Yulia S. Ershova

The present paper provides a survey of Indonesian women’s prose (so-called sastra wangi) that has been gaining strength since the end of the twentieth century and has become one of the central phenomena of modern Indonesian literature. In connection with the subject of discussion, some information on gender studies and feminist literary criticism is given. Sastra wangi possesses distinctive features that distinguish it from purely entertaining chick-lit. Similar processes are found in the literature of many countries, as shown by examples from Indian, Turkish and Chinese writing. Modern Indonesian women’s prose can therefore be viewed in the context of Asian and African women’s writing in general.