Stories that Liberate
In the hands of a writer, a literary work can be liberating. A story can reveal, tell and record a variety of events and messages from an alternative reality that may be difficult to express.
This is one of the topics raised during the 2016 Kompas Short Story Evening Gala on Thursday (15/6), which saw the participation of 20 short story writers from several regions in the country.
The 2016 Kompas Best Short Story award went to Martin Aleida, 74, for his work titled “Tanah Air” (homeland), while short story writer Triyanto Triwikromo was chosen as the recipient of the 2017 Devotion to Work award.
“Literature in general and short stories in particular, for me, is liberating. This short story started off as research for my journalistic work titled ‘The Lost Homeland’ about the lives of exiled Indonesians living in Europe,” Martin said.
One of the life stories told in the winning short story is that of a former sports journalist who, in 1965, was stranded in Beijing, China, and could not return to his homeland due to the political problems of that time.
The man lives in misery and his spirit is broken because he is forced to leave behind his wife and son, who is only 10 years old. After years apart, the family is eventually reunited in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, in the end the character commits suicide by jumping off the eighth floor of an apartment in the Netherlands. One of the biggest triggers that causes further grief and a mental breakdown is that his only son regarded him as a traitor who abandoned his family.
The wife, Martin said, told the story in an innocent manner, and told him everything. When Martin asked how she wanted the wife’s character to be drawn from his research, she left it fully up to Martin’s discretion.
“When I was writing the result of the research, I felt tortured and unsure. How should I write down this story that was told in such an innocent and honest way? In the end, I decided to write a short story instead so that I was free to work on the result of the research,” Martin said.
In his story, Martin added a number of details, such as the character falling in love with his wife because of the shape of her calf, which he found beautiful. It also tells of a handful of soil from Indonesia, which the character clasps in his hand as he commits suicide.
Writer Ahmad Tohari shared a similar experience when speaking at the Ngabuburit (waiting for iftar) during the Kompas Short Story Writers event, held a few hours before the main awards gala. Tohari spoke of the pressures and threats aimed his way when writing his trilogy, Ronggeng Dukuh Paruk.
“There has never been a literary work that started from an empty space. Sometimes I combine realism and fantasy. I write with desperation, caused by a sense of responsibility in wanting to reveal this great event. But to do that, I must fight my fears,” he said.
In his opening speech, Kompas chief editor BudimanTanuredjo explained that short stories could also reflect national turmoil, of anger over the state of the nation, anger toward corruption and political developments.
Such a condition was evident in 2014, which was also a highly political year. At that time, Budiman said, citing data from Kompas Information Center, there was a significant increase in the number of short stories submitted, totaling 5,600 stories, or 16 short stories per day.
“When journalism is faced with a terrifying situation, short stories can give rise to catharsis. Sometimes, short stories can also be an answer to social realities when those realities cannot be expressed by journalism that is confronted by fear,” Budiman said.
As part of the award gala, the Kompas Short Story Class was held from June 14-15and saw 15 participants from various regions. In the class, the participants learned how to come up with story ideas and transform them into short stories.
‘Kompas’ selected short stories
According to PutuFajar Arcana, a judge, the panel of judges chose 20 stories as the Kompas Selected Short Stories 2016, most of which cover four main themes: the cruelty of a regime during a political upheaval, unequal social relations, complicated personal relationships, and variants of spiritual tradition.
The 20 short stories chosen by Kompa swill be published in a book called Tanah Air, for which Putu has written the “Judges’ Foreword – Social Project and Bread Dough”. In it, he highlights one of the basic ingredients of writing a story, which is the reality of “factual” violence.
At the award gala, pianist Ananda Sukarlan, 49, played her own composition, which was inspired by Martin’s short story. She said that it was not difficult to understand the feelings of alienation and homesickness as told in the short story. Ananda herself had once lived as an immigrant in Spain.
Ananda’s piano was accompanied by young soprano Mariska Setiawan, who sang in the role of the wife who had lost her husband in “Tanah Air”.
Ananda wrote the 20-minute piece in about two months. She said that “Tanah Air” would be adapted into a full musical composition of at least 45 minutes. “I would not create a work if it does not truly resonate with me. It so happened that when I read ‘Tanah Air’ for the first time, it touched me straight away,” she said.
Ananda is well known as a musician who often interprets Indonesian or international literary works and transforms them into a composition for piano.
(DWA/NAW )