The Construction of Modernity in Pre-independent Indonesia and its Ensuing Manifestation in Critical Discourse and Literary Theory

Abstract

This article traces the development of what may be called Indonesian critical discourse particularly related to the position of "West" and "East" from the colonial period to the New Order era. The development of this discourse and its manifestation in Indonesian literary theory began with a postcolonial debate on the construction of Indonesian modernity, i.e., toward which center it is going to be oriented. The tension between Western-centric discourse, on the one hand, and traditional orientation, on the other, characterized the earliest intellectual debate in the 1930s. This argument took a different contour in the 1960s when the tension turned out to be between social realism and liberal humanism. The banning of leftist ideology and teaching after 1965 gave way to the unchallenged dominance of the traditional humanist outlook in the literary-critical scene. The paper argues that the present hegemony of traditional humanist approach in Indonesian consciousness is rooted in its distinctive development in these few decades.

Integrative Development of Modern Literary Works and Traditional Culture Combined with Semantic Association Network Modeling

“…In addition, Sarwoto, P. argues that the development of critical discourse literature in Indonesia has made it controversial from the colonial period and shows that traditional humanism can enable the innovation of critical discourse literature in Indonesia and promote its better and unique development [16]. Stephanie, L. M. analyzes the current phenomenon of literary criticism in American literature by using her own experience in the development of cultural awareness as an example, showing that literary judgment may lead to the inability of modern literature to develop in a better and more innovative way [17].…”