Tradition in the Novels by Anwar Ridhwan and Putu Wijaya

This article discusses the comparative study on novels written by Malaysian and Indonesian novelists, Anwar Ridhwan and Putu Wijaya. It discusses the tendency of the novelists to focus on ‘tradition’ in their novels. The ‘tradition’ in particular means that they refer to traditional texts as their major material in structuring the present novels. Spescifically, Hari-hari Terakhir Seorang Seniman (Anwar Ridhwan) refers to the text of a story teller (lipur lara) titled ‘Si Gembang’ or ‘Teluk Bidung Kota Lama’, while Perang (Putu Wijaya) make the most of the classical Mahabharata. In addition it has been identified that the ‘tradition’ embedded in the works by the novelists has also taken into considerations the concept of tradition that is also the authors’ ideology. For instance, Anwar Ridhwan with his concept of Malay ‘kampung halaman’ and Putu Wijaya with his ‘desa-kala-patra’ of the Balinese tradition. The ‘tradition’ is also based on their experimental work that deviate from the convention; a tendency that well described both the authors. The comparative study carried out adopt the intertextuality and dialogism coined by Mikhail Bakhtin and Julia Kristeva; a framework designed for an effective creation theory for studying the authorship process. The findings show the authors’ conformity to the cultural roots of their traditions, the appreciation displayed, bringing new meanings to the novels studied (hypertext) compared to the earlier text (hypotext).