Moh. Najid
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ABSTRAKKarya sastra adalah cermin kehidupan sosial. Sastra menampilkan gambaran kehidupan dan kehidupan adalah kenyataan budaya. Paparan tersebut menunjukkan bahwa sastra tidak berangkat dari ketiadaan budaya. Sastra adalah hasil budaya yang di dalamnya jelas terepresentasikan nilai-nilai budaya.
Pada tahun 1990-an terbit beberapa novel. Beberapa ciri yang dapat dicermati dalam novel periode ini ialah dominasi pengarang "mapan", kecenderungan novel bersifat dokurnentatif, memuat persoalan sosial, dan menonjolkan warna daerah. Novel yang menonjolkan warna daerah memiliki ciri: ditulis oleh budayawan, ditulis oleh pengarang yang hidup dan akrab dengan budaya daerah, serta novel tersebut mengangkat kehidupan masyarakat suatu daerah.
Ada tiga kecenderungan tema pada karya sastra tahun 1990-an. Kecenderungan tersebut ialah sastra modern mengungkap realisme sosial, sastra modern sebagai media protes sosial, dan sastra modern sebagai sarana pengungkap nilai-nilai budaya. Pada tahun ini, Umar Kayam lah yang taat asas dengan budaya Jawa dalam karya-karyanya.
Berdasar atas kenyataan tersebut novel Para Priyayi dipilih sebagai objek penelitian. Topik penelitian yang akan dikemukakan adalah perubahan kebudayaan Jawa.
Pengaitan antara perubahan kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel didasarkan atas wawancara dengan Matra, Kayam mengatakan, "Says ingin menulis roman, sekaligus saya ingin mengembangkan pemikiran saya tentang kebudayaan kita. Saya dalam tahun-tahun mendatang ini, ingin menggeluti masalah-masalah ini. Dalam pikiran akademis, misalnya, says ingin menjajaki kemungkinan-kemungkinan yang bisa dijangkau sosiolog, dalam memahami kecenderungan kebudayaan kita.
Memperhatikan apa yang diutarakan Umar Kayam tersebut dapat diduga bahwa novel Para Priyayi adalah hasil pengembangan pemikiran pengarang tentang kebudayaan Jawa. Sedangkan pengembangan pemikiran diperkirakan menunjukkan perubahan yang dilakukan pengarang dalam mengusulkan hal Baru tentang kebudayaan Jawa. Masalah yang dapat dirumuskan ialah bagaimanakah kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel Para Priyayi? dan bagaimana kah mobilitas dan pembatasan kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel Para Priyayi?
Kerangka teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kerangka teori new historicism yang dikemukakan oleh Stephen Greenblatt yang memandang kebudayaan sebagai suatu sistem yang memobilisasi dan sekaligus membatasi segala gerak dan pemikiran anggota masyarakat. Seni dipandang sebagai sesuatu yang penting dalam transformasi budaya Seni (baca: sastra) adalah bentuk yang memungkinkan sebuah improvisasi, pengalaman, dan pertukaran tetap bertahan dan berkelanjutan. Tindakan pemobilisasian dan pembatasan suatu kebudayaan seperti ini tidak terjadi secara acak dan arbitrer tetapi lebih sebagai tindakan pertukaran yang akhirnya menjadi sebuah "jaringan negosiasi" yang kompleks dan utuh.
Seorang pengarang sangat mungkin melakukan tindakan evaluatif atau kritis atas objek budaya yang ditulisnya. Tindakan tersebut dapat berupa pemasukan ide-ide pembaharuan dalam budaya tersebut. Upaya seperti ini oleh Greenblatt dipandang sebagai mobilitas suatu kebudayaan. Karena pengarang terikat oleh norma kebudayaan tersebut, maka pastilah ia juga melakukan pembatasan atas upaya mobilitas tersebut. Keberhasilan seorang pengarang dalam menuangkan ide pembaharuan atas kebudayaan dalam karyanya amat bergantung pada keberhasilan negosiasi tersebut.
Kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel Para Priyayi masih tetap menunjukkan bahwa kehidupan rohani tetap sebagai sesuatu yang penting. Permasalahan wayang sebagai kehidupan rohani masyarakat Jawa tidak ditemukan adanya perubahan. Wayang tetap dianggap sebagai cerita yang mengiaskan perilaku dan watak manusia, cermin identitas manusia Jawa, simbol yang menerangkan keberadaan manusia, ajaran batin dan ajaran lahir, sarana berintrospeksi, melakukan Iangkah evaluatif atas kejadian yang dialami, dan sebagai pendewasaan berpikir manusia. Pujangga keraton dan karyanya yang banyak dijadikan panutan dan banyak dipelajari oleh masyarakat Jawa adalah serat Wulangreh dari Pakubuwana IV serta serat Wedhatama dan Tripama karya Mangku Negara IV.
