Marah Roesli ([ˈmarah ˈrusli]; full name: Marah Rusli bin Abu Bakar) (born in Padang, West Sumatra on August 7, 1889, and died in Bandung, West Java on January 17, 1968) is an Indonesian author of the Balai Pustaka generation. He is famous for his novel, Sitti Nurbaya, which was published in 1920. The book is about Sitti Nurbaya, a woman who is forced by her parents to marry a boy she has not chosen. Like other Minangkabau authors, such as Hamka, Ali Akbar Navis, and Abdul Muis, his novels are stories about cultural bankruptcy in Minangkabau.

Biography

Marah Roesli's father, Sultan Abu Bakar, was a nobleman with the rank Sultan Pangeran. Marah Roesli married a Sundanese girl born in Bogor in 1911, and they had three children, two boys and one girl. This marriage was not desired by his parents, but he kept strong and went through with it.

Although he is known as a famous novelist, he was a veterinarian by profession. Unlike Taufik Ismail and Asrul Sani, who both completely left their practices as veterinarians to become authors, Marah Roesli kept working in this profession until he retired in 1952 with the title of Head Veterinary. He loved literature from a young age, and always loved listening to stories from the itinerant story tellers in Western Sumatra, and reading literature.

Recognition

In the history of Indonesian literature, Marah Roesli is noted as the first author of a novel, and was designated by Jassin as the "Father of the Modern Indonesian Novel". Before the first novels were written in Indonesia, the literature was more similar to folk stories.

Marah Rusli had higher education, and many of the books he read came from the West and discussed modernization. He then saw the traditions that were holding people back and were not in line with the development of the period, and in Sitti Nurbaya he wanted to free the people from the traditions that held them back and stopped young people from following their dreams.

In Sitti Nurbaya, there is already the basis for a theory of female emancipation. In the story, the woman begins to think about her rights, and whether she should just follow tradition (and listen to her parents) or stand for what she believes in. The story creates a strong impression on the reader, which is true to this day. After more than 80 years, this book is still being discussed and read.

In addition to Sitti Nurbaya, Marah Roesli also wrote several other novels. However, Sitti Nurbaya is the best one. The novel got the annual price in literature from the Government of Indonesia in 1969, and has been translated to Russian.

Bibliography

• La Hami (1924)
• Anak dan Kemenakan (1956)
• Memang Jodoh (autobiographical)
• Tesna Zahera (play)
• Gadis yang Malang (translated novel from Charles Dickens, 1922)

References

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