Moh. Sanoesi\u27s Siti Rayati: a nationalist novel from West Java

The theme of this international seminar is \u27The role of literature in nation building\u27 and my field is Indonesian literature, or more specifically, the Sundanese literature of West Java. What is not well known outside of the Sunda region-and certainly less so beyond Indonesia-is that this literature, like Malay, possesses a strong manuscript tradition, many oral forms and a vigorous body of modern writing. In fact, after the literature in the national language, modern Sundanese is the most flourishing in Indonesia today. Its political commitment and its sensational historical context have made Moh. Sanoesi\u27s Siti Rayati something of a landmark in Sundanese literature. The book carries an overt message of nationalism and declares class war on the colonial Dutch and their agents, the high priyayis who manned the Native branch of the administration. It was published in three small volumes from 1923 to 1927, not by the great colonial publishing house, Balai Pustaka but a private Sundanese firm, Dachlan-Bekti of Groote Postweg 23, in Bandung. Siti Rayati has passed into Sundanese literary lore, to be recognised as the most significant political novel of its time. The contemporary Sundanese writer and literary critic, Ajip Rosidi reports that Sanoesi\u27s writings \u27not only raised the consciousness of the Sundanese people, but also alarmed the colonial government\u27 (1966, 31) and that concerning Siti Rayati itself, that the novel \u27shook Sundanese society to its core\u27 (1986, 1)