INTERTEXTUALITY IN SINGAPOREAN LITERATURE: AN ANALYSIS OF ISA KAMARI’S SATU BUMI

Abstract

The development of Singaporean literature witnesses a phenomenon of relationship between its texts and some other texts, which is referred to as intertextuality (text within a text or dialogue between texts). It is assumed that the effect of intertextuality gives a kind of specific authorship pattern to an author in developing creativity. On average, novels produced by Singaporean authors refer to four initial textual formats or hypotext: traditional text, the author’s initial text, another author’s text, and non-creative text. In this context, a famous Singaporean novelist and poet, Isa Kamari, is one of the authors who tend to produce intertextual literary texts. However, the topic of intertextuality is rarely investigated in Singaporean literature. Therefore, this analysis aims to investigate the process and connection between texts in Isa Kamari’s novel Satu Bumi (One Earth) published in 2009. The analysis utilizes the intertextual framework proposed by Julia Kristeva which represents the connection between hypotext (initial text) and hypertext (latest text) to explore the meaning, the proposed process, and the appropriateness of the author’s works. This study found that Isa Kamari’s Satu Bumi reveals themes and historical settings by referring to true stories that happened around the 1940s until the 1950s, namely the invasion and rule of Japan (1942), the story of Nadrah “the girl in the monastery” ( 1950), postal workers strike (1952), Hock Lee Bus Company riots (1955) and Malaya Independence Day 31 August 1957. The outcomes of this analysis suggest that intertextuality plays a key role in Isa Kamari’s authorship strategy. These outcomes can be especially useful in the process of Malay historical development and identity.