Ancient literature
Establishing the first milestone of a literature is never easy, and is particularly complex in the case of Indonesian literature. It's difficult to give birth to it in the year of independence, while ignoring the centuries that preceded it; to reduce it to a single language, while forgetting that it derives from another without a clear break; to ignore the more or less imposed foreign influences that shaped it; and even to disregard the oral tradition, still carried on today by the still-popular shadow theater (wayang). In an attempt to link tradition with modernity, Indonesian literature is usually considered to have begun in the classical period, known as the "Pujangga Lama" (ancient poets), which stretched from the5th to the 15th centuries, when Java was prospering and the archipelago was already at the crossroads of trade, the influence of India was growing, and the literary language was Old Javanese, also known as "kawi" - a nickname referring to "kavya", the Indian poetic style of the first centuries AD - whose very alphabet confessed its continental origins. In the 16th century, Old Javanese gave way to Middle Javanese, before disappearing for good three centuries later. And yet, at the time we're looking at, it was of fundamental importance, as it enabled "kakawin", stories prized by the royal courts of Java and Bali, to be set down in writing. Among these texts are, of course, translations of the seminal Indian epics, the Ramayana (translated around 870) and the Mahabharata, an episode of which is included in the Bharatayuddha (Keridi, around 1157). However, certain manuscripts are already marked by local inspiration, such as theArjunawiwaha, composed in Java at the beginning of the 11th century, or the Nagarakertagama, eulogy to the king of Majapahit (1365). Although it is not yet clear whether they were pure ramblings or, on the contrary, based on genuine historical episodes, royal chronicles were indeed numerous, such as the Paraton(Book of Kings), which experts are still debating, or the Calon Arang, whose only known version is a translation that is certainly much more recent than the original, which has not yet reappeared. We should also mention La Galico, named after the main character of this incredible epic of over 300,000 verses, reconstructed thanks to several fragmentary documents. In addition to its mythological value, this work offers a glimpse into the life of the Bugis, a people from the island of Sulawesi with their own language and alphabet. Last but not least, the Tanjung Tanah manuscript stands out as the oldest in the Malay language. Dating from the 14th century and originating in Sumatra, it bore the seeds of the changes to come.
The decline of the Silk Road, following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, effectively reshuffled the deck: trade refocused around the Strait of Malacca, to the benefit of Sumatra on the Indonesian side, and trade intensified with Muslim merchants whose religion appealed to local rulers - the king of the ancient kingdom of Pasai being the first to convert, hikayat Raja-raja Pasai(History of the kings of Pasai, late 14th/early15th century) recalls this more than a century earlier (around 1290). Finally, Malay became a lingua franca and began to be written in Arabic (jawi) rather than Indian characters. From this period, literature has retained the name of Hamzah Fansouri, a 16th-century writer possibly from Barus, who embraced Sufism and composed "syair", poems of rigorous versification inspired by his faith. The transition was not over, however: the 16th century became that of the Great Discoveries, with the Portuguese landing at Malacca in 1511, as recorded in the precious Annales Malaises(Sejarah Melayu), part of which is still preserved in Indonesia. Barely a hundred years later, the Dutch dislodged them and seized Java - only the first victory for the Dutch East India Company, which would soon dominate the archipelago. The long colonial period was not without its social and political conflicts, which paradoxically fed into the literature.
European influences
From the second half of the 19th century onwards, literature in Indonesia benefited from new influences, the first being that of the colonists. We might mention Louis Couperus, born in The Hague in 1863 but raised in Batavia, now Jakarta, who set some of his plots in what were then the Dutch East Indies, notably the fantasy-inspired De Stille Kracht(The Force of Darkness, 1900) and the more classical Van oude menschen, de dingen, die voorbij gaan(Old People and Things that Pass, 1906). Edgar du Perron also left his mark. Born in Indonesia in 1899, he left the archipelago with his parents in his twenties, but decided to return after living in Paris, where he befriended André Malraux, who dedicated La Condition humaine to him. In Le Pays d'origine, a novel with a strong autobiographical accent, unfortunately out of print with Gallimard, he expresses, through a literary double, Arthur Ducroo, his difficult quest for identity between two worlds, two cultures. Another title, Manuscrit trouvé dans une poche, is available from Cambourakis, who have republished it under the name Eddy du Perron. Adriaan van Dis, born in 1946 but the son of a former non-commissioned officer in the colonial army, has chosen this period as the setting for some of his novels, including Dunes coloniales and Quand je n'aurai plus d'ombre (Actes Sud). But to return to the 19th century, one Dutch author in particular truly made history, and not just literary history: Eduard Douwes Dekker, better known by his pseudonym Multatuli. His work, now a classic and still published by Actes Sud under the title Max Havelaar ou Les Ventes de café de la compagnie commerciale des Pays-Bas, caused an unprecedented scandal. Under the guise of fiction, he recounted his own experience as a civil servant in the colony, and dwelt above all on what prompted him to resign: the fate of the Javanese workers, and the well-established economic system that persisted out of self-interest, cowardice or laziness, but always to their disadvantage. This book, published in 1860, had two visible consequences - the establishment of an "ethical policy", and the fame of a writer who, for some, is considered the greatest of the Netherlands. A third consequence is perhaps less obvious, but nonetheless essential: the introduction of realism into Indonesian literature.
