MEROSOTNYA “BAYANGAN” DALAM BAYANGAN ORANG INDONESIA Wayang Kulit dan Lalita

Abstract

This article is noting the recent trend of wayang or shadow-playspectators to sit in the part of the screen, where people can watch the real play with all its colours and paraphernalia, and not in the part which shows only the shadows. It could mean that the Javanese are now regarding the concrete world more positively and not just a shadow of the real spiritual world,but on the other hand it also shows that by precisely losing the meaning of shadows, the Javanese are prone to loose a balanced understanding of the world. Without shadow there is no world. It is Ayu Utami in her novel Lalita who manages to bring to the surface the significance of shadows; those who lost their shadows are like the vampires, who have no shadow.