¹ The criterion of social relevance excludes the works of the important Thai author Manat Canjong whose absurdist stories fall beyond the scope of this discussion. Neither could I include a discussion of Khykrit Praamoot's excellent Sii phäändin [Four Reigns] because of its specialized historical character. On the other hand I included the genre of the mystical novel in the discussion of Javanese Indonesian fiction because it appears to be entirely relevant to understand the Javanese relationship between individual and society.

² For aspects of the historical and cultural relationships between Thailand and Java, see Coedés, G., The Indianized States of South-East Asia (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1968)Google Scholar.

³ About the analysis of Indonesian comic strips, see Bonneff, M., Les bandes dessinees indonésiennes (Paris: Puyraimond, 1976)Google Scholar.

⁴ This idea has been argued by Geertz, C., “‘From the Native's Point of View’: on the Nature of Anthropological Understanding”, in Symbolic Anthropology, ed. Dolgin, J. et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977)Google Scholar.

⁵ This investigation will largely ignore questions that pertain to the sociology of literature, such as when did who write what for whom. Neither will it deal with questions that belong to thefieldof literary criticism. These questions have been extensively discussed by many others, for instance in the case of Thailand by Bunkhacon, Triisin, Náwánijaaj káb sangkhom thaj (2475–2500) (Bangkok: Suksitsayam, 1980), and Suchaat Sawadsii in his introductions toGoogle ScholarLäängkhěn, Thanon saaj thiinam paj súu khwaamtaaj, Myan jáang maj khöj, and Kham khaanrab (Bangkok: Duang Kamol, 1975, 1976)Google Scholar , and in the case of Indonesia by Jassin, H.B., Kesusastraan Indonesia modem dalam Kritik dan Esei, 4 vols. (Jakarta, 1967)Google Scholar , and Teeuw, A., Modern Indonesian Literature, 2 vols. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1967, 1979). With its narrow focus on the relationship between individual and society this article will neither try to give a general picture of contemporary social life and thought, such as offered in the selective compilations ofCrossRefGoogle ScholarPhillips, H.P., Thai Thoughts: An Anthropological Inquiry into Contemporary Thai Literature (forthcoming) and J.J. Ras, Javanese Literature since Independence: an Anthology (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979). Ras only considers fiction written in Javanese whereas this article will only discuss works written in Indonesian by ethnic Javanese. The good reason for this decision is that there is hardly any production of modern good-quality fiction in Javanese, all of the most important Javanese authors writing in Indonesian. Yet there appears to be a specific Javanese flavour in their writings that sets them apart from the other authors writing in Indonesian. At present there is even a tendency that the former “javanise” their novels, as exemplified by the genre of the mystical novel and the recent publications of Linus Suryadi AG and Y.B. Mangunwijaya (see below)Google Scholar.

⁶ There exist several later and more extensive editions of this collection, the latest being printed in 1979.

⁷ He returned from exile in Sweden to Thailand in 1981.

⁸ If here or in the following I am economical in commenting on certain pieces of literature, I still find it important to mention them in order to indicate the sources from which I derived my ideas and that may illustrate my argument. At the same time this procedure opens me to those critics who may hold a different opinion.

⁹ See, for instance, the compilations of short stories bySuchaat Sawadsii(ed.) referred to in note 5.

¹⁰ Forthis interpretation, see Wiryamartana, I. Kuntara.“Poetika Jawadalam Kancah Sastra Indonesia”, Basis, Majalah Kebudayaan Umum 31, no. 6 (1982): 231–37Google Scholar.

¹¹ For further elaboration of the sangkan-paran idea, see Mulder, Niels, Mysticism and Everyday Life in Contemporary Java (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1978), p. 13Google Scholar.

¹² During the short period that these novels freely circulated in Indonesia, Bumi Manusia was printed three or four times in unprecedented editions. In the middle of 1981 Pramoedya's new books suffered the same fate as his earlier writings and were officially banned. Meanwhile a translation by Lane, Max has appeared in English, This Earth of Mankind (Penguin Books Australia Ltd., 1982). For some other translations of Pramoedya's work, seeGoogle ScholarOemarjati, Boen, “Development of modern Indonesian Literature”, in Dynamics of Indonesian History, ed. Soebadio, H. and Sarvaas, C. C. du Marchie (Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1978)Google Scholar.

¹³ For a more extensive presentation of these books, see Foulcher, Keith, “Buma Manusia and Anak semua Bangsa: Pramoedya Ananta Toer Enters the 1980's”, Indonesia 32 (1981): 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁴ See Evers, Hans-Dieter (ed.), “Loosely structured” Social Systems: Thailand in Comparative Perspective (New Haven: Southeast Asia Program, Yale University, 1969)Google Scholar.

¹⁵ These classifications have been elaborated in Mulder, Niels, Everyday Life in Thailand: An Interpretation (Bangkok: Duang Kamol, 1979)Google Scholar.

¹⁶ For a descriptive analysis of Javȧnese kebatinan mysticism, see Mulder, , Mysticism (1978)Google Scholar.