In fact, Indonesian literature is increasingly nourished by European currents, thanks to numerous translations which, surprisingly, are multiplying first and foremost in the heart of the ethnic Chinese community. This was the work of Lie Kim Hok, born on the island of Java in 1853, who had the good fortune to learn several languages, but was unaware of the language of his ancestors. He began by translating administrative documents from Dutch into Malay, a job that soon took on an educational dimension: when he began translating literary works(Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, Rocambole, etc.), he was thinking first and foremost of his community. Indeed, the Chinese and their descendants were considered second-class citizens, and only an accomplished education could lead them to claim their rights. Lie Kim Hok later co-founded the social organization Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan, which, among other things, disseminated Confucian doctrine to those who, like him, had not inherited the Chinese language. He was also a printer, a linguist - he wrote a highly reputed Malay grammar - and, above all, an author: Tjhit Liap Seng (1886) is considered the first Sino-Malay novel, and is undoubtedly inventive. It was the first work in a body of work that continued to grow. Although its detractors judged it mediocre in view of its popular language, it took a realistic - not to say political - turn that appealed to readers, thanks to news items and texts with almost testimonial value, such as Cerita Nyai Dasima (1896), the story of a Sundanese woman who became the concubine of an Englishman. Last but not least, despite his short life, Lie Kim Hok was a journalist at a time when the press was just beginning to develop, thanks in part to Tirto Adhi Soerjo (1880-1918). In 1907, he founded Medan Prijaji, the country's first independent newspaper, which soon became critical of the colonialists. This earned its founder forced exile in 1912... and the status of Indonesian national hero in 2006.
The breath of independence
The colonial government couldn't have been unaware that the new century was bringing with it the winds of protest. In 1908, to stem the tide - while claiming to be fighting against amoral or slang literature (in "low Malay") - it decided to create the Balai Pustaka publishing house, managed by the Commission for Popular Education and Reading. In the end, this decision to give with one hand what was taken away with the other - in other words, to promote popular education in order to better control information - paid off above all for literature, which - despite censorship - entered the modern age. Balai Pustaka initially published translations(The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Last of the Mohicans, etc.), but soon welcomed more original novels, including Azab dan Sengsara(Pain and Suffering), considered to be the first Indonesian novel. Its author, Merari Siregar (1896-1941), had to revise his copy to comply with editorial requirements: his story denouncing the horrors of forced marriages - interspersed with moralistic inserts for the reader's attention - did not finally appear until 1920. Also published were the feminist activist Raden Adjeng Kartini (1879-1904), who fought for the education of young girls and whose (redacted) correspondence appeared after her death, in Malay, English and now in our language, published by the École française d'Extrême-Orient; Marah Roesli, praised for Sitti Nurbaya; Abdul Muis, who evoked racial discrimination in Salah Asuhan (1928); the prolific Nur Sutan Iskandar.. and many others.
However, this vast output was becoming less and less satisfactory to the young generation, who in 1928 swore by Indonesian as the national language, unifying if not common since, as is still the case today, there was never any question of making it the mother tongue of all the archipelago's inhabitants: they only learn it when they enter elementary school. This generation was thirsty for renewal, rejecting plots deemed too conventional and the use of polite language, an expectation fulfilled in 1933 by the creation of an avant-garde magazine: Pujangga Baru(New Literates). It was headed by three writers: Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (1908-1994), Armijn Pane (1908-1970) and Amir Hamzah (1911-1946). The former published the novel Layar Terkembang with Balai Pustaka, which stressed the need for Indonesia to adopt Western values in order to enter the modern world. The second serialized Belenggoe, the story of a love triangle that is regarded as the country's first psychological intrigue. Finally, the third devoted himself more to poetry(Nyanyi sunyi in 1937, Buah Rindu in 1941) and thus entered posterity, despite his early death. Although Pujangga Baru remained an unconventional and undoubtedly confidential publication, it continued to appear unabated, with 90 issues and nine years of publication, interrupted only by the Japanese occupation. And then the Second World War ended, Japan surrendered, Indonesia proclaimed its independence, and the Netherlands refused it for several years. In literature, a new generation was ready to emerge, the "45 generation".
