Jurnal POETIKA
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Diasporic Alienation and Empathy in Arab-American Poetry: A Postcolonial Comparative Study of Khalil Gibran and Suheir Hammad
Full text linkThis research explores themes of diasporic alienation and empathy in Khalil Gibran and Suheir Hammad’s poetry from a postcolonial perspective. Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese-American poet, and Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian-American poet, articulate their complex diasporic experiences from distinct historical moments. Both emphasize a persistent longing to reconnect with their homelands, revealing how alienation and empathy shape identity in diaspora. While numerous studies have analyzed Arab-American literary expressions of identity and displacement, there remains a notable scholarly gap concerning how hybridity and subalternity shed light on the poetry of these two prominent poets. Employing postcolonial theories of hybridity and subalternity, this research uses a descriptive qualitative method, analyzing primary data from Gibran’s poem “Dead Are My People” and Hammad’s poems “Break (Rebirth)”, “Break (Sister)”, and “Break (Embargo)”. Secondary sources include literature addressing Arab-American diasporic experiences, the Israel-Gaza conflict, and the Lebanese famine events. Through textual and contextual analyses, the findings reveal Gibran’s depiction of geographical and cultural alienation, emotional alienation, and alienation from collective solidarity, whereas Hammad primarily explores identity alienation. Regarding empathy, Gibran addresses the historical trauma of the Lebanese famine under Ottoman rule, while Hammad reflects on the contemporary violence and suffering in Palestine. This study contributes to Arab-American literary scholarship by showing how diasporic alienation and empathy illuminate ongoing colonial impacts and identity negotiation across generations.
Reinterpreting Narcissism: Sherlock Holmes in Doyle’s “The Final Problem” and BBC’s “The Reichenbach Fall”
Full text linkSherlock Holmes, a famous figure in popular culture, has been continually reinterpreted across different mediums and eras. This study analyzes narcissism in Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Final Problem” (1893) and its modern adaptation, the BBC series Sherlock, particularly the episode “The Reichenbach Fall” (2012). Using Sigmund Freud’s theory of narcissism, the study examines three core traits of Sherlock’s character: megalomania, lack of empathy, and the need for admiration. Freud’s concepts of primary and secondary narcissism serve as the theoretical framework. The study uses a qualitative approach using an intertextual method to compare the narrative structures, character portrayals, and thematic elements of the two works. The findings reveal that Doyle’s portrayal of Sherlock aligns with Victorian ideals of heroism and intellectual superiority, framing narcissism as a functional trait that aids in his pursuit of justice. In contrast, “The Reichenbach Fall” explores Sherlock’s vulnerabilities, focusing on the emotional consequences of his actions and the collapse of his carefully constructed public image. These differences highlight the evolution of Sherlock’s narcissism from a utilitarian trait in Doyle’s work to a multidimensional characteristic reflecting contemporary anxieties about reputation and identity. The study concludes that the BBC adaptation enriches Doyle’s original portrayal by humanizing Sherlock. This study contributes to both literary and psychoanalytic studies by bridging classic and contemporary perspectives on how narcissism shapes Sherlock Holmes as a literary and cultural icon
Voices of Resistance from Africa: Analysis of “Huwa Summu” and “Sa’anhadlu”
Full text linkAfrican literature reflects the continent’s rich tapestry of ethnic groups, languages, and cultures while offering complex perspectives on social realities including war, oppression, and discrimination. Literary sociology provides a valuable framework for comparative studies, revealing how different works represent these pressing social issues. This study examines how the poems “Huwa Summu” by Afnan Samir and the poem “Sa’anhadlu” by Noémia de Sousa represent both objective and subjective forms of social reality. The article explores and compares the social realities depicted in these two African poets’ works. Using a qualitative approach, the study draws on primary data from internet sources and secondary data from relevant journals and books. Data collection involved library research employing three primary techniques: reading, translation, and note-taking. The findings reveal that Afnan Samir’s “Huwa Summu” portrays objective social realities of oppression and religious themes while expressing subjective realities of sadness, confusion, lamentation, weakness, and disappointment. Noémia de Sousa’s “Sa’anhadlu” presents a contrasting, more optimistic perspective that emphasizes resistance, courage, and self-confidence despite addressing colonial oppression. This study contributes to scholarship through its comparative analysis of two Arabic-language African poems from different geographical, historical, and gender perspectives—an approach rarely explored in Indonesian literary studies. Future research should adopt an interdisciplinary approach, including deeper exploration of local political, cultural, and historical contexts
The Instability of Meaning: Deconstructing Visual Beauty in Seno Gumira’s “Gubrak!”
