Republishing Folktales: Their Audiences, Readers, and Influences in Modern Indonesian Literature

Abstract

This paper presents an exploration of the republishing of traditional stories or folktales, most of which are traditionally oral, into printed form. This republishing activity has resulted in some changes in the stories, including the narrative’s structure as well as writers’ interpretation of the stories. As such, this paper also explains other domains that are also potentially affected by this activity. The narrative of the stories, the profile of the audience and reader, and the use of different media, particularly in the area of contemporary publishing and writing, development in Indonesia, comprise these domains. Furthermore, this paper investigates the republication of folktales, by publishing houses, in correlation with the creation of the reading public of such published literary works in West Sumatra. In such cases, the republished folktales have been changed to suit the book’s form, and resulted to alterations from their original version. Some writers in modern literary works have also adopted and explored these traditional stories based on the tales’ popularity to gain more readers of the printed versions. Publishing houses, at the same time, play an important role in this print literary production. The discussion also suggests that the republishing of traditional literature has significantly contributed to the shaping of folktales’ audience and reader’s profile.