From independence to liberation
The idealism and romanticism to which the Pujangga Baru generation had devoted itself were no longer in vogue, as conflicts had opened the way to the crudest realism and the most political desire for independence. Literature seized upon these themes, continuing to plough a furrow between tradition and modernity, with unprecedented verve and immediate success, as evidenced by the reception given to the novel Atheis (1949), reprinted more than thirty times, adapted for the cinema and now a Unesco World Heritage Site. The polyphonic narration of Atheis was based on a character in the throes of self-doubt, whose reunion with a Marxist friend led him to abandon his faith in Islam. His family disowned him, his girlfriend left him and he was murdered by a Japanese patrol. The author, Achdiat Karta Mihardja (1911-2010), a journalist by profession, had joined the Socialist Party of Indonesia's Chairil Anwar, a poet(Deru Campur Debu) recognized as a key figure of the Generation of '45, on a par with Idrus (1921-1979) in the novel genre. A connoisseur of American literature, Idrus eschewed sentimentality in favor of "bare-bones" writing. Having witnessed the Battle of Surabaya, he drew inspiration from it for his text Surabaja, noted for its lapidary sarcasm.
Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925-2006) paid the price, being imprisoned twice, from 1947 to 1949 and again in the 1960s, under the Soekarno government. He took advantage of this time to produce a substantial body of realistic and political work, some of which has been translated into French(Buru quartet published by Zulma, Corruption published by Picquier, La vie n'est pas une foire nocturne published by Gallimard...). Ideological and cultural polemics had an impact on subsequent generations, who nevertheless never gave up expressing themselves, whatever the risks involved. Mochtar Lubis (1922-2004) used allegory in Tigre! Tigre ! (éditions du Sonneur) and worked tirelessly to maintain intellectual life in his country, notably by co-founding the literary magazine Horison in 1966. Sitor Situmorang (1923-2014) was a committed critic, even if it meant prison for him too. Although his poetry is not available in French, and even though he lived in Paris and wrote about the city, he still enjoys great renown. In the same poetic register, we could also mention Ali Akbar Navis, Subagio Sastrowardoyo and Toto Sudarto Bachriar. Literature developed more in the specific genre of the short story, in which Trisnojuwono and Nugroho Notosusanto, for example, excelled, while drama was the domain of Willibrordus S. Rendra, who excelled in this genre for many years. Rendra, who excelled in this field to such an extent that he was repeatedly shortlisted for the Nobel Prize. Finally, Nh Dini (1936-2018) successfully introduced women's literature: in 2003, she was awarded the Southeast Asian Writers' Prize. Her novel Le Départ, set in the aftermath of the declaration of independence, is published by L'Harmattan.
The purges of the late 60s drove some writers into exile - Agam Wispi, Kuslan Budiman, Utuy Tatang Sontani... - while others, like Ajip Rosidi, remained in Indonesia and tried to preserve its cultural and linguistic richness. Encouraged by the creation of Horison magazine, where they found a platform to express themselves, Generation 66 sounded like a renaissance, if not a true revival. Although the number of magazines and publishers multiplied, most of the authors were already well established. However, a few innovative writers explored unexplored avenues: magic realism with Danarto, existentialist or symbolist poetry with Sapardi Djoko Damono and Taufiq Ismaïl... Nevertheless, the novel genre remained the favorite, and even became increasingly popular thanks to such prolific authors as Mottinggo Busye or Putu Wijaya, or with the love story craze that has been irrigating the book market since the 80s. Regionalist novels have enjoyed a revival, thanks in part to Ahmed Tohari, an ardent defender of folklore.
Contemporary literature
Political life and literary life remain linked, and the resignation of the president in 1998 gave rise to the so-called "post-Soeharto" or "reform" generation. The most notable development is the place now given to women writers. Leila Chudori, born in Jakarta in 1962, has moved on from writing TV series to historical novels set in recent times: the anti-communist era in Pulang (2012), the student struggle to depose Soeharto in Laut Bercerita (2017, Southeast Asian Writers' Prize). Andrea Hirata began his career as an author with Les Guerriers de l'arc-en-ciel (Mercure de France, 2014), in which, under the guise of autobiography, he denounced the cultural and educational shortcomings suffered by modest families in Sumatra. Ayu Utami is considered the leader of "liberation literature" by her admirers, and of the "Sastra wangi" ("perfumed literature") movement by her (mainly male) detractors, who criticize her for tackling controversial subjects such as politics, religion and sexuality. In Saman (Flammarion, 2008), however, she painted a sweeping picture of contemporary Indonesia. Ten years his senior, Seno Gumira Ajidarma, born in 1958, is also a literary revolutionary, with an indomitable body of work that oscillates between realism, fantasy, non-fiction and surrealism. The new generation gives us reason to hope and believe that the spoken word has been completely freed from censorship and stylistic restrictions. They include Laksmi Pamuntjak, Fira Basuki, Djenar Maesa Ayu, Intan Paramaditha, described as a "gothic feminist", Dewi Lestari, several of whose novels have been adapted for the screen, and Herlinatiens and Okky Madasari, both born at the dawn of the 80s. Although still too few in number, some of these writers have been translated into French, such as Eka Kurniawan, whose Cash, L'Homme-tigre and Les Belles de Halimunda, three powerful, unvarnished stories, are now available from Sabine Wespieser.
