Tradition and innovation in creating the image of epic hero in Indonesian literature

In different periods of historic and literary development the hero reflected the most significant social and cultural values realised in his ideas and deeds. Recently a steady interest to the heritage of the old literary traditions has begun to increase in Indonesian literature that means that in the literature an attempt is undertaken to reproduce the tradition by the modern means. The aim of the present research is to compare the hero of the well-known XXth century Indonesian novel "Tiger! Tiger!" by Mochtar Lubis with the hero of the old Malay tale "Hikayat Hang Tuah" in order to identify in depicting the ideal hero special traditional characteristics which remained in claim for the Indonesian writers of the XXth century.