Hal lain yang juga ditunjukkan oleh unsur kebudayaan Jawa selain wayang dan ajaran pujangga keraton ialah pepatah. Dalam persoalan religi, perubahan yang ditunjukkan adalah adanya gesekan yang kuat antara agama islam dan kristen yang ditunjukkan dengan keinginan salah satu tokoh untuk menikahi tokoh lain yang berbeda agama. Sedangkan laku rohani masyarakat Jawa, seperti upacara selamatan maupun bertapa tetap disebutkan sebagai aktivitas masyarakat Jawa yang merangkum hampir seluruh sendi kehidupan. Mobilitas dan pembatasan kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel ditunjukkan pada unsur fisik; struktur sosial terutama pergaulan dalam keluarga priyayi, pergaulan dengan masyarakat biasa, dan kedudukan wanita; dan pengertian priyayi. Sedangkan keberadaan dua strata sosial, yaitu priyayi dan masyarakat biasa, tidak berubah.
Mobilitas yang ditunjukkan dalam hal ini adalah adanya perkembangan pemikiran dalam persoalan pergaulan masyarakat priyayi, hubungan priyayi dengan masyarakat biasa, dan kedudukan wanita. Dalam pergaulan masyarakat priyayi ditunjukkan adanya pemikiran baru tentang pemilihan pasangan hidup secara pribadi yang dipertentangkan dengan budaya perjodohan serta suasana dialogis dalam keluarga priyayi. Hubungan dengan masyarakat biasa digambarkan dengan diperbolehkannya anak priyayi bergaul dengan anak masyarakat biasa. la diperbolehkan bermain bebas walaupun masih berada di dalam lingkungan rumah sendiri. Sedangkan persoalan kedudukan wanita ditunjukkan dengan keinginan kesederajatan antara suami dan istri dalam keluarga priyayi.
Kebaruan pemikiran yang ditawarkan dalam novel Para Priyayi lebih dipumpunkan pada pergeseran pemaknaan priyayi. Priyayi dalam novel Para Priyayi lebih ditekankan pada optimalisasi peran priyayi bagi masyarakat terutama wong cilik dan peran priyayi bagi kesejahteraan keluarga dan kehidupannya.
Apabila mobilitas dan pembatasan alas kebudayaan tersebut dipandang sebagai sebuah sistem negosiasi maka dapat disebutkan bahwa ada hal panting dan utama yang berhasil dinegosiasikan pada kebudayaan Jawa dalam novel Para Priyayi. Keberhasilan tersebut tampak pada upaya pendefinisian kembali kata priyayi serta relevansi kata tersebut dalam perkembangan selanjutnya. Gila semua ini dikaitkan dengan kedudukan Umar Kayam sebagai seseorang yang ahli dalam negosiasi maka dapat dikatakan bahwa Umar Kayam adalah seorang negosiator yang berhasil dalam menawarkan konsep priyayi pada kebudayaan Jawa.
ABSTRACTLiterary work is the mirror of social living. It is the crystallization of both living values as well as experiences. Literature depicts life, and life is cultural reality. This tells us that work of literature leaves not from the cultural nugatory. Instead, it has become the cultural manifestation where cultural values clearly represented.Several novels has published during the 1990's with some distinctive features, i.e. the domination of certain 'established' writers; tendency towards clocumentative works; and illustration of social issues which illustrative of nation or nationality. The novels intensify regional or traditional tones left within these characteristics: mostly been or being written by cultural experts, or by writers who live or get accustomed to the given tradition of that given region, and works portray the life of the given community within that region. Darma in Huda says that three thematic preferences found in 90's works, i.e. modern literature is used to expose social realism, utter social criticism, disclose cultural values.Judged by the work and its author, Umar Kayam is one who keeps practicing the rules and profundities of Javanese culture within his works, Among them - Seribu Kunang-Kunang di Manhattan, Musim Gugur Kembafi di Connecticut, Sri Sumarah, Bawuk, and Para Priyayi-or others, to mention a few: Mangan Ora Mangan Kumpul, Sugih Tanpa Banda, and Madhep Ngalor Sugih Madhep Ngidul Sugih - may show how obediently he adheres himself to reveal Javanese traditional customs.Based on this, and by keeping in mind that it is only Para Priyayi that becomes his latest work-the first novel published in 1992 by Pustaka Utama Graffiti-the novel is used as the thesis' object. Thus, the research topic is Javanese culture in which its spiritual living and social structure brought into the main focus. Spiritual living is an idea, the most basic mental attitude possessed by anyone or society along with the belief of 'supra-natural force' above all human. As social structure is then, social order within Javanese society, specifically between nobles and commoners, together with the configuring foundation that governs individual relationship within society which becomes the basic principles for individual manner.The idea of connecting Javanese culture and Kayam's work based on his very saying as interviewed with Matra magazine, in which says he, "I want to write a roman, and at the same time, expand my thinking on our culture. By these coming years, I want to deal with these matters. Academically thinking for instance, I look forward to fore-checking any possibilities sociologists can carry through in comprehending our cultural tendency. It is assumed then, judging from what Kayam has said, that the novel 'Para Priyayi is the author's achievement in expanding his own thinking on Javanese culture. Hence, such expansion may also be assumed later as able to exhibit any transformation the author's been being done in proposing different concerns towards Javanese culture.Based on that research's background as well as considering that the depiction of Javanese culture in Para Priyayi novel is a direct representation of Javanese culture within society, problems of the research can be proposed as follows: How Javanese culture represented within Para Priyayi novel? And how mobility and constraint formed within that given novel?Theory used is Stephen Greenblatt' new historicism, which sees culture not as material products of given society, but as a system which, for once, mobilizing and constraining behavior as well as creative idea of its member. By