'Calon Arang' -- literary work or not?

'Calon Arang' -- literary work or not?

Calon Arang: Kisah Perempuan Korban Patriarki (Calon
Arang: Story of a Woman Victimized by Patriarchy); By Toeti
Heraty; Yayasan Obor Indonesia in cooperation with Yayasan
Adikarya Ikapi and the Ford Foundation; November 2000; 79 pp

JAKARTA (JP): Toeti Heraty, one of Indonesia's few
distinguished women poets, provides a rendering of a famous
Balinese folk legend in her latest work.

Calon Arang is usually known as a wicked witch. Pramoedya
Ananta Toer rewrote the story for children, lending prominence to
the conflict between evil, represented by Calon Arang, and
virtue, Mpu Baradah. Contemporary interpretation, however, has
put Calon Arang in a different perspective. Famed poet Goenawan
Mohamad, for example, sees Calon Arang in a conflict between the
central and marginal. Calon Arang is the marginalized figure in
the Kingdom of Daha. Toeti sees Calon Arang in the perspective of
male versus female. It is the concept of gender, or male domi
nation over women, that is foremost in her mind.

The story, set in the 11th century, tells that in Dirah
village Calon Arang has a beautiful daughter, Ratna Manggali.
Ratna cannot find a match because people are afraid of her
witchcraft. Fruitlessly waiting for a young man who will propose
for the hand of her daughter, Calon Arang becomes furious and
asks Batari Durga, the Hindu goddess of destruction, for
permission to destroy the villagers for ostracizing her.

Durga grants her wish and calamities befall the village of
Dirah. Reports of these calamities come to the seat of Daha
Kingdom. The king later instructs Mpu Baradah, the best priest in
the country, to deal with the matter. Baradah sends his pupil,
Mpu Kebo Bahula, to Calon Arang to propose to her to marry Ratna
Manggali. So to speak, Bahula gets married with Ratna. Later,
Bahula asks his wife why her mother always goes out at night. She
tells him all and finally gives him her mother's magic book.
Bahula gives the book to his master and this brings the doom of
Calon Arang.

Use of the words "prose poem" is intriguing. This labeling
certain makes one hope that the book will be a story told in a
poetic manner. The same is true of the subtitle, " a woman
victimized by patriarchy". This labeling also sets certain
expectations; there will be the persecution of a woman and this
will be narrated poetically. Unfortunately, when one reads
through the whole book, one will be in for disappointment. Gone
are the hopes of enjoying a flowing rhythm usually found in a
poetic work. Almost from beginning to end, one comes across "dry"
language more suitable to a scientific work.

The book is divided into 18 chapters. The story of Calon Arang
proper can be found in chapters II up to XI. The first chapter is
a brief introduction while chapters XII up to XVIII dwell on
matters related to feminism.

A good story must have a focus. A poem has its own story and
so has a prose poem. A writer can insert additional information
to clarify certain aspects but if this information is too much
and present almost anywhere, the focus will be lost. The same is
true of this prose poem.

The first two pages of the book dwell on who Calon Arang is
and finely prepare a reader for the rest of the story. However,
then there is the following insertion: "But the history is not
that simple/because there must be a scholar/who has made a
research on this/at Gadjah Mada University/and written a
dissertation/entitled "Calon Arang in Balinese Tradition." (p. 4)
These lines disrupt our concentration. Nobody will care much
about this matter because in one's reading one would like to move
from one point in the story to another in a continuous flow of
narration. The next chapters are littered with similar
"intrusions", seriously distracting our reading. Chapter III, for
example, concentrates on a woman's biological functions:
reproduction, menstruation, etc. In the next chapter, the
inclusion of such terms as ABRI and Kopassus (the Indonesian
armed forces and the Army's Special Force), is another example
how we are transported from the past -- the temporal setting of
the story -- and the present, although these words are used only
as examples.

The story of Calon Arang proper stops at chapter XI. In
chapter XII up to XVIII, the poet dwells at length on
philosophical ideas about patriarchy, violence against women,
feminism and the like. The titles of these chapters are self-
revealing: "Violence Against Women", "the Philosophy of Wedlock",
"About Legitimacy", "About Human Bodies", "The Right of
Reproduction", "Feedback on Feminism". So the story of Calon
Arang does not seem to be the focus; you do not get the
impression that she is the victim of patriarchy from the story.

Instead, you realize that a woman may become the victim of
patriarchy because of Toeti's lengthy discussion of the matter.
You learn more about the issue of gender and also about
reproduction and the fate of women in a male-dominated society
because Toeti describes all these in a very lucid and simple
manner, alas, in a work purportedly called a prose poem. Look at
these lines, for example: "psychoanalysis which returns to the
sex instinct/called libido - as the basic instinct/psychosexual
in nature ....?" (p. 48) or, "This is what is amazing, the impact
of the development/of the contraceptive technology, because the
life of a wife/without contraceptive is a long journey/a series
of pregnancy....../ (p. 59). Lines like these abound throughout
the prose poem; one may wonder whether the book is on Calon Arang
or on a pure philosophical discussion with Calon Arang as a
sample case.

Toeti could have made the story of Calon Arang more convincing
by, for example, presenting more scenes showing how Ratna
Manggali is wooed or seduced by her husband, who is trying to get
the secret of Calon Arang. Mpu Bahula only once tries to ferret
out information from his wife and the wife directly gives out the
secret. There is no suspense at all. Everything is simply
description and will hardly leave a lasting impression on the
reader.

Of course, Toeti's book is worth reading, especially if you
are interested in the gender issues. The book provides ample
information about what a girl goes through to get to adulthood
and what psychoanalysis says about this matter. However, a
philosophical essay or treatise will be a more suitable form
rather than a literary work. Or, perhaps Toeti is pioneering the
writing of philosophical matters in a literary form. If this is
the case, kudos to her.

-- Lie Hua