The technique of postmodernist simulation game in the novel “Supernova: The Knight, The Princess, and The Falling Star” by Indonesian writer Dewi Lestari (2001)

Abstract

This article examines the modern Indonesian women’s prose and its interaction with the elements of postmodernist paradigm. The object of this research is the novelistic writing of the prominent Indonesian author Dewi Lestari on the example of the novel "“Supernova: The Knight, The Princess, and The Falling Star” (Supernova: Ksatria, Puteri, dan Bintang Jatuh, 2001), which is part of the series “Supernova” (2001-2016). Fiction, as the “median” field in literature, embraces various codes of language art. Relying on the tested patterns of popular literature, it can also appeal to postmodernism. In the latter case, the works are characterized by the presence of deconstructive and game (including simulation) principles. The example of application of the codes of fiction and postmodernism is the novel of under review. An important role in the research is played by the literary-theoretical, typological, and descriptive methods. The work of Dewi Lestari has not yet been considered from the perspective of postmodernist game technique and involvement of the concept of simulacrum. An attempt to do this on the example of her most famous works defines the novelty of this research, as well as the noticeable place of postmodernism in Eastern literatures makes relevant it analysis based on the original Indonesian literature. Reference to the poetics of postmodernism through borrowing the simulation game technique allowed Lestari to create a commercially successful product. The perception of the text by each reader in accordance with their worldview, and engagement in the game proposed by Lestari, correspond to the ideas of the postmodernist interpretation of the literary text, as well as to the laws of the market. This is why modern Indonesian writers refer to the postmodernist paradigm.