this, Greenblatt shifts the meaning of culture once from `material product' towards 'ideological system' as it means more as both internalization and manifestation of praxis of values or norms in the society. Art is an important agent in cultural transformation. As culture functions as a structure that governs, warrants, and limits in the same time, so art (literary work) becomes the only form of manifestation that makes possible any kind of improvisation, experience, and exchange-as basic requirements for cultural norms or values of certain society to continue existing and perpetuating, Such act of mobilizing and constraining happens not randomly or arbitrarily, in fact, more as exchanging act that leads to a complex whole of 'network of negotiation'. This means that a writer is highly possible to commit any evaluative or critical acts towards cultural object which he's written. Those acts may then be a insertion of reformative ideas within the given culture. Greenblatt sees such labors as cultural mobilization. Yet, as writers are bound up with that very norms of that given culture, he must have been doing constraints towards mobilization he performs. This all, in turn, creates 'negotiation network'. Writers are experts in mastering negotiation of cultural norms as well as manipulating language as culture's biggest creative and collective product. This shows that the success of a writer in putting reformative ideas within the culture in his work depends entirely on the success of that negotiation. This makes works of writers become structural model of accumulation; transformation; representation, and communication praxis of societal life.Such theory is combined with Eagleton's sociologic methods, i.e, realist approach which considers literature is highly conditioned by social reality, And Grebstein's that states literature as unique force of material factor that becomes collective cultural tendencies. Literary forms and contents then, evince sociological development as well as changing in cultural attitudes or patterns. The revealing of Javanese culture in the novel uses sociological method by incorporating Wellek's sociology of literary work, Swingewood's accenting documentative aspect of literature, and Damono's proposing text as material study.Javanese culture in Para Priyayi novel still argues the importance of spiritual living. Wayang (puppet show) as reflection of Javanese spiritual living shifts not from its heretofore context. It still fables human attitudes and behaviors, mirrors Javanese identities, symbolizes human existence, teaches spiritual and physical dogmas, and used as introspective device in performing evaluative steps towards what has been by gone and maturing human way of thinking as well. Pakubuwana IV's Wulangreh verses (serat) and Mangku Negara IV's Wedhatarna and Tripama verses are both Keraton's (Javanese (=palace) poets and verses whose teachings used as exemplary model and contemplated by many Javanese people. Other element has also been exhibited in Javanese culture, besides wayang and keraton poets teachings, is wise-word. In religious plane, the changing shown is intense friction between Islam and Christianity in which depicted by one of the characters' will to marry another comes from different religion. While Javanese spiritual act, such as selamatan (thanksgiving) ceremony or hermitage (tapa) conduct still being defined as activities that sum up almost whole of Javanese complex living structures.Mobility and constraint of Javanese culture in the novel are shown in the element of social structure especially within the relationship between the two strata, i.e. interconnection of nobility and common people and among the nobility themselves. Whilst, the existence of the two strata, nobility and common, is maintained. In detail, the mobility and constraint in the novel shown as follows:In social structure, nobility and commoners (wont a/1 k) continue being the characteristic of Javanese social structure. The mobility shown is the expanding thinking on the relationship between the two. Nobility's kindred allowed to hang around with commoners'. He can play freely though still within his own foreground. Other fashionable thinking mobilizes changing is a trial to modify system of match-making. Although changing in relationship between Javanese social structure does exist and get manifested as ideas towards alternative and fashionable thinking, in fact, restriction also shown as constraint. Nobility's kindred may not play outside houses. Home foreground, by the very fact, is the outermost he can be. In contrast, peasant's kindred can play wherever with friends outside houses. Besides, commoners are still subject to nobility's rules as calling names and using language strata (krama). Hanging with peasant's or other subclasses still considered precarious towards evil or ruthless attitude. Not before finally though, that it no more becomes perilous. Traditional culture in match-making opposed with fashionable one. It seems that the new idea seeks another alternative to open. Here, the tradition of match-making gets mobilized. Regretfully, the idea is being constrained as well. At last, old tradition wins and revives, i.e. match-making is determined though unsatisfactorily.Newness on idea proposed in Para Priyayi novel concentrates more on shifting the meaning of nobility. Nobility within Para Priyayi novel highlights the roles of nobility towards commoners and towards his own life and family welfare.If cultural mobility and constraint seen as a negotiating system, so remark can be made that there is important matter successfully negotiated with Javanese culture in Para Priyayi novel. This is apparent in redefining the word `nobility' along with its relevance towards any further development. Reconnect this with Umar Kayam's position as expert in cultural negotiation, be that as it may that Kayam is a successful negotiator in proposing new concept of nobility within the Javanese social structure."
Depok: Fakultas Ilmu Pengetahuan dan Budaya Universitas Indonesia, 2000
