Layar Terkembang
 |
|
| Author | Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana |
|---|---|
| Country | Indonesia |
| Language | Indonesian |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Balai Pustaka |
|
Publication date
|
1936 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 139 (24th printing) |
| ISBN | (24th printing) |
| OCLC | 67860740 |
Layar Terkembang (With Sails Unfurled) is an Indonesian novel by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana. Published in 1936 or 1937 by Balai Pustaka, it tells the story of two sisters and their relationship with a medical student. It has been noted as emphasizing the need for Indonesians to adopt Western values in order to modernize the country.
Tuti and Maria, daughters of Raden Wiriatmadja, go to the fish market where they meet Yusuf, a medical student from Martapura, South Sumatra. After he escorts them home, he realizes that he has fallen for Maria. The following day, he meets the sisters while on his way to school and goes out on the town with them. He and Maria become closer and closer, while Tuti busies herself with reading and attending congresses on women's rights.
A few months later, Yusuf returns early from his holidays to be with Maria; however, not long afterwards she falls ill and is diagnosed with malaria. Tuti begins feeling the need to be loved, remembering Supomo who had once proposed to her; after Supomo's younger brother comes to demand an answer, she says no. Maria's condition grows steadily worse and the doctors change their diagnosis to tuberculosis. As she lies dying in hospital, Tuti and Yusuf go to visit her cousins in Sindanglaya, where Tuti notes that one need not live in the city in order to be useful to one's country. Upon their return to Maria's bedside, Maria requests that they marry each other. After Tuti and Yusuf, who have been growing closer, agree, Maria dies.
Tham Seong Chee notes that the characters and plot of Layar Terkembang are symbolic, with each character representing a certain worldview or culture. When two characters are incompatible, it is in fact an incompatibility of the two worldviews or cultures. He gives the example of Tuti, whom he describes as being "independent, socially confident, articulate, egoistic, and emancipated", and her sister Maria, who is described as "symbolic of the traditional ideal Indonesian woman"; Yusuf's marriage to Tuti after the death of Maria is seen as being symbolic of the "demise of the old and inevitable take over of the new". He also notes a contrast between the "Western" worldview of changing ones surroundings and the traditional view of surrendering oneself to fate, as well as the new and old generations.
...
Wikipedia