Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Recent Language, Literature, and Local Culture Studies, BASA, 20-21 September 2019, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia

Research Article

Kawin Lari from a Modern Perspective: The Representation of Lombok in the Novel Bisikan Tetesan Hujan

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  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/eai.20-9-2019.2296841,
        author={Dharma Satrya HD and Faruk  Faruk and Pujiharto  Pujiharto},
        title={Kawin Lari from a Modern Perspective: The Representation of Lombok in the Novel Bisikan Tetesan Hujan},
        proceedings={Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Recent Language, Literature, and Local Culture Studies, BASA, 20-21 September 2019, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia},
        publisher={EAI},
        proceedings_a={BASA},
        year={2020},
        month={6},
        keywords={kawin lari sasak novel discourse modernity},
        doi={10.4108/eai.20-9-2019.2296841}
    }
    
  • Dharma Satrya HD
    Faruk Faruk
    Pujiharto Pujiharto
    Year: 2020
    Kawin Lari from a Modern Perspective: The Representation of Lombok in the Novel Bisikan Tetesan Hujan
    BASA
    EAI
    DOI: 10.4108/eai.20-9-2019.2296841
Dharma Satrya HD1,*, Faruk Faruk2, Pujiharto Pujiharto2
  • 1: Universitas Hamzanwadi
  • 2: Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
*Contact email: dharmasatrya@mail.ugm.ac.id

Abstract

The background of this article is the centrality of eloping in the culture of Sasak Lombok. That centrality then forces novelists from there to raise the issue of Sasak eloping in Indonesian literature. This article discusses the representation of kawin lari (elopement) in Johan Mahyudi's novel Bisikan Tetesan Hujan. It seeks to explain the position of kawin lari, as a tradition of Lombok's Sasak people, within Indonesian literary discourse. This article thus applies Stuart Hall's theory of representation, combining semiotic and discursive approaches. Data from the novel were analyzed using semiotics, with discourse analysis being used to position kawin lari within its cultural context. Kawin lari is presented in the novel from a modern perspective, being positioned as a tradition that shackles and encumbers women—and therefore victimizes them. Salwa, a victim of kawin lari, attempts to leave her husband, Wawan, in order to pursue her true love. This novel thus offers a construction of Sasak women who are capable of challenging and even rejecting tradition. Despite turning to magical means, Wawan fails to convince Salwa to return to him; the magical is subjugated by the realist and the modern.