HYDROPOETICS DALAM NOVEL PERAHU KERTAS KARYA DEE LESTARI

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the representation of water in Dee Lestari’s novel Perahu Kertas by employing a hydropoetics perspective. In this research, water is not merely understood as a background or supporting element of the narrative, but as an active, dynamic, and poetic entity that contributes significantly to the construction of meaning. Water plays an essential role in shaping the characters’ embodied experiences, social relationships, and ecological awareness throughout the story. This study applies a qualitative descriptive method using a close reading and note-taking technique of the novel as the primary data source. The collected data are then classified and analyzed based on five key concepts of hydropoetics, namely embodiment, relationality, multiscalarity, agency of water, and poiesis. The findings indicate that water is consistently present in the characters’ bodily experiences and emotional states, reflecting the concept of embodiment. Furthermore, water functions as a connective medium that links the characters to one another and to their surrounding environment, which illustrates relationality. Water also operates across multiple scales, ranging from individual and personal experiences to broader ecological concerns, demonstrating multiscalarity. In addition, water acts as a narrative and ecological agent that influences the plot development as well as the characters’ decisions, embodying the agency of water. Through recurring symbols such as paper boats, rivers, rain, and the sea, water becomes a medium for the creation of meaning, hope, prayer, and imagination, representing poiesis. Therefore, this study concludes that Perahu Kertas presents water as a complex and layered center of meaning, while also opening possibilities for deeper ecological readings of Indonesian popular literature.

Keywords: hydropoetics, water representation, river