Ramayana myth retold in Hubbu and Kitab omong Kosong

Abstract

The study focused on the myth of Ramayana in Kitab Omong Kosong and Hubbu. It adopted a qualitative approach and descriptive-interpretative data analysis technique by referring to the Analysis of Cultural Studies through multi-disciplinary theories of poststructuralism concerning the nature of difference and multicultural as well as the rejection to metanarrative. The poststructuralism theory which is introduced in this study is the deconstruction theory that has three characteristics. Firstly, deconstruction will offer a strategy to identify contradictions in the political thoughts or ideological tendencies that consciously and unconsciously arise in the texts. Secondly, through deconstruction, the literary texts and their contexts and traditions can be treated as a means to open up new possibilities of assumptions and changes that for long have been deemed impossible. Thirdly, deconstruction facilitates the decomposition of strict ideologies in language and mind. The findings revealed that Kitab Omong Kosong adopted Ramayana’s last episode, Uttara Kanda in dismantling the prevailing myths. The dismantlement occurred to the myths of satriya (knights), war and the king’s power, as well as the deconstruction of binary opposition in the narrative. Meanwhile, Hubbu adopted Ramayana’s first episode, Bala Kanda. It showed the cultural dialects between Javanese culture and pesantren (Islamic school) life in the form of syncretism of wayang (puppet) myth and pesantren (Islamic school) culture. In addition to the cultural syncretism, the novel also offered dialogical texts by syncretizing other narrative elements, such as oral literary genre, wayang genre, and babad genre in the forms of modern narrative.