Utuy Tatang Sontani (May 31, 1920 – September 17, 1979) was an Indonesian writer and university lecturer. He was born in

Cianjur Cianjur ( su, ᮎᮤᮃᮔ᮪ᮏᮥᮁ) is a town and district in the West Java province of Indonesia, and is the seat of Cianjur Regency. The district of Cianjur is located along one of the main roads between Jakarta (120 km to the northwe ...

West Java West Java ( id, Jawa Barat, su, ᮏᮝ ᮊᮥᮜᮧᮔ᮪, romanized ''Jawa Kulon'') is a province of Indonesia on the western part of the island of Java, with its provincial capital in Bandung. West Java is bordered by the province of Banten ...

. In 1938 he attended an adult school in

Bandung Bandung ( su, ᮘᮔ᮪ᮓᮥᮀ, Bandung, ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of West Java. It has a population of 2,452,943 within its city limits according to the official estimates as at mid 2021, making it the fourth most ...

, and then became a civil servant. After the independence of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in 1945, he successively worked for National Broadcasting Station and Books Compilation & Translation Bureau. In 1959 he joined the People's Culture Association, and became a member of its central committee. He lived abroad after 1965, mainly in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, taught at

Institute of Asian and African Countries The Institute of Asian and African Countries () at Lomonosov Moscow State University was founded in 1956 as the Institute of Oriental Languages and was renamed to the Institute of Asian and African Countries in 1972. It is a Russian Centre for ...

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, died and was buried in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Utuy initially wrote in

Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...

, but under the Japanese rule during

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he started writing in the

Indonesian language Indonesian ( ) is the official language, official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standard language, standardized variety (linguistics), variety of Malay language, Malay, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that has be ...

. He preferred to write plays and short stories, and the

protagonists A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

in his works were always poor people. His first play ''Suling'' (1948) describes the Indonesian fight for independence. The second play ''Bunga Rumah Makan'' (1948) tell a story of a hotel waitress yearning for freedom and not willing to tender mercies. His historical novel ''Tambera'' (1948) concerns with the anti-Dutch struggle in the late 16th century and early 17th century. After the transfer of sovereignty, Utuy was quite disappointed with the social reality. His short story collection ''Orang-orang Sial'' (1951) mainly expresses tragic fate of the little people and corruption of the

officialdom An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either th ...

. The play ''Awal dan Mira'' (1952) reflected his disillusionment won him the first prize. His other plays comprise ''Di Langit Ada Bintang'' (1955), ''Sang Kuriang: opera dua babak'' (1955), ''Si Kabajan: komedi dua babak'' (1959), ''Tak Pernah Mendjadi Tua'' (1963), ''Manusia Kota: empat buah drama'' (1961) etc.

References

Bibliography

* Harry Aveling&Utuy Tatang Sontani. Man and society in the works of the Indonesian playwright Utuy Tatang Sontani. Honolulu : Southeast Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii, 1979. * Herman S. Sorotan atas drama "Awal dan Mira", karangan Utuy Tatang Sontani : paper. Bandung : Djurusan Bahasa dan Sastera Indonesia IKIP Bandung, 1964. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sontani, Utuy Tatang Indonesian male writers Indonesian male novelists Indonesian male short story writers Indonesian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Indonesian writers 20th-century male writers 20th-century novelists Indonesian expatriates in the Soviet Union People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union Members of the Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat Moscow State University faculty 1979 deaths 1920 births People from Cianjur Sundanese people