‘Wacana’ dan ‘Cerita’ dalam Novel Pujangga Melayu oleh Mohd. Affandi Hassan

The function of literary works, specifically that of fictional narratives, has been a source of debatein Western and Eastern civilisations throughout the ages. In ancient Greece for example, this issuesparked a conflict between the philosophical schools of Plato and Aristotle, who both had contrastingviews on the role and contribution of literary works to the formation of a culturally civilised society.The Malay literary tradition is no exception; Braginsky (1993) states that since the 16th and 17thcenturies, Malays have been aware of the functional value of literature, which among other functionsserves to teach, and to enlighten mankind with knowledge. It is important to note that the sameissue is still a matter of debate in contemporary Malay literature. Chief amongst those who regularlyforeground the issue is Mohd. Affandi Hassan (herafter Hassan), a renowned Malaysian literary criticand creative writer. As a literary critic, Hassan generated the notion of ‘Persuratan Baru’, a notion that amongst other principles urges authors of Malay literary works to prioritise the transmittance ofknowledge. Naturally, this invites scrutiny, especially given the context of Hassan being a creative writerhimself; with such a standing (as a literary critic and creative writer) the question that immediatelysprings to mind is whether Hassan heeds his own call. In this light, this article will analyse one ofHassan’s works based on his own analytical framework – Persuratan Baru – in an effort to determinewhether the construction of said work truly takes into account his own identification of the functionof literary works, that is as a medium of knowledge. Therefore, Hassan’s novel Pujangga Melayu (1997)(henceforth Pujangga…) will be utilised as a study material. By using PB which distinguishes clearlybetween ‘knowledge’ (ilmu) and ‘narrative’ (cerita) as an analytical framework, my findings answer thequestion brought up earlier that Hassan has indeed practiced what he has preached, by presentingPujangga… as a concrete manifestation of his literary notion - ‘Persuratan Baru’.