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Storied Island
New Explorations in Javanese Literature
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Javanese literature is one of the worldâs richest and most unusual literary traditions yet it is little known today outside of Java, Indonesia, and a handful of western universities. With its more than a millennium of documented history, its complex interactions over the centuries with literature written in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Malay and Dutch, its often symbiotic relationship with the performing arts of puppetry and dance, and its own immense creativity and insight, this vastly understudied literature offers a lens to understanding Javaâs fascinating world as well as human ingenuity more broadly. The essays in this volume, Storied Island: New Explorations in Javanese Literature, take a fresh look at questions and themes pertaining to Javaâs literature, employing new theoretical and methodological lenses.
Ronit Ricci (PhD in Comparative Literature, University of Michigan 2006) is Professor of Asian Studies and Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is also affiliated with the Australian National University. She has published widely on Javanese and Malay manuscript cultures, the Sri Lanka Malays, translation, and exile in colonial Asia. She is currently leading the ERC-funded project Textual Microcosms: A New Approach in Translation Studies, focused on interlinear translations from the Indonesian-Malay world.
âEach chapter of this book is a call to action. They prove beyond any doubt that in-depth study of manuscript texts is essential to understanding Javanese culture and that the investment of time and effort in doing so will be rewarded many times over. These texts help us to challenge the tired old generalizations that have spread from outdated scholarship to shape popular notions about Javanese culture. They compel us to think more expansively about what a text is and to start describing in detail how variant versions of similar stories are intertwined to form complex traditions like the Centhini, the Ambiya, or the Panji tales.â
â Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan, Southeast Asia Research, 32.2 (July 2024)
"The collection of essays in Storied Islands provides readers with an excellent introduction to the history of Javanese literary production between the sixteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Readers are introduced to an impressive variety of literary works and genres. The authors place the literary works they discuss in the broader context of Javaâs social and religious history, providing readers with insight into aspects of Islamic thought and practice in the period. "
â Peter Worsley, H-Asia, H-Net Reviews (December 2024)
â Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan, Southeast Asia Research, 32.2 (July 2024)
"The collection of essays in Storied Islands provides readers with an excellent introduction to the history of Javanese literary production between the sixteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. Readers are introduced to an impressive variety of literary works and genres. The authors place the literary works they discuss in the broader context of Javaâs social and religious history, providing readers with insight into aspects of Islamic thought and practice in the period. "
â Peter Worsley, H-Asia, H-Net Reviews (December 2024)
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Maps
A Note on Orthography and Transliteration
Abbreviations
Introduction
âRonit Ricci
1 Rediscovering Islam in Javanese History
âM.C. Ricklefs
2 Stepping on a Wulu: Minor Characters and Narrative Possibilities in the SÄrat CÄnthini
âTony Day
3 Better to Touch the Heart: Performing Sufi Songs (Suluk) in the SÄrat CÄnthini
âNancy K. Florida
4 The Hamza Affect: Feeling as a Moving Force in the Asian-Islamic Epic
âBernard Arps
5 Sunan Bonangâs Teaching: Ethical Sufism in Sixteenth-Century Java
âYumi Sugahara
6 Situated Prophethood: Reading the Serat Ambiya in Nineteenth-Century Java
âRonit Ricci
7 Where Is Mecca? Or, Map and Territory: Reflections from Java
âVerena Meyer
8 Words of Power and Wisdom: Credible Authorities and Reliable Sources in the SÄrat Nitik Sultan Agung
âEls Bogaerts
9 On the Wrong Side of History
ââKey Episodes in the SÄrat Rama and the Panji Paniba
âWillem van der Molen
10 Rethinking Categorization in Javanese Literary History: Some Reflections on a Fin-de-Siècle Memoir by Raden Sasrakusuma
âEdwin P. Wieringa
Glossary
Index
Acknowledgments
List of Figures and Maps
A Note on Orthography and Transliteration
Abbreviations
Introduction
âRonit Ricci
1 Rediscovering Islam in Javanese History
âM.C. Ricklefs
2 Stepping on a Wulu: Minor Characters and Narrative Possibilities in the SÄrat CÄnthini
âTony Day
3 Better to Touch the Heart: Performing Sufi Songs (Suluk) in the SÄrat CÄnthini
âNancy K. Florida
4 The Hamza Affect: Feeling as a Moving Force in the Asian-Islamic Epic
âBernard Arps
5 Sunan Bonangâs Teaching: Ethical Sufism in Sixteenth-Century Java
âYumi Sugahara
6 Situated Prophethood: Reading the Serat Ambiya in Nineteenth-Century Java
âRonit Ricci
7 Where Is Mecca? Or, Map and Territory: Reflections from Java
âVerena Meyer
8 Words of Power and Wisdom: Credible Authorities and Reliable Sources in the SÄrat Nitik Sultan Agung
âEls Bogaerts
9 On the Wrong Side of History
ââKey Episodes in the SÄrat Rama and the Panji Paniba
âWillem van der Molen
10 Rethinking Categorization in Javanese Literary History: Some Reflections on a Fin-de-Siècle Memoir by Raden Sasrakusuma
âEdwin P. Wieringa
Glossary
Index
Scholars, students and others interested in Javaâs history, literature and culture; scholars and students of anthropology, cultural studies, literary studies, philology and history who have an interest in Java or Indonesia, or who wish to gain a comparative perspective; scholars of translation studies, Indian Ocean studies and religion, Islamic studies in particular; teaching themes include religious change, colonial knowledge production, manuscript art, Islamization, sufism, theories of genre, orality and literacy.