No full textThis study examines the representation of female beauty in Seno Gumira Ajidarma’s short story Gubrak! through Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction approach. The short story tells the story of a woman with extraordinary beauty who causes mass panic, social chaos, and the destruction of the city. The main character experiences psychological burdens and alienation due to excessive social judgment of her physical appearance. The main issue examined is how the short story deconstructs conventional standards of beauty that have been legitimized by patriarchal views and visual culture. Using Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction, this study examines how the text shakes the stable meaning of “beautiful” attached to women’s bodies based on the binary oppositions. The method used is qualitative descriptive analysis with deconstructive reading techniques. The analysis was conducted by identifying linguistic, narrative, and symbolic signs that indicate the instability of the meaning of “beautiful.” The results of the analysis show that beauty in the short story Gubrak! is not presented as a symbol of glory or happiness, but rather as a source of suffering and destruction. The meaning of “beautiful” in this text is not fixed and essential, but rather full of differences and contradictions. Excessive beauty causes alienation, social burdens, and collective chaos, thereby challenging patriarchal assumptions that worship physical beauty as a measure of a woman’s value. Thus, Gubrak! represents a critique of visual cultural constructs that reduce women to objects of gaze and affirms the function of literature as a space of resistance against the domination of singular meanings
Reading Batavia from the Water: Canals, Ports, and Hydrocolonialism in Iksaka Banu’s Novel Rasina
Full text linkEighteenth-century Batavia was often imagined as the Venice of the East, a city of canals that captivated the colonial rulers. However, behind this image, water became an arena where colonialism operated in the most subtle yet brutal ways. This study offers a hydro-colonial reading using Rasina as a starting point. A qualitative approach was adopted in this study, incorporating historical and textual analyses, with a Batavia map (1740–1760) serving as a visual reference for interpreting spatial representations. The focus of this study is not on land or fortresses, but on canals, docks, and coastlines as the arteries of the city that bind commodities, bodies, and archives into a single colonial machine. Through this lens, opium and slaves appear as two extreme faces of maritime logic. Opium became a commodity whose status could be negotiated, legal or contraband, simply by manipulating port documents. On the other hand, slaves were treated as voiceless bodies, reduced to lists of ownership and administrative stamps without room for negotiation. Rasina brings this paradox to life, showing how canals and ports became arenas of struggle between the official and shadow economies. The issue of Chinese identity further sharpened the hydro-colonial landscape of Batavia. The figures of Kapitan Cina, Kong Koan, and the Boedelkamer institution illustrate the ambiguous position of the Chinese community: the backbone of the urban economy and at the same time the object of strict control by the colonial bureaucracy. Cartographic maps of Batavia (1740-1760) reveal further that canals were not merely waterways, but lines of power that united ports, government centers, ethnic areas, and Ommelanden within a single water regime. This study concludes that Batavia was not a beautiful Venice of the East, but rather a hydro-colonial laboratory: a space where water, archives, and violence converged, forming a complex landscape of power while leaving behind a long trail of cultural scars
Beauty As World Transposition: Fairy Tale Adaptation in Imperfect (2019) from Memoir to Film
Full text linkFairy tales shape most girls’ formative years, introducing them to fairies who guide them toward meeting Prince Charming on a white horse, marrying, and living happily ever after. Imperfect, a memoir of self-acceptance written by Meira Anastasia and adapted into a film of the same title, represents a related construction of beauty that parallels Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The concept of beauty serves as the central element in the fairy tale, revealing similar patterns in both the memoir and its film adaptation. Beauty constructions established in Beauty and the Beast over the past four centuries remain significant for contemporary women. This article examines two key questions: How does beauty adaptation function as world transposition from the fairy tale to reconstruct women’s worlds in Imperfect? What ideological and cultural implications emerge from this adaptation? We apply Linda Hutcheon’s theory of adaptation to address these questions through a multi-perspectival approach. Our findings reveal that the interpellation of beauty construction appears within the intimate emotional narrative mode embedded in the story’s genre. The beauty transposition from the fairy tale reconstructs women’s worlds, moving from Renaissance humanism to postmodernist subjectivism. This study contributes uniquely to adaptation studies by analyzing memoir as source text rather than traditional literary works, demonstrating how Indonesian cultural contexts indigenize European fairy tale beauty standards, and revealing how different media forms create distinct mechanisms of resistance to patriarchal beauty discourse
The Position and Aesthetic Form of Indonesian Detective Fiction after the 1980s within the Landscape of Indonesian Literature
Full text linkAfter its golden age in the 1980s, Indonesian detective fiction experienced a period of decline during the 1990s. In the following decades, many young writers emerged with their own detective works. However, despite its long history, post-1980 Indonesian detective fiction has continued to receive limited scholarly attention. Its position within academic literary studies remains less prominent compared to other genres that are more frequently discussed in Indonesian literary discourse. This research addresses the problem of how Indonesian detective fiction after the 1980s is positioned within the landscape of Indonesian literature, how the aesthetic forms and ideologies of detective works from each decade are manifested, and how post-1980 Indonesian detective fiction not only transforms in terms of form and position but also becomes a negotiation arena between social, political, and cultural discourses. The study employs a sociological approach to literature, by using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the literary field and Terry Eagleton’s aesthetics of ideology, this study offers a novel perspective on how Indonesian detective fiction after the 1980s negotiates market pressures, symbolic capital, and cultural discourse. The findings reveal that, after the 1980s, Indonesian detective fiction shifted from a semi-heteronomous to a semi-autonomous position within the literary field, as seen in the works of S. Mara Gd. (1990), E.S. Ito (2005), and Sabda Armandio (2014). Aesthetically and ideologically, the genre transformed from linear, moralistic narratives to experimental, metafictional, and reflective forms that critique power, history, and social values. Consequently, post-1980s Indonesian detective fiction functions as a negotiation arena where social, political, and cultural elements interact, turning popular entertainment into a medium of social critique.
