Belenggu

Belenggu

Cover of the 21st printing
Author	Armijn Pane
Country	Indonesia
Language	Indonesian
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Poedjangga Baroe Dian Rakyat
Publication date	1940
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	150 (21st printing)
ISBN	(21st printing)

Belenggoe (Perfected Spelling: Belenggu; translated to English as Shackles) is a novel by Indonesian author Armijn Pane. The novel follows the love triangle between a doctor, his wife, and his childhood friend, which eventually causes each of the three characters to lose the ones they love. Originally published by the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe in three instalments from April to June 1940, it was the magazine's only published novel. It was also the first Indonesian psychological novel.

Belenggu was based on themes present in two of Pane's early short stories: "Barang Tiada Berharga" ("Worthless Thing"; 1935) and "Lupa" ("Forget"; 1936). The resulting novel, written to represent a stream of consciousness and using ellipses and monologues to show internal struggle, was very different from earlier Indonesian novels. Unlike said works, which kept to traditional themes such as good versus evil, Belenggu mainly focused on its characters' psychological conflict. It also showed modernity and traditionalism as a binary system, unable to reach a compromise.

After completion, Belenggu was offered to the Dutch colonial government's state publisher, Balai Pustaka, in 1938, but rejected as "immoral". It was then picked up by Poedjangga Baroe. Initial critical reception to the novel was mixed. Proponents argued that it served as an honest representation of the internal conflicts faced by Indonesian intellectuals, while opponents dismissed the novel as "pornographic" because of its inclusion of prostitution and adultery as normal facets of life. Later reviews have been more positive: in 1976, the writer Muhammad Balfas called Belenggu "in every respect the best novel of pre-war Indonesian literature". The novel has been translated into several languages, including into English in 1989.

The first modern Indonesian novels published by the state-owned publisher of the Dutch East Indies Balai Pustaka were often written to show intergenerational conflict and conflict between traditional (adat) and modern culture. These novels, published beginning in the 1920s, spearheaded the use of Indonesian as a national language. This national awakening, which was also realised through political actions, was followed in July 1933 with the establishment of the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe (New Writer). The literary magazine, which Belenggu's author Armijn Pane helped establish, was the first written mainly in Indonesian and with exclusively Indonesian editors.