Lawang Wektu dan Geografi Kosmologis Jawa dalam Novel Prau Layar ing Kali Progo karya Budi Sardjono
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20961/filitra.v2i1.3814Keywords:
kosmologi Jawa; ruang liminal; Sungai Progo; hantu; honorific prefix; geografi sakralAbstract
This study examines Budi Sardjono’s novel Prau Layar ing Kali Progo as a representation of Javanese cosmological geography that brings together physical and supernatural spaces within a single network of cultural experience. The novel recounts a father’s journey to find his missing son along the banks of the Progo River through a spiritual path that takes him from the Southern Coast to sea caves and the slopes of Mount Merapi. This study employs an interpretive qualitative approach using close reading and cultural hermeneutics. The analysis focuses on the construction of liminal space, the relationship between modern rationality and local cosmology, and the role of supernatural beings as connectors between cosmological realms. The results indicate that the Progo River in the novel functions not merely as a geographical setting but as a transitional corridor between the human world and the supernatural realm. The conflict between the deployment of a search-and-rescue (SAR) team and village rituals reveals an epistemological negotiation between modern knowledge systems and local Javanese knowledge systems. The Southern Coast and Mount Merapi are constructed as sacred nodes interconnected through supernatural pathways. Furthermore, the use of the honorific prefix “Nyai” for supernatural characters indicates that the supernatural world is not conceived as a chaotic, orderless space, but rather as a realm characterized by gender, hierarchy, authority, and communicative ethics. Thus, this article demonstrates that contemporary Javanese literature continues to maintain a cosmological prespective on nature and social space amid the dominace of modern rationality.
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