Literature as counter discourse in the construction of history in Laila S. Chudori’s novels

Abstract

This study examines how linguistic and narrative choices in three novels by Laila S. Chudori, Pulang, Laut Bercerita, and Namaku Alam, ideologically construct history, using Teun A. Van Dijk's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach. Rather than treating the three novels as isolated case studies, this study reads them as a continuous, cross-generational discourse on Indonesia's unresolved historical trauma. The analysis moves beyond identifying which marginalized historical events are represented, such as state violence and forced disappearances, to examine the textual mechanisms, namely macrostructural topic selection, narrative schema, lexical choice, agentless syntax, and metaphor, through which these events are constructed ideologically at the levels of text structure, social cognition, and social context. The findings indicate that a fragmentary, multiperspectival narrative schema, combined with emotionally charged diction and agent-deleting passive constructions, works systematically to foreground victims' experiences while implicitly contesting the state's evasion of accountability. The author's social cognition, shaped by her position as a journalist and witness to Indonesian political history, is realized through an ideology of humanity and justice; at the level of social context, the novels function as a counter discourse to the state's official narrative. These findings suggest that literature not only represents history but also actively participates in shaping historical awareness and public discourse. The findings contribute to the field of literary criticism and CDA in Indonesia, as well as to an understanding of the ideological, rather than merely thematic, function of literature in the context of post-state violence.