Penghidoepan

Penghidoepan (meaning "life" in Malay; Perfected Spelling Penghidupan) was a monthly Peranakan Chinese, Malay-language literary magazine published in the Dutch East Indies from 1925 to 1942. It was one of the most successful literary publications in the Indies, publishing more than 200 novels and short stories during its run. Among its authors were many of the notables of the Chinese Indonesian literary world including Njoo Cheong Seng, Tan Hong Boen, and Tan Boen Soan.

Cover of Penghidoepan, December 1932

History

Penghidoepan was founded in Surabaya, East Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) by Njoo Cheong Seng, Ong Ping Lok, and Liem Khing Hoo, the editorial team behind the bimonthly magazine Hoa Kiao and was printed by the Tan printing company (Dutch: Tan's Drukkerij).[1][2][3] Njoo Cheong Seng, who was already a major writer, playwright and filmmaker, became its first editor.[3] The magazine was intended to be a new platform to publish original novels and short stories, as well as translations of Chinese and Western novels; Njoo Cheong Seng wrote many of the novels himself as the magazine got established; he and other editors wrote under pseudonyms, partly to hide how few people were involved in the production of the magazine.[1][3] In the first year each issue contained one short novel which was 50 to 80 pages long; after that the format became a bit longer and a short story or poem was often added after the novel.[3] The covers were illustrated with scenes from novels or from daily life; many of these were done by Malang-based illustrator Tan Liep Poen.[3][4]

The contents of the magazine also reflected shifting tastes among Chinese Indonesian readers; while publications of the 1910s had often consisted of historical martial arts or cloak-and-dagger stories set in China, Penghidoepan often printed stories written and set in the contemporary Dutch East Indies.[5] Although moralism, drama and intrigue remained popular, realism and modernity became equally important, as reflected in the name of the magazine, "Life".[2][4] For example, journalist and writer Tan Hong Boen often traveled around Java by bicycle, touring villages and coming up with ideas for stories he would print in Penghidoepan and other magazines.[6] The magazine also published original stories by women authors such as Nyonya The Tiang Ek and Chan Leang Nio, something which was unheard of in the Indies before the 1920s.[4] Together the materials printed in Penghidoepan and related magazines like Tjerita Roman are thought to make up the golden age of Peranakan Chinese literature.[7]

In 1928 or possibly 1929 the three men who had launched Penghidoepan started a new literary monthly called Tjerita Roman; Soe Lie Piet (the father of activist Arief Budiman) became Penghidoepan's new editor; like his predecessor, he published a number of his own novels in the magazine.[1][3][8]

In 1930 Chen Hue Ay became the third and final editor of the magazine; he held the post until 1942.[3]

Penghidoepan was closed in 1942 with the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies.[4]

Cover of Penghidoepan, April 1936

References
  1. Chandra, Elizabeth (2013). "From Sensation to Oblivion: Boven Digoel in Sino-Malay Novels". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 169 (2–3): 244–278. doi:10.1163/22134379-12340026.
  2. Jedamski, Doris (2009). "The Vanishing-Act of Sherlock Holmes in Indonesia's National Awakening". In Jedamski, Doris (ed.). Chewing Over the West: Occidental Narratives in Non-Western Readings. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-420-2784-8.
  3. Salmon, Claudine (1981). Literature in Malay by the Chinese of Indonesia : a provisional annotated bibliography. Paris: Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme. pp. 429–33. ISBN 9780835705929.
  4. Chandra, Elizabeth (2015). "Blossoming Dahlia: Chinese women novelists in colonial Indonesia". Southeast Asian Studies. 4 (3): 533–564.
  5. Salmon, Claudine (2013). "Malay Translations of Chinese Fiction in Indonesia". In Salmon, Claudine (ed.). Literary Migrations: Traditional Chinese Fiction in Asia (17th-20th Centuries). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 266. ISBN 9789814414326.
  6. Suryadinata, Leo; Sidharta, Myra (2012). Southeast Asian personalities of Chinese descent : a biographical dictionary, volume II: glossary and index. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 1069–71. ISBN 9789814345224.
  7. Suryadinata, Leo (1993). Chinese adaptation and diversity : essays on society and literature in Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore. Singapore: Published for Centre for Advanced Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Science, NUS [by] Singapore University Press, National University of Singapore. p. 104. ISBN 9789971691868.
  8. Suryadinata, Leo (1995). Prominent Indonesian Chinese : biographical sketches (3 ed.). Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 165. ISBN 9789813055032.
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