Kedudukan Novel Filipina dan Melayu dalam Pengajian Sejarah Kesusasteraan: Beberapa Catatan Kesusasteraan

Abstract

Literary historical studies come down to us as a discourse powerful enough to deny us for our own literary achievement. Colonial scholarship's observations on what it regarded as the unoriginal and unartistic literary production in the colonies continued to hound today's local scholars who try to construct a native and indigenous literary history. Locating the novel, in particular, has been problematic for local literary historians. The novel is a Western literary form that appeared in the Philippines and Malaysia under deviant conditions, forcing a distinction between origin and originality. The first Filipino novel, published in Madrid in 1885, was written in Spanish although it was about the lives of Filipinos in the 19th century Manila. The first Malay novel, publisehd in 1925-1926, was written in Malay but the story's setting and characters were Egyptian. With such works as the first novels in their literary history, local scholars have tried to locate them on alternative grounds. One of the ways by which literary historians in the Philippines and Malaysia have validated the novel as part of their own literary culture has been to claim it as a literary form whose indigenous growth is located in its national character. With a diacritical mark placed on Filipino and Malay the contradiction between origin and originality in the "First Novel" as a category has been made reconciliable. It has also become strategic in laying claim to Philippine and Malaysia literary achievement, and thus allowing local scholars to control the powerful discourse of literary history.

ABSTRAK

Pensejarahan kesusasteraan sampai kepada kita sebagai suatu wacana yang kuat dan keras. Melalui wacana ini sarjana penjajah menafikan keaslian dan kecemerlangan kesusasteraan Filipina dan Malaysia. Pendapat sarjana using itu masih mempunyai pengaruh ke atas sarjana tempatan yang cuba mewajarkan pensejarahan kesusasteraan dalam konteks budayanya sendiri. Salah satu masalah kepada sarjana tempatan ialah kedudukan novel dalam perkembangan sastera tempatan. Novel di Filipina dan Malaysia muncul dalam keadaan yang sangat aneh sehingga mendorong timbulnya perbezaan antara asal (origin) dengan keaslian (originality). Novel pertama di Filipina diterbitkan pada 1885 di Madrid dan ditulis dalam bahasa Sepanyol walaupun ceritanya berligar sekitar cara hidup orang Filipina di Manila. Novel terawal di Malaysia diterbitkan di Semenanjung Tanah Melayu pada 1925 dan ditulis dalam bahasa Melayu tetapi watak dan latar belakangnya ialah Mesir. Dengan demikian, sarjana Filipina dan Malaysia mencari cara alternatif untuk memperakukan dan mewajarkan kehadiran novel dalam konteks tempatan. Salah satu caranya adalah memperakui novel pertama sebagai bentuk yang perkembangan tempatannya terletak pada sifat kebangsaannya. Usaha meletakkan soal asal/asli novel Filipina dan Melayu dalam konteks itu merupakan strategi bagi sarjana tempatan untuk menguasai wacana pensejarahan kesusasteraan agar memihak kepada mereka dan juga untuk memperakui pencapaian pribumi dalam kesusasteraan di Filipina dan Malaysia.