Social Changes in Economy and Politic During the National Movement Period in Indonesia (1900-1942) from the Historical Novels Perspective Ayi Budi Santosa and Wildan Insan Fauzi Department of History Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia {ayibud, wildaninsanfauzi}@upi.edu Keywords: Imagination, a historical fact, the Indonesian national movement. Abstract: Historical novels help fill some shortages in exploring social facts or mental facts which are not recorded in the document sources. The macro formulation of this study is “How was the narration of national movements in Indonesia (1900-1942) in the field of economic and politic from historical novels perspective?” The researches chose historical method as the research methodology and literature study as the research technique. The finding of the study showed that: First, The described economic setting was about: industrialization, regents’ tyrany, anxiety of China’s arrival, jealousy of indigenous economy, as well as capitalism octopus in the Indies after the enactment of the Agrarian Law 1870. Second, Political setting described in historical novels themed Indonesian national movement, were: the emergence of educated class, the emergence of various national movement organizations, revolutionary awareness, the struggle of educated class towards Indonesian’s political rights, the appearance of volksraad, left ideology, the authority of Netherland queens, indigenous’s conflicts and their invaders, concerns about the yellow’s dangers (China and Japan), the expansion of Japanese Military, stratification in politics, and the bureaucracy of colonial government. The implication of this research is that the historical novel has its own narrative of history that enriches the knowledge of Indonesian history. 1 INTRODUCTION and this is also experienced by the students who face some obstacles in understanding the duality of Stories can give meaning to various experiences in historical fiction (Barone, Oswalt, Barone, 2014). social and cultural setting systems and various other Historical novels are included into two broaders abstract things. Furthermore, stories can sound forms, they are; those which tell about various events unheard voice in the historical pattern which is said in a historical or periodic setting; and those which use ”Grand History” (Hertz, 2009). The use of historical historical “facts” to tell the story. Each of these genres novels, as long as used together with text books and and approaches will have certain forms (Young, primary sources, have made history more pleasing 2011) and correlated to the students’ life (Lindquist, 2008). Novelists construct society’s culture through their The researchers found that the setting where people literary works. Every novelist pictures and interpretes enjoy history is in the form of story whether family the life around him which is then expressed through history story, electronic cinema or historical novels. their literary works. Henceforth, every literary work, Novels are useful to rectify the past because the story produced by anyone, is very important, regardless of can help ”others” in the history so it can be felt to be whether the literary works are considered to be real and present in the class (Lindquist, 2008). serious literary works or popular ones. It is because The historical novel is one of a kind of complex every novelist has a unique and diverse perspective novel as it is one of complex genres because it and way of speaking. includes both fiction and nonfiction (Barone, Oswalt, The macro formuation of this study is “How was Barone, 2014). The historical novel lies at the the narration of national movements in Indonesia crossroads between fiction and nonfiction. The (1900-1942) in the field of economic and politic from readers would likely experience some difficulty in historical novels’ perspective?” Given the vastness comprehending the complexity in historical fictions of the formulation study, the writers stacked in 112 Santosa, A. and Fauzi, W. Social Changes in Economy and Politic During the National Movement Period in Indonesia (1900-1942) from the Historical Novels Perspective. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 112-118 ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2 Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved Social Changes in Economy and Politic During the National Movement Period in Indonesia (1900-1942) from the Historical Novels Perspective several research questions as follows: How was authors must create a credible story that accurately economic setting described by historical novel during reflects the time-period in thought, action, trust, Indonesian national movement period (1900-1942)? artifact, and language (Barone, Oswalt, Barone, How was political setting described by historical 2014). novels during Indonesian national movement period The historical narrative uses evidence, (1900-1942)? manuscripts and testimonies that build the past as a representative framework. As a form, it cannot be said to compromise the legitimacy of the past, 2 LITERATURE REVIEW because the story is not fiction - this is a "true" representation of a time or an event that refers to a different form in the final work. The historical Hertz (2009) defined a historical novel as an amalgamation of historical facts with imagination and narrative distinguishes itself from the history being studied, or "right", by making its form known - creativity to show its art elements and the use of openly imposing the narrative tool in the past, public figures and events occuring in the past and the highlighting its discursive function and providing a social conditions which are based on historical facts series of chronological events solely with the and historical novelists therefore should not distort from historical data in favor of literary-related necessary continuity (Young, 2011). Through the formats. application of various approaches and strategies, teachers then bring historical novels to their classes. When literature and history are simultaneously discussed, it immediately arises a question, is there Teachers’ guidances are needed if they are going to use hisctorical novels in learning process because any fiction in the history and is there any fact in the these genres are complicated, through the intersection literature while fiction cannot simply be rigidly associated with only one of the two; only related to between nonfiction and fiction (Barone, Oswalt, literature or only related to history (Purwanto, 2006). Barone, 2014). Purwanto further revealed that literature is generally associated to an imaginative fiction while history cannot be seperated from facts to discover the truth of 3 METHODS the past and as a conceivable reality. History and literature are often considered to be in the same level This study applied a qualitative approach, which (Purwanto, 2006). Kuntowijoyo (1995) is however starts from data and leads to conclusions. The different from his previous opinion stated that history researchers’ objective of using qualitative approach is different from literature in case of: work, truth, was to find out complex and holisitic pictures of the overall result, and conclusion. Literature is the work subject matter investigated, in this case about the of imagination, the truth is in the hands of the authors; Narrative of the National Movement in Indonesia (1900-1942) from the Historical Novel Perspective. in other words, it is subjective. Literature can end The researchers chose the historical method as the with a question while history should provide as much research methodology and literature study as the information as possible. research technique. Historical method is a method of Regarding the positioning of novels and history, research which is commonly used in historical Sugito (2008) stated that if a novel is used as a research because the problem being studied was one historical source in a historiographic work, the data of events that was the object of historical research. used is usually not concerned with the details about According to Gottschalk (1986:32), “The historical the description of the place, time, or the chronology method is the process of critically examining and of the events (5W+1H) but it is used to get a picture analyzing the records and relics of the past”. of the awareness of the era or spirit of the era growing The historical novel themed national movement at the time. A novel which is able to depict the spirit of Indonesia is the main instrument in this study and situation of an era (and not its 5W+1H accuracy), which theoretically can be categorized as a document it is something enabling us to get the picture of the era while another instrument used in addition to a novel (not the accuracy). as a document is an interview. The purpose of the To be considered a qualified novel in this genre, interview is to explore how the novelists’ views on an author must share accurate time details, including historical events during the national movement. artifacts and beliefs about the world at that time. A The data used was in the form of text or historical novelist should own mannered realistic character and narrative in a historical novel. The applied data speak as if they were living at the time. Writing processing and analysis is through content analysis expectations for historical fiction are so great that towards the text 113 ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education 4 DISCUSSION hundreds of families were called to work in remote places, without being paid in regents’ fields. It had This section would describe the political and been too common to see that free of charge stuff was economic settings on the novels that are themed or provided for the regents’ palace necessity, and it was appearing during the national movement of known that the regents were fond of a horse, a buffalo, Indonesia. The novels that describe the atmosphere of a girl, or a wife of a poor man, whoever the owner the national movement era are: Tan (Hendri Teja), had to submit the desired things or persons Max Havelaar (Multatuli), Bumi Manusia, The Earth unconditionally.