Reflecting Inclusivity: Disability Narratives in Indonesian Children’s Literature
Full text linkDisability representation often perpetuates harmful stigmatization and stereotyping. This study examines disability narratives in the Indonesian children’s book Kumpulan Cerita Anak Istimewa: Aku Memang Beda (Collection of Special Children’s Stories: I Am Different) by Erna Fitrini and Ratih Soe. Given the complexity and diversity of disabled persons’ experiences, this study cannot provide a comprehensive account of all representational forms. This research employs a mixed descriptive-qualitative and quantitative methodology using reading and note-taking techniques. The quantitative approach identified various disability narrative forms within the children’s book, while grouping and analysis yielded 63 data points. These data were analyzed through Mitchell and Snyder’s narrative prosthesis theory. While narrative prosthesis theory has primarily been applied within Western adult literary studies, extending this theoretical framework to Indonesian children’s literature represents a significant scholarly innovation, offering critical insights into disability’s narrative construction and representation within localized cultural and literary contexts. Analysis reveals that disability frequently serves as a characterization tool, symbol, object of perspective, and plot device. The findings show that existing narratives emphasize physical and mental differences, potentially limiting understanding of people with disabilities as complete individuals. Additionally, character complexity is often overlooked when disability functions as a plot mechanism. This study advocates for more inclusive approaches to disability representation in children’s literature to prevent reinforcing stereotypes and stigma against people with disabilities.
The Subversion of Ageism and Sisterhood in Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’S Moving Castle
Full text linkThe aim of this study is to examine the subversion of ageism and female identity in Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle through the lens of deconstruction and postmodern feminism. This novel challenges conventions in Young Adult Literature (YAL), where protagonists are typically young. In contrast, the novel’s main character Sophie Hatter is cursed by a witch into an elderly woman, only to discover agency, confidence, and self-worth through this transformation. Data related to the contestation of ageist and patriarchal assumptions are analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings of this study suggest that the narrative demonstrates fluidity of identity, not strictly defined by age transformation and biological ties of sisterhood. Elements of fantasy employed in this novel function as more than a genre, allowing for fluid identity, which facilitates emotional support and mutual empowerment, rather than female rivalry. Through Sophie’s metamorphosis and the symbolism of the ever-moving castle, the fantasy setting operates as a critical space that redefines freedom, agency, and female solidarity beyond patriarchal and ageist constraints. Resisting age, gender, and identity stereotypes, this novel successfully expands the issues of representation in YAL. It establishes the possibility that fantasy, as a genre, is a powerful medium for critique and redefinition of age, identity, and sisterhood
Traumatic Memory and Family Dynamics of Political Prisoners in Leila S. Chudori’s Namaku Alam
Full text linkThe violent aftermath of Indonesia’s 1965 political upheaval created profound, lasting trauma for politicalprisoners (tahanan politik, or tapol) and their families. This trauma continues to live within family memories,trapped in narratives of violence, oppression, and alienation. Leila S. Chudori’s novel, Namaku Alam, providesa compelling literary examination of this legacy, portraying how trauma transcends temporal boundaries andtransmits actively across generations. Through textual analysis grounded in trauma theory (Cathy Caruth)and concepts of intergenerational memory (Marianne Hirsch, Maurice Halbwachs), this article examinesthe psychosocial processes represented in the novel. The analysis reveals a three-stage progression: 1)family dynamics function as an arena for trauma transmission through silence, fragmented narratives,and somatic memory; 2) this transmission creates a distinctive inherited identity in the second generation,characterized by social stigma and psychological fragmentation; and 3) the legacy culminates in fracturedintergenerational relationships, where systemic violence manifests as domestic conflict and communicationbreakdown. This study reveals how Namaku Alam operates as a vital counter-narrative to official histories,serving as a bridge that illuminates the intimate, long-term consequences of state violence. By dissecting thefamilial mechanisms of trauma, the novel critiques the enduring impact of political repression on memory,identity, and relational life