[Unpad.ac.id, 15/02/2016] Popular novel plays major role on the development of mental and behavior of society, especially those of younger generation, said Lecturer of Indonesian Literature Faculty of Arts (FIB), Universitas Padjadjaran, Dr. Muhammad Adji, M.Hum. According to him, popular novel does not essentially only record realities in the present, but also produce new values that can be taken as models by the public.
Dr. Adji explained that popular novel depends heavily on situation and condition of the reality. This is the characteristic of popular novel. “Popular Novel emphasizes contemporary and presence. It truly describes reality of one’s time, thus it can be used as a social document, “he said.
As an example, he pointed out that the novel “Ali Topan Anak Jalanan” that was published in 1970s, with “Lupus” in the late 1980s, had different portrayal of youth. Ali Topan was portrayed as sloppy and young people tended to rebel against the existing social system in its environment, depicting youth condition at the time. 1970s was known as an era when many changes occurred in the social system and values in Indonesia.
“There is element of rebellion against social institutions at that time,” said this Indonesian Coordinating For Foreign Speakers (BIPA) FIB Unpad.
Different with the character Lupus, he tended to be adaptive to social circumstances. This character was also known to be simpler, more fun, and closer to his environment. At the time this novel was written, the condition of the country was stable.
“Therefore, the characters were apolitical. Lupus was apolitical. Perhaps it was the influence of the New Order government to be able to set a depoliticization,” said Dr. Adji who in 2012 was assigned to teach Indonesian Language and Culture at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, for one semester.
Not only describing reality, popular novels can produce an icon or a new value that can influence readers. For example, during the Lupus era many young people imitated his style, the way they communicate, until the way they dress.
While in early 2000s, there was a change in the mainstream. This era was closely related to the reformation in which freedom of expression occurs in a variety of media, including popular novels. Characters in them were no longer coming from Jakarta as the center of power, but from local leaders; for example “Ayat-Ayat Cinta”, “Negeri 5 Menara”, and “Laskar Pelangi”. However, this character still managed to become role models and create new value for its readers.
“This suggests that in order to be successful, one doesn’t need to have good facilities, one is not necessarily originated from Jakarta, but one could come from remote areas and from lower class. Thus this provides new picture on the profile of young generation, “said the man who was born in Lahat, November 21, 1975.
Dr. Adji also considers that current popular novels are well developed. For example, the authors of popular novels today have larger experience in the global world, therefore it affecting their novel perspective and writing.
“Authors now also have their own ideology. In contrast to the ideology of the novels in the previous era, “said the graduate of Doctoral Program Literature Unpad of Cultural Studies concentration.
According to Dr. Adji, there are still very few people who study popular novel, while every year, many of popular novels are published. Popular novel is often considered to have low aesthetic (compared to the literary novel) therefore it is often ignored in academic studies.
Although popular novel has appeared in Indonesia since the late 1800s, the separation of category of popular novels and literary novel had just appeared in the early 1970s. Besides close to reality, another characteristic of a popular novel is using casual language that is easily understood, revolving around young people, and aimed to entertain the reader.
“I refuse to draw the line, of contrasting and comparing, saying that popular novel has low quality, while literary novel has high quality. As matter of quality is also debatable. Popular novel could be of good quality, in terms of storytelling techniques, and so on, “said Dr. Adji who has written several books, one of them is a popular novel.
According to Dr. Adji, currently popular novel is emerging because of how easy it is to publish a book nowadays. Before, book publishers were only a few and the process of selection took a lengthy period of time. Today, many emerging small publishers provide easy access for authors to publish a book. The problem is that not all publishers have in house editors; therefore in terms of language, there are many novels that do not have good grammar.
However, the emerging of today’s popular novel, Dr. Adji argues, is a positive aspect because it brings public around writing and reading. According to Adji, popular novel can be a medium to support the movement of Read and Write Indonesia.
To the authors, Dr. Adji hopes that they could provide educational aspect in their novels, especially for young readers who’re still in search of their identity. “If the novel has many negative aspects, then these young people will be easily affected,” he said. *
E-mail Dr. Muhamad Adji, M.Hum <m.adji@unpad.ac.id>
reported by Artanti Hendriyana / eh
