Expert 'struggles' to understand 10 best stories

By Lie Hua

JAKARTA (JP): Understanding a short story is a daunting job for many people, including literary experts.

Apsanti Djokosujatno of the School of Letters at the University of Indonesia discussed on Nov. 21 the 10 best stories published in Horison, virtually Indonesia's only literary magazine, between 1990 and 2000. The discussion took place at Galeri Cipta II in the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Jakarta.

She shared with the audience the outcome of her "struggle" in understanding these 10 stories, chosen by a panel of judges made up of the magazine's editorial team -- Agus R. Sarjono, Hamsad Rangkuti, Jamal D. Rahman and Sutardji Calzoum Bachri -- and published in July 2000 in a special edition of the magazine to mark its 34th anniversary.

These 10 stories, which were deliberately not listed in a hierarchical order, were written by Budi Darma, Helvy Tiana Rosa, Taufik Ikram Jamil, Oka Rusmini, Ramadhan KH, Agus Noor, Syahril Latif, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, Motinggo Busye and Waluya DS.

A lecturer of literary criticism, among other subjects, Apsanti praised the panel of judges for not placing the stories in a hierarchical order, saying the present tendency, especially in developed countries, was that evaluating literary work was no longer the job of the critics, but rather of prize-awarding institutions.

Of the writers, she was pleased to see they represented different ethnic groups and were not dominated by the so-called established writers. She lamented, though, that from the 10 there were only two women writers (Helvy Tiana Rosa and Oka Rusmini), which she said could be construed as the tendency for male dominance. She maintained there were some good stories by women writers published in the magazine that were not chosen for the special edition.

Apsanti was also happy to find the 10 stories dealt with a variety of themes and revealed quite a wide range of narrative techniques.

The short story, she reminded the audience, must be viewed as an independent narrative form and not, for example, as a shorter form of the novel. Therefore, the short story, she said, is an independent genre with its own characteristics, which include, among other things, economy in character and description, and well-maintained suspense.

Of the 10 stories, she said the most appealing to her was Lelaki Tua dari Noumea (Old Man from Noumea) by Waluya DS, for its depiction of the resoluteness of a woman. In the story, a Javanese family migrates to Australia, where one of them, the old man, tries very hard to keep true to the values of his Javanese nobility, even at the expense of his wife's happiness.

His granddaughter, Dewi, however, seems to live in quite a different world. She speaks English to him freely and, what is more surprising, she openly tells him and his wife that she has become pregnant outside of marriage.

What is most appealing about this story, said Apsanti, is that the old man's wife has always shown her dedication to her husband, but in the case of Dewi's pregnancy she steadfastly takes sides with Dewi.

Not born to a Javanese noble family, she always allows her husband to indulge himself in his memories of the grand Javanese noble values. This is her sacrifice to make him happy. Yet in the case of Dewi, she does not want to sacrifice Dewi simply to make her husband happy. She holds fast to her belief that Dewi has her own life to lead.

She boldly tells her husband: " ... I love you. I don't care whether you love me or not .... True love never expects anything in return. It is sacrifice itself."

She also says to him: "Rio, what are we looking for in life but happiness? Nothing else matters to me as long as Dewi enjoys her own happiness." These words melt his heart and lift a heavy burden from his shoulders.

Waluya DS, Apsanti said, has successfully painted the resoluteness of a woman through the depiction of the old man in the free-flowing course of storytelling.

Another story Apsanti said she very much enjoyed was Enclave by Ramadhan KH. Here, Ramadhan seems to violate the principle of storytelling, which requires that certain elements in the story be given prominence over others. However, upon a closer reading, the story may be taken as a satire.

In Enclave, the daughter of a rich Japanese man marries an Indonesian man. Her father buys them a piece of land under the name of the daughter. Then he invites another Japanese man to Indonesia and asks him to marry an Indonesian woman. This friend agrees and then buys a piece of land under the name of his wife. In Indonesia no aliens are allowed to buy land.

The friend invites another Japanese friend, a contractor, to develop the land. Very soon, the locals have to move. The Japanese have powerful connections in Jakarta, and an enclave for Japanese is soon established.

The locals find it difficult to become angry with them because these Japanese are related by marriage with some of them. By giving equal prominence to the characters, Ramadhan hits home with his satire of the collusion between the Japanese and Indonesian government officials.

The other stories have their own attractions, ranging from realism to supernaturalism. On the whole, however, all 10 stories, in Apsanti's observation, lack descriptive settings. They are packed with people only. Places are simply mentioned with scant attention to detail.

This is, however, a general weakness of Indonesian short stories, said Apsanti, who hopes that Indonesian short story writers will describe the settings of their stories in greater detail, given that people and their environment are inseparable.

Despite the variety of topics these 10 stories dwell on, she notices that none of them touch on maritime life. She expressed wonder at the fact that while Indonesia is a maritime state, hardly any novelists or short story writers have written about the sea. This, again, she added, shows Indonesian writers' seemingly indifferent attitude toward the environment, focusing all of their interest on people and their conflicts without realizing that man and nature are inseparable.

Before concluding her discussion, she again expressed the hope that more women writers would be included in the magazine's best short stories.

Meanwhile, as if anticipating Apsanti's sorrow over the inadequate room given to women writers, a young short story writer, Nia Sutiara, launched on Nov. 16 at News Cafe in Jakarta her new collection of short stories, titled Hati Perempuan (A Woman's Heart), in which she explores various problems that women encounter in their lives.

Arswendo Atmowiloto and Budiyati Abiyoga, who commented on the book during the launch, agreed that Nia had captured the steadfastness of women in coping with life's different situations.