Sariamin Ismail

seorang seniman Indonesia yang terkenal sebagai pelukis dan pengarang cerita anak-anak

Sariamin Ismail (lahir di Talu, Pasaman, Sumatera Barat, 1909 – meninggal di Pekanbaru, 1995 pada umur 86 tahun) adalah pengarang perempuan pertama Indonesia. Ia sering memakai nama samaran Selasih dan Seleguri, atau gabungan dari kedua nama samaran tersebut, Selasih Seleguri. Novel pertamanya berjudul Kalau tak Untung diterbitkan oleh Balai Pustaka pada tahun 1934. Aktif menulis di beberapa surat kabar termasuk Pujangga Baru, Panji Pustaka, Asyara, Sunting Melayu, dan Bintang Hindia, ia pernah menjadi editor untuk surat kabar Suara Kaum Ibu di Padang Panjang pada tahun 1934. Selain itu, ia sempat menjadi anggota parlemen daerah untuk provinsi Riau setelah terpilih pada tahun 1947.

Sariamin Ismail
Nama pena"Selasih", "Seleguri" atau "Selasih Seleguri"
PekerjaanGuru
Kebangsaan Indonesia
Aliran sastraPujangga Baru
Karya terkenalKalau tak Untung
PasanganIsmail
AnakSuryahati Ismail, Tini Hadad

Biografi

Sariamin lahir lahir dengan nama Basariah pada tanggal 31 Juli 1909 di Talu, Pasaman Barat.[1] Ia menempuh sekolah dasar di tempat ia tinggal dan, pada usia sepuluh tahun, ia mulai menulis syair dan bentuk-bentuk puisi lain. Setelah lulus pada tahun 1921, ia masuk ke sekolah guru khusus perempuan di Padang Panjang, dan pada usia enam belas tahun ia telah menulis di beberapa surat kabar lokal seperti Pandji Poestaka. Ia menjadi guru setelah menamatkan pendidikan di sekolah guru pada tahun 1925;[2][3] bekerja pertama kali di Bengkulu kemudian pindah ke Bukittinggi.[1] Ia kembali ke Pandang Panjang pada tahun 1930 dan pada tahun 1939 mulai mengajar di Aceh, being sent to Kuantan, Riau, pada tahun 1941.[3]

While teaching Sariamin continued to write to supplement her income,[4] using a number of pseudonyms to avoid the possibility of being arrested for her writings. She later became best known as Selasih, for the name she used in her first novel, but she also used Seleguri, Sri Gunung, Sri Tanjung, Ibu Sejati, Bundo Kanduang, and Mande Rubiah.[5] In the mid 1930s Sariamin wrote for the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe.[6] She published her first novel, Kalau Tak Untung (If Fortune Does Not Favour) in 1933, making her the first female novelist in Indonesian history.[5] Published by the state-owned Balai Pustaka, the novel was reportedly inspired by her fiance marrying another woman and followed two childhood friends who fall in love but are unable to be together. She published another novel, Karena Keadaan (Because of the Situation), in 1937.[5][7]

Between 1928 and 1930 Sariamin was the head of the Bukittinggi branch of Jong Islamieten Bond, an Islamic youth group.[1] By the 1930s she had become a vocal journalist in the women-run Soeara Kaoem Iboe Soematra under the name Seleguri, condemning polygamy and emphasising the need for a nuclear family.[8] After Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945, Sariamin spent two years as a member of the regional representative body in Riau.[3]

Sariamin continued to write and teach until 1968, working in Riau. Before 1986 she had released three poetry anthologies and a children's story.[3] She published her last novel, Kembali ke Pangkuan Ayah (Return to Father's Arms) in 1986.[5] Before her death in 1995 Sariamin had published two further poetry anthologies[1] and a documentary film made about her.[8]

Themes

The Indonesian literary critic Zuber Usman wrote that, unlike most contemporary novels, Sariamin's early works Kalau Tak Untung and Pengaruh Keadaan did not deal with intergenerational conflict or contrasting traditional and modern values.[2] He found that her novels were essentially focused on star-crossed lovers, who meet as children, fall in love, but are ultimately unable to be together. He notes that, in contrast to earlier novels like Sitti Nurbaya (1923) by Marah Rusli, Sariamin's works did not center around rich birth children. Kalau Tak Untung instead focused on a child from a poor rural family, while Karena Keadaan saw a step-child fall in love with her teacher.[9] Usman noted that a sense of depression pervades Sariamin's poetry.[9]

The Indonesian socialist critic Bakri Siregar disagreed with Usman's assessment, describing Sariamin's works as anti-traditional. He notes that her novels portrayed a marriage based on love, rather than arranged by one's parents as dictated by tradition, as a happy one.[10]

The Dutch scholar of Indonesian literature A. Teeuw considered Sariamin's male characters as weak men who surrender themselves to fate. He draws parallels between Karena Keadaan and the Western folk tale "Cinderella", noting that the main characters of both stories are self-sacrificing but ultimately receive a reward.[4] The writer Juliette Koning classifies Selasih's Kalau Tak Untung as part of a "coherent body of work representing the thoughts of educated, urban, indigenous women" together with Hamidah's Kehilangan Mestika (Lost Jewels; 1935) and Soewarsih Djojopuspito's Manusia Bebas (Free People; published in Dutch in 1940).[11]

List of works

  • Kalau Tak Untung (1933)
  • Pengaruh Keadaan (1937)
  • Puisi Baru (1946; poetry anthology)
  • Rangkaian Sastra (1952)
  • Seserpih Pinang Sepucuk Sirih (1979; poetry anthology)
  • Panca Juara (1981)
  • Nakhoda Lancang (1982)
  • Cerita Kak Murai, Kembali ke Pangkuan Ayah (1986)
  • Ungu: Antologi Puisi Wanita Penyair Indonesia (1990)

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Rampan 2000, hlm. 419–420.
  2. ^ a b Usman 1959, hlm. 111.
  3. ^ a b c d TIM, Selasih.
  4. ^ a b Teeuw 1980, hlm. 102.
  5. ^ a b c d Mahayana, Sofyan & Dian 1995, hlm. 37–38.
  6. ^ Siregar 1964, hlm. 81.
  7. ^ Koning 2000, hlm. 57.
  8. ^ a b Koning 2000, hlm. 53.
  9. ^ a b Usman 1959, hlm. 112.
  10. ^ Siregar 1964, hlm. 40–41.
  11. ^ Koning 2000, hlm. 56.

Works cited

Further reading

  • Asmuni, Marleily (1983). H. Sariamin Ismail (Selasih/Selaguri): Hasil Karya dan Pengabdiannya (dalam bahasa Indonesian). Jakarta: Department of Education and Culture. OCLC 21068926. 

Pranala luar