HYDROPOETICS DALAM NOVEL PERAHU KERTAS

KARYA DEE LESTARI

HYDROPOETICS IN THE NOVEL PERAHU KERTAS BY DEE LESTARI

Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis representasi air dalam novel

Perahu Kertas karya Dee Lestari dengan menggunakan perspektif

hydropoetics. Air dipahami bukan sekadar latar, tetapi sebagai

entitas aktif dan puitis yang membentuk perjalanan tokoh, relasi

sosial, serta dimensi ekologis dalam cerita. Penelitian ini

menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif dengan teknik baca-

catat terhadap teks novel, kemudian mengkategorikan data sesuai

lima konsep utama hydropoetics, yaitu embodiment, relationality,

multiscalarity, agency of water, dan poiesis. Hasil analisis

menunjukkan bahwa air senantiasa hadir dalam pengalaman

tubuh tokoh (embodiment), menjadi penghubung antara tokoh

dengan orang lain dan lingkungan sekitarnya (relationality),

beroperasi pada berbagai tingkat mulai dari pengalaman personal

hingga persoalan ekologi yang lebih luas (multiscalarity), berperan

menggerakkan alur dan keputusan tokoh sebagai agen naratif dan

ekologis (agency of water), serta menjadi medium penciptaan

makna, doa, harapan, dan imajinasi melalui simbol-simbol seperti

perahu kertas, sungai, hujan, dan laut (poiesis). Dengan demikian,

penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa Perahu Kertas menghadirkan

air sebagai pusat pembangun makna yang kompleks dan berlapis,

sekaligus membuka peluang pembacaan ekologis yang lebih

mendalam terhadap sastra populer Indonesia.

Kata kunci: hydropoetics, representasi air, sungai

This study aims to analyze the representation of water in the novel Perahu

Kertas by Dee Lestari using a hydropoetics perspective. Water is

understood not just as a setting, but as an active and poetic entity that

shapes the characters' journeys, social relationships, and ecological

dimensions in the story. This study uses a qualitative descriptive method

with a read-note technique on novel texts, then categorizes data according

to five main concepts of hydropoetics, namely embodiment, relationality,

multiscalarity, agency of water, and poiesis. The results of the analysis

show that water is always present in the character's body experience

(embodiment), becomes a link between the character and others and the

surrounding environment (relationality), operates at various levels

ranging from personal experience to broader ecological issues

(multiscalarity), plays a role in moving the flow and decisions of the

character as a narrative and ecological agent (agency of water), as well as

being a medium for creating meaning, prayer, hope, and imagination

through symbols such as paper boats, rivers, rain, and the sea (poiesis).

Thus, this study concludes that Paper Boats present water as a center for

building complex and layered meanings, as well as opening up

opportunities for more in-depth ecological reading of Indonesian popular

literature.

Keywords: hydropoetics, water representation, river