WORK AND INFLUENCE OF AN AUTHOR: THE THOUGHTS AND CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVE STYLE OF ANWAR RIDHWAN

The relationship of text and author’s influence is expressed through panopticism (“all-seeing”); a concept that was developed initially by the philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century, and elaborated by French philosopher, Michel Foucault. Panopticon was proposed by Bentham as the apparatus of power and control over other minds. Foucault categorized panopticon into three basic elements of disciplinary power; hierarchical observation, normalizing judgment and examination or construed as objective placement, new understanding and indoctrination. This can be observed in Anwar Ridhwan’s Penyeberang Sempadan, which highlighted the author’s controlling influence in building objective of the writings, creating new understanding, and indoctrination of truth as believed by the author. Penyeberang Sempadan positioned Islam as the truth over all man-made ideologies and totally rejected both socialist-communism and democratic-capitalism. In developing his unique systematic points, Anwar Ridhwan has indirectly expressed a concept of scepticismon the fluidity of philosophic truth as compared to the God’s guidance and revelation (din Illahi) of the Islamic absolutism of truth.