Novel
Layar Terkembang
Not translated into English
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana · 1936
Synopsis
In Batavia, two sisters who are complete opposites, daughters of Raden Wiriatmadja: Tuti, the elder, serious and demanding, speaks at women's congresses to demand equal rights; Maria, the younger, lively and cheerful, is loved by all. At the aquarium building of the fish market, they meet Yusuf, a medical student from Martapura, in southern Sumatra, who falls in love with Maria. While the two young people grow closer until their engagement, Tuti turns down a suitor, Supomo, and immerses herself again in her reading and her associations.
Context
The novel appeared with Balai Pustaka, in 1936 according to Ajip Rosidi and H. B. Jassin, in 1937 according to reprints by the publisher. It puts into narrative the theses its author defended in the cultural polemic of those years; the poet who answered him saw in it the danger of adopting Western values without examination, and the writer retorted that the West also had its spirituality. A version in Malaysian Malay existed as early as 1963, and the book has reached its twenty-fourth printing in Indonesia. Its title means “the unfurled sail”.
Who it is for
In Indonesian, with no French or English translation. Some chapters do without dialogue, and Tuti's ideas on the condition of women take up a large place.
Prizes and reception
A. Teeuw ranks it among the three major Indonesian works of the pre-war period, and critics see in it a mark of the birth of the Pujangga Baru movement.