Letters of a Javanese Princess

From within a Javanese regent's household, Raden Adjeng Kartini writes to Dutch friends about the choices available to women and the changes she hopes to help bring about. These letters connect her wish to study and teach with affection for her family and concern for her own people. Agnes Louise Symmers's English translation presents a selection from the original Dutch correspondence, accompanied by a foreword and introduction.

Kartini's account of a wedding gives those concerns a concrete setting: rain falls over the procession, music sounds outside, and the bride's gestures express her expected obedience. Conversation with her sister turns the ceremony into a reflection on whether future couples might meet with greater freedom and mutual happiness. Readers interested in women's education or Javanese social life will find personal arguments rooted in ordinary encounters, where love of home sits alongside resistance to inherited restrictions.