| Abstract
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This article reflects on the role of religion as one of four, interconnected layers in the contextual novels of the candid and controversial Indonesian author Ayu Utami (b. 1968). Next to important gender issues, substantial critique of Indonesian politics, and attention to Javanese culture and mythology, her Christian background is present, in varying density, in all novels she has published so far. This can be proved by numerous quotations from the Bible and even by the fact, that the main protagonist of her largest novel so far is given an almost Messianic status. In her earlier novels, Ayu Utami seems to distance herself from patriarchic, institutional Catholicism. However, in her most recent, autobiographical, novel she makes clear, why and under which conditions she is able to return to her maternal faith. This article reflects on the role of religion as one of four, interconnected layers in the contextual novels of the candid and controversial Indonesian author Ayu Utami (b. 1968). Next to important gender issues, substantial critique of Indonesian politics, and attention to Javanese culture and mythology, her Christian background is present, in varying density, in all novels she has published so far. This can be proved by numerous quotations from the Bible and even by the fact, that the main protagonist of her largest novel so far is given an almost Messianic status. In her earlier novels, Ayu Utami seems to distance herself from patriarchic, institutional Catholicism. However, in her most recent, autobiographical, novel she makes clear, why and under which conditions she is able to return to her maternal faith.
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