Basino writing again, wins award after her long absence

By Masri Sareb Putra

JAKARTA (JP): It is a proven fact that age does not have an influence on an author's productivity. Titis Basino, 60, is a fine example of this. After being absent over the last 10 years from Indonesia's literary world, in 1997 she came back with a novel Dari Lembah ke Coolibah' (From Valley to Coolibah).

Perhaps because it had taken her so long to prepare her novel, once it was published it quickly gained popularity. Eventually, it won her the 1998 Literary Award from the Center for Language Development.

Born in Magelang, Central Java, on Jan. 17, 1939 and a graduate from the University of Indonesia's school of literature, she was once a Garuda Indonesia stewardess before dedicating herself to literature.

Among her rivals for the award was the rising writer Ayu Utami, the writer of the best selling novel Saman, which has been reprinted ten times over the past year.

According to the chief of the Center for Language Development, Hasan Alwi, the award aims at promoting literary appreciation and encouraging writers to produce quality works.

The language center has been presenting literary awards since 1978. The winner is selected during October in conjunction with Language Month. This also coincides with the annual ASEAN award presentation hosted by Thailand.

Since 1989, the Indonesian literary award has gone to three authors every year. This year the other two recipients are playwright N. Riantiarno and poet Wing Kardjo.

The winners will represent Indonesia to compete for the SEA Write Award. This year, Riantiarno with his book Semar Gugat (Semar Resists) will go to Bangkok to represent Indonesia.

Wing Karjo won the award for his anthology of poems entitled Fragmen Malam: Setumpuk Soneta (Night Fragment: A Heap of Sonnets).

Indonesian writers who have won SEA Write Awards are Iwan Simatupang, Y.B. Mangunwijaya, Goenawan Mohamad, Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, Ahmad Tohari, Taufik Ismail, Ramadhan K.H., Seno Gumira Ajidarma, and W.S. Rendra.

Strong characters

The strong character of her literary works was already seen in 1963 while she was still a stewardess. Her short story Suatu Keputusan tells of the determination of Mike, a college girl soon to graduate, who decides to take a married man as her husband. Mike's determination is that of a woman's heart. The short story won her an award from the literary magazine Sastra which was led by H.B. Jassin -- nicknamed Indonesia's literary Pope.

Such strong characters still exist in her succeeding works. Literary critic Korrie Layun Rampan commented that Titis Basino deserves the (1998) award. Not only because she is now an experienced senior author, but also because of her firm choices in theme, character, and setting.

"Since the 1960s, when she was writing short stories, she has decided that women characters need to be given much more proportionality. Equal footing between men and women became her emphasis. In a number of her works, Titis Basino illustrated that in many cases women are much stronger than men, for example in withstanding pain (during labor) and in enduring responsibilities in life," Korrie further added.

Korrie's comment is no exaggeration. Other critics have also expressed a similar view. Sapardi Djokodamono, a literature professor from the University of Indonesia, for example, wrote on the cover of Dari Lembah ke Coolibah that Indonesia is fortunate to have an author like Titis Basino, because she alters the corpus of Indonesian literature as a whole.

"Siti Nurbaya is a fictional female character created by Marah Roesli, a male writer. So are other female characters Tutu, Maria and Yah -- the women characters in Layar Terkembang and Belenggu, novels written by men. Through Titis Basino's fiction, we may comprehend the colors, the sounds, the clamors and the flares in this world as seen by a woman," Sapardi says of Titis' works.

Like female authors of the same generation of N.H. Dini, Titis often voices the importance of women's role in her works. In doing so, Titis always holds on to oriental values.

"I reveal how our society reacts to issues which concern it. There are lots of themes which can be found around us. I want to emphasize that men must treat women with due respect. After reading my works, they may laugh or even feel intimidated. Yet, I am sure that soon they will understand", Titis explained.

Titis has been striving to promote respect for women's rights since the 60s as evidenced in her works Rumah Dara (The Woman's Home), Pelarian (Escape), Dia (He), Laki-laki dan Cinta (Man and Love), Hotel, and Suatu Keputusan (A Decision).

She seems to think that it is hard to lift women's status to that of men's, knowing that the public sees women as stereotypically "weak, melancholic, spoilt, and materialistic."

In her works women are portrayed as strong, independent, mature, calm, and consistent in defending their principles. The main theme of her short stories is to strip men of their bad characteristics and "short-sightedness" as seen in their promiscuity and childish behavior. Such a theme is evident in Laki-laki dan Cinta, where she portrays men as the weaker gender.

An extract from Laki-laki dan Cinta whose protagonist is a man named Beni: "Even if he does go to other women, he will eventually return home and still become my-Beni. I see him as a child who plays with his friends. He will return to his mother if he is in need of her or if he is tired. And with his mother a child would never feel tired."

Observing her preoccupation with pronouncing women characters, literature critic H.B. Jassin wrote, "I love reading Titis' work, because it is always fresh and original and there is no cliche. Her illustration of women's thoughts and feelings is honest, and to an extent courageous. Yet, she sees men from the perspective of injustice."

What does Titis say about Jassin's comments? "Our literary critics are predominantly men. They can criticize and denounce my works. They are taken aback because I mock and denounce men for their lack of courage, confidence and faith."

Despite scathing criticism such as Jassin's, Titis never loses her integrity as an author. She feels that is her unique quality. The same spirit is reflected in her novel Dari Lembah ke Coolibah. It is rare to find Indonesian authors, especially women authors, who dare to 'play with fire'. The novel's setting is in Mecca as the place where love blooms during a haj pilgrimage season, where a relationship develops between a spiritual guru and a female haj pilgrim.

Titis has broken traditional rules. To her love transcends time and place. That is what happened when Noor, a middle aged woman fell in love with Ahmad (who later had plastic surgery and changed his name to Hamid), a man who is as old as Noor's son.

The affair is all odd. Aside from their great age difference, it was not common for a spiritual leader to fall in love during a haj pilgrimage. This is where Titis breaks with tradition. For Titis love defeats all, as it defeats social status, religion, time, and distance.

"I think that is where the strength of her works lies and this eventually won her the award," says Pamusuk NST, an incisive author. "Apart from her original ideas, which are often wild, the judges were already convinced of her ability in writing".

It is true that Titis is a productive author. After being absent for 10 years, she suddenly came back and conquered all. In the two years since the publication of Dari Lembah ke Coolibah in 1997, she has written eight more novels, six being printed by PT Grasindo, and two by Pustaka Jaya. At the end of this December '98, Tangan-tangan Kehidupan (The Hands of Life) and Habitat will be published in January 1999.

Novels and short stories, as literary works, for Titis are half real and half fiction. Literature is one level under journalism and one level above philosophy. That is what is insinuated in Dari Lembah ke Coolibah. 'Valley' is where the pilgrim collects stones to thrown at the Kabah, and where Noor and Ahmad first begin their romantic adventure. 'Coolibah' is where the romantic adventure would come to a climax, a cool area above the Puncak Pass. And Titis does have a villa at Coolibah.

Thus, it is obvious why may people are questioning if the character Noor is a reflection of Titis herself.

Then who is Hamid? Some assume that Hamid is the silhouette of Purnomo Ismadi, her husband who died two years ago. Her husband was a hotel staffer who inspired her in creating her works such as the novel Aku Supiyah Istri Hardhian (I am Hardhian's Wife, 1998), where the novel often takes the background of the hotel industry.

The dedication of this mother of four -- three doctors and one law graduate -- to Indonesian literature is very strong. Aside from being one of the contributors to the H.B. Jassin Literature Documentation Center, she is also a permanent donor.