Shadows on the page: Javanese wayang in contemporary Indonesian literature

Abstract

This paper examines the multiple and changing constructions of wayang shadow-puppetry in Indonesian novels from the 1980s to today by closely examining the work of three authors: YB Mangunwijaya, Putu Wijaya, and Ayu Utami. The discussion centres on the complex ways in which these authors adapt certain narrative, stylistic and thematic elements of wayang into their novelistic discourse, and what these adaptation processes reveal about the social and political geography of Indonesian culture, both during the New Order regime and in post-authoritarian Indonesia. Show more