Présentation de l'éditeur :
These letters which breathe the modern spirit, in all of its restless intensity, were written by a girl of the Orient, reared in an ancient and outworn civilization. They unfold the story of the writer with unconscious simplicity and present a vivid picture of Javanese life and manners. But perhaps their chief interest lies in their value as a human document. In them the old truth of the oneness of humanity is once more made manifest and we see that the magnificent altruism, the spirit of inquiry, and the almost morbid desire for self-searching and analysis that characterize the opening years of the Twentieth Century were not peculiar to Europe or to America, but were universal and belonged to the world, to the East as well as to the West. Kartini, that was her only name—Raden Adjeng is a title—wrote to her Dutch friends in the language of the Netherlands. In her home circle she spoke always Javanese, and she was Javanese in her intense love for her land and people, as well as in dress and manners. She did not live to see the work that has been accomplished in her name during the last ten years. Today there are "Kartini Schools" in all parts of Java. The influence of her life and teachings is perhaps greater than that of any other woman of modern times because it reaches all of the thirty-eight millions of Javanese and extends to some extent throughout the entire East. She did not desire to make of her people pseudo-Europeans but better Javanese. Not the material freedom for which during the three hundred years of Dutch rule the Javanese of the past had sometimes waged a bloody warfare, but the greater freedom of the mind and of the spirit.
Biographie de l'auteur :
Raden Adjeng Kartini, Lady Kartini, (21 April 1879 – 17 September 1904), sometimes known as Raden Ayu Kartini, was a prominent Indonesian national heroine from Java. She was also a pioneer in the area of education for girls and women's rights for Indonesians. Born into an aristocratic Javanese family in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, she attended a Dutch language primary school. She aspired to further education but the option was unavailable to her and other girls in Javanese society. She came into contact with various officials and influential people including J.H. Abendanon, in charge of implementing the Dutch Ethical Policy. Kartini wrote letters about her feelings and they were published in a Dutch magazine and later as: Out of Darkness to Light, Women's Life in the Village and Letters of a Javanese Princess. Her birthday is now celebrated as Kartini Day in Indonesia. She took an interest in mysticism and opposed polygamy. Her advocacy for the education of girls was continued by her sisters. Kartini Schools were named for her a fund established in her name to fund the education of girls.
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