sprinkled with English phrases, no
\ndifferent than the young executives gathering for a drink at a
\ncafe after work.<\/p>\n
\"Yuppies\" and generation \"X-ers\", they are part of the in
\ncrowd who are curious about life. The women's works are
\nphilosophically deep, but lacking in moral pretension; they call
\na spade a spade. That latter may come as a pleasant surprise to
\nmany readers used to the fluff of other writers.<\/p>\n
In their unconventional hands, the Indonesian language has
\ncome alive, removed from the stifling conventions of the purists.
\nThey speak their minds about all manner of topics -- politics,
\nsex, drugs, homosexuality, society -- and turn a mirror on
\ncontemporary Indonesian society.<\/p>\n
In Dewi's Supernova, for example, there are musings about life
\nand cosmology, things most of us rarely think about. They are
\nimportant but still secondary to the main love story of two gay
\nlovers seeking the deeper meaning of life. It's all treated in a
\nstraightforward style that never preaches or patronizes readers.<\/p>\n
The same is true of Ayu in Saman and Larung, daring to broach
\nthe formerly taboo subject of the political turmoil and its
\naftermath of the 1965 abortive communist coup. Like Djenar, she
\nalso deals frankly with sexual issues, from a young, educated,
\n\"liberated\" woman's perspective instead of the romanticized
\nfiction of her predecessors.<\/p>\n
Part of the MTV generation, they have also realized the
\nimportance of promotion. Their works are served up for public
\nconsumption with the same hype as a car or any other product
\nreaching out to the market, with grand launchings and seminars to
\ndiscuss the \"meaning\". It's goodbye to the days of authors
\nconfining themselves to life in intellectual ivory towers.<\/p>\n
Of course, they have their detractors, who consider the works
\nas diverting attention from \"weightier\" literary offerings (in a
\nview probably born of chauvinism, some speculated that Ayu's
\ndebut novel was ghost-written).<\/p>\n
We will have to see if their works stand the test of time. As
\nit is today, the members of sastrawangi must be acknowledged for
\nshowing the changing face of contemporary Indonesian society.<\/p>",
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