JEMBER — Magical realism in children's literature serves as more than mere fantastic entertainment, actively expanding how readers understand reality beyond the limits of empirical science. Recent research conducted by Heru S.P. Saputra, Titik Maslikatin, Abu Bakar Ramadhan Muhamad, Zahratul Umniyyah, Ulil Lauhul Mahfudah, and Gio Pramanda Galaxi from Universitas Jember demonstrates that the final two novels of Okky Madasari's Mata series successfully achieve narrative remystification without rejecting modern scientific facts. Examining Mata dan Manusia Laut and Mata dan Nyala Api Purba, this study contributes significantly to positioning Indonesian children's literature within global magical realism scholarship.
The background of this study addresses the dominance of modern rationality, which frequently marginalizes indigenous knowledge, maritime cosmology, and deep geological time as unscientific. Through children's fiction, Okky Madasari creates a space where marvelous phenomena and empirical facts coexist harmoniously. The researchers applied comparative qualitative literary analysis utilizing Wendy B. Faris's magical realism framework. This framework encompasses five core characteristics: the irreducible element, the phenomenal world, unsettling doubts, merging realms, and disruptions of space, time, and identity.
The research methodology involved close reading and textual coding of 26 representative units selected purposively from both novels published in recent printings up to 2026. The authors coded narrative episodes to analyze how scientifically grounded settings—such as diving biology, artificial intelligence, and laboratories—evolved into worlds accommodating marine kinship and prehistoric deep time.
The primary findings reveal two complementary trajectories of narrative remystification. In Mata dan Manusia Laut, the narrative develops a maritime-cosmological remystification that highlights the deep relational bond between humans, Sama/Bajo cultural traditions, and the ocean. Concepts such as underwater breathing and sea-twin kinship do not erase biological diving adaptations but rather expand what it means to possess a maritime identity. Conversely, Mata dan Nyala Api Purba presents a temporal-technological remystification, where futuristic scientific advancement gives rise to phenomena beyond rational control, including communicative genetically modified organisms, agentive fire, and deep-time travel.
Neither novel abolishes scientific reality; instead, both challenge the monopoly of scientific explanation. Whether medical doctors reduce miraculous sea experiences to hallucinations or scientists fail to pinpoint a machine behind time travel, the narrative maintains open-ended epistemic doubt. This demonstrates that magical realism in Madasari's work pluralizes human understanding of nature, technology, and more-than-human agency.
The implications of this research are far-reaching for education, literary studies, and cultural policy. The findings highlight that children's literature can serve as an effective medium for environmental and technological education without alienating young readers from indigenous cosmologies. Authors and educators can leverage this narrative approach to teach marine conservation, ecological ethics, and planetary history in a more intuitive and inclusive manner.
Author Profiles
Heru S.P. Saputra, Universitas Jember
Titik Maslikatin, Universitas Jember
Abu Bakar Ramadhan Muhamad, Universitas Jember
Zahratul Umniyyah, Universitas Jember
Ulil Lauhul Mahfudah, Universitas Jember
Gio Pramanda Galaxi, Universitas Jember
Research Source
Article Title: Between Maritime Cosmology and Deep Time: Wendy B. Faris's Magical Realism and Narrative Remystification in Okky Madasari's Final Two Mata Novels
Journal Name: East Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (EAJMR)
Publication Year: 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/eajmr.v5i9.318
Official URL: https://journaleajmr.my.id/index.php/eajmr
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