An insight into Putu Wijaya, writer of weird stories

An insight into Putu Wijaya, writer of weird stories

NGEH, Kumpulan Esai Putu Wijaya (NGEH, Putu Wijaya's Collection
of Essays);
Pustaka Firdaus, Jakarta, December l997.;
Foreword by Jacob Sumardjo;
504 pp + xvi;
Rp 32,500

JAKARTA (JP): Putu Wijaya is prolific not only in creating
short stories and novels, plays and TV dramas, but also in
writing essays. In the past three decades his essays have
appeared in various magazines and newspapers in Indonesia, the
earliest of the 88 pieces dated l974.

The essays disclose Putu's views about life, culture, arts,
etc., which are not as easily discernible as his fiction.

In his essay on culture, he writes that we should adopt a
"strategy" which guarantees that every element of culture in this
country be given similar opportunity based on mutual respect.

Putu writes that such a guarantee would lead to harmony.
However, destructive conflicts can also occur if one or two
elements strive to claim dominance.

In writing of efforts to open up to outside influence, while
continuing efforts to keep tradition alive, Putu says Japan came
to his mind as a good example, though he adds it might not be
quite accurate.

Based on his understanding of culture one is be able to
comprehend his deep respect for Arifin C.Noer -- a prominent
figure in Indonesian theater and film -- who packaged himself
with modernization while at the same time was deeply rooted in
Indonesian tradition.

According to Putu, Arifin no longer unthinkingly follows the
tradition of playwrights William Shakespeare, Moliere, Hendrik
Ibsen, August Strindberg, Samuel Beckett or writer Antonin
Artaud. He has returned to the traditional forms of theater found
in various regions here -- wayang, lenong, arja, topeng, makyong,
mamanda and kecak.

In Putu's view there are many Indonesian filmmakers who want
to create an "Indonesian sense" in our films, but only a few of
them really do it.

Arifin was one of the local film directors who consciously
made movies which seriously express Indonesian idioms.

Arifin was worried that Indonesian movies in the future would
be colonized by the "movie language" of Hongkong, the United
States, France, Italy etc., if Indonesian filmmakers didn't do
anything to prevent it.

Putu's attitude about tradition is also very distinct.
Tradition is not a fossil kept in a gold box, he writes.

All traditions must be reviewed. They live, breathe and
develop. They are changed and reborn. But since humans are lazy
to think creatively, tradition is made as an eternal recipe which
is able to pass through the shift of time.

The rigid thinking about tradition has been pounded on by Putu
through his art concept, which has been dubbed "terror" in
Indonesian literature and theater here.

Barely any of his characters are realistic and he "terrorizes"
his readers and audience into imagining sensational things.

It turns out Dor, for instance, the title of a play based on
one of his stories, was not about a shooting as people might have
associated the title with.

His reflections reach beyond culture itself, to the
philosophical and to more mundane daily aspects of life.

He writes about truth, justice, idealism, children, marriage,
housewives, books, reading habits, anecdotes, comics and tales.

His arguments on these topics, colored by experience and
intense observation, are as eloquent as those in the essays on
culture.

Without hesitation, for instance, he says that truth has made
us drunk, wild and crazy. History has recorded many bloodbaths
stirred in the name of truth. However we still worship, sanctify
and make a cult of truth.

Putu writes that the time has come for us to judge truth
proportionally. Time has also come for humans to doubt truth as
the highest value, so that it will not be a tyrant and destroy
future achievements of history.

Like his fictions, the essays are void of the pretensions to
be considered as intellectual works -- no one would frown reading
them. What is more interesting is their originality.

Putu is one of the few Indonesian writers who never tries to
pepper his writings by quoting others' statements or opinions, as
if to show that they read a lot.

If in his fiction one can find many peculiarities and 'wild'
things, such characteristics are seldom found in the essays. His
sincerity can be felt in his judgments as he tries to be fair and
distances himself from suspicion.

In his comments about marriage we find Putu, once married to
theater actress Renny Jayusman, elaborating on the reality of the
sacred ties. Without doubt he regards marriage as a place where
one finds a friend and a teacher. A marriage is also a place
where one comes across happiness, problems and maturity.

"When a man is married," he writes, "he has not one head but
two... His space narrows... Often he cannot even take care of
his own head..."

Putu, 54, openly shares his conviction that marriage is the
beginning of a real life journey. Marriage, reveals the artist
born in Tabanan, Bali, is a great lesson in life, it's "... where
we stop dreaming and see things as they are."

-- Sori Siregar

The writer has written several short stories.