Novelist Ayu succeds in silencing her critics

Novelist Ayu succeds in silencing her critics

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Novelist Ayu Utami has gained the maturity that comes with time,
experience and, in her case, surviving the trial by fire that
greeted her debut novel in 1998.

She acknowledged her growth in the last few years, but joked,
"I was already mature a long time ago."

It was inevitable that the critical and commercial success of
Saman would rile the cynics. In their view, she was too young and
pretty to have produced an outstanding work exploring the
country's political turmoil of 1965. A vindictive rumor
circulated that the novel was actually ghost-written by
journalist Goenawan Mohamad, her friend and mentor.

Leading daily Kompas ran an unabridged interview with Ayu,
then 29, replete with several responses of "I don't know" and a
few awkward pauses.

Her detractors gleefully held up her lack of articulateness in
comparison to the flowing narrative of her prose.

They paid no attention to Ayu's long experience in journalism
as both a reporter and an editor, of magazines such as Forum
Keadilan and Matra, and Kalam cultural journal.

Ayu countered by noting the sexism underpinning the skepticism
-- a woman can only be a success by riding the coattails of a man
-- and that young talent is always dismissed by insecure members
of the establishment.

Otherwise, Ayu let success speak in her defense.

Saman won the prestigious Chairil Anwar literary award, but
perhaps more satisfying was the positive commercial reception,
never a given for a novel that has gained critical plaudits. The
novel went through six reprints in the space of five months in
1998.

Three years later, Ayu published Larung, a continuation of the
story of Saman as part of the larger novel Laila Tak Mampir di
New York (Laila Doesn't Stop in New York), but Larung did not
generate the critical praise -- or brickbats -- of her previous
work.

But her tribulations have made the road a little easier for
other women who follow. Now a columnist for djakarta! magazine,
Ayu welcomes the new batch of young female writers -- Dewi
Lestari, Fira Basuki, Djenar Mahesa Ayu -- to a new literary
genre dubbed sastrawangi (fragrant literature).

It's a sign of the times that there is a bit more glamor and
hype to the literary scene today, all part of the growing culture
of celebrity. Lavish book launches attended by the big names are
held for first-time novelists.

"Let's see this positively, in a way that the public will be
awakened to the existence of the country's literary world,
regardless of the quality of the work. It's just a window to
broaden people's horizons.

"Our literary world goes with the era, that's OK. That's a
consequence of the time, although there are elitists in literary
circles who wish to uphold the quality and purity of literary
values," she said.

She may not consider herself an elitist, but she pointed out
the importance of authors first being judged on their literary
merits.

"I don't blame the writers if they are called celebrities here
and covered by entertainment news programs. The media, of course,
prefer young, good-looking authors over old male authors. But
they don't thoroughly discuss the work of young female writers --
they cover the gossip instead.

"That's what happened to me with Saman. I knew people were
busy circulating gossip about me, and not about the book," she
added.

Ayu brought her insight to a recent book launch for Mengebor
Kemunafikan, Inul, Seks and Kekuasaan (Drilling Hypocrisy, Inul,
Sex and Power) by journalist FX Rudy Gunawan.

The book looks at the phenomenon of singer Inul Daratista, who
is undergoing her own public inquisition for her controversial
"drilling" dance.

"It's always a long, never-ending subject if we discuss
morality and religion," Ayu said. "But the story is not actually
about Inul. It's about the phenomenon behind it, our people's
phenomenon.

"A while ago, I found Sophia Latjuba had been 'veiled'," Ayu
said, referring to the action of those self-appointed wardens of
public morality, who painted over billboard ads showing the
skimpily dressed actress-model.

"People really are wasting their energy just to climb on the
roofs of bus shelters to put 'veils' on Sophia," she said.

"It's that some people are threatened by such pictures, and
that's simply ridiculous to me. What happened to Inul is the
same. There are groups of people who are still threatened by her
dancing, and work in the name of morality to shackle others'
freedom."

If there were those in the audience who did not like her
views, they did not speak up. Ayu Utami, literary icon and social
commentator, has finally, deservedly, silenced her critics.