'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