"Woman as Nation in Mangunwijaya's "Durga Umayi

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7296707
AutoresMichael H Bodden (autor de correspondencia)
Año1996
Volumen62
Páginas53-53
Fecha de publicación1996-10-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIndonesia (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0019-7289 • E-ISSN: 2164-8654
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3351392
OpenAlexW2332749565
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7

In 1991, Mangunwijaya published his eighth novel, Durga Umayi, a protean epic in which the history of modern Indonesia is inscribed in the life and experiences of a single female character, lin Sulinda Pertiwi Nusamusbida. lin is present at the ceremony proclaiming Indonesian Independence on the 17th of August, 1945; she serves in the Revolution both as a cook for irregular paramilitary units and as a soldier in her father's army detachment; she becomes involved in corruption and shady business dealings during the early period of liberal democracy; she works for the communist-affiliated organizations Lekra and Gerwani during the Guided Democracy era of 1959-65; she undergoes a pivotal facelift which occurs in Singapore on March 11, 1966, the date of the Supersemar transfer of power from Sukarno to Suharto; she consolidates a multinational conglomerate able to undertake huge prestige development projects in Indonesia in the New Order era; and she finally reemerges from a second round of plastic surgery with her restored native face on the occasion of a Harkitnas (Day of National Resurgence) celebration. As such a national narrative, Durga Umayi stands as a clear condemnation of the Indonesian nation's progress from its idealism and concern for the ordinary people during the revolutionary period, to the opportunism and corruption of the 1950s and 1960s, and the pragmatic, materially driven business boom of the late 1980s. The novel's final pages leave lin teetering on the horns of her own dilemma. Like the nation, she must choose her future: will she go to prison as an ex-communist, or agree to continue her large-scale

Art · Asian Studies and History · History · Islamic Finance and Communication