Why should you read Flannery O’Connor? - Iseult Gillespie

Translator: Muhammad Riandy Reviewer: Ade Indarta

A garrulous grandmother and a roaming bandit face off on a dirt road.

Nenek rewel dan penjahat bertemu di jalan berlumpur.

A Bible salesman lures a one-legged philosopher into a barn.

Penjual Injil memaksa orang bijak difabel ke dalam gudang.

A traveling handyman teaches a deaf woman her first word on an old plantation.

Tukang kayu pengelana mengajarkan orang bisu kata pertamanya di ladang.

From her farm in rural Georgia,

Dari perkebunan di pedalaman Georgia,

surrounded by a flock of pet birds,

dikelilingi burung peliharaan,

Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts,

Flannery O’Connor menuliskan kisah tentang orang buangan,

intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best:

orang asing dan orang luar

Berlatarkan dunia yang dia kenal

the American South.

Amerika Selatan.

She published two novels,

Dia sudah menerbitkan dua novel,

but is perhaps best known for her short stories,

Tapi lebih terkenal dengan karya cerita pendeknya.

which explored small-town life with stinging language, offbeat humor,

Membahas kehidupan orang kecil

dengan bahasa tajam, candaan nyeleneh,

and delightfully unsavory scenarios.

dan skenario yang menyindir.

In her spare time O’Connor drew cartoons,

Di waktu luangnya, O’Connor membuat kartun,

and her writing is also brimming with caricature.

Dan tulisannya dipenuhi dengan karikatur.

In her stories, a mother has a face “as broad and innocent as a cabbage,”

Dalam ceritanya, seorang ibu memiliki wajah

"lebar dan polos seperti kubis,”

a man has as much drive as a “floor mop,”

Pria memiliki semangat layaknya "kain pel,”

and one woman’s body is shaped like “a funeral urn.”

dan wanita berbentuk seperti "kendi kremasi."

The names of her characters are equally sly.

Penamaan karakternya cerdik.

Take the story “The Life You Save May be Your Own,”

Sebagai contoh, “The Life You Save May be Your Own,”

where the one-handed drifter Tom Shiftlet wanders into the lives

Pemulung difabel, Tom Shiftlet, masuk ke dalam kehidupan

of an old woman named Lucynell Crater

Wanita tua bernama Lucynell Crater.

and her deaf and mute daughter.

Dan anak perempuannya yang tunarungu.

Though Mrs. Crater is self-assured,

Meski Mrs. Crater mandiri,

her isolated home is falling apart.

rumahnya yang terpencil mulai rusak.

At first, we may be suspicious of Shiftlet’s motives

Pertama, kita mungkin curiga dengan maksud Shiftlet

when he offers to help around the house,

saat ingin membantu membetulkan rumah,

but O’Connor soon reveals the old woman to be

Tapi O’Connor mengungkap bahwa wanita tua itu

just as scheming as her unexpected guest–

sejahat pria tersebut

and rattles the reader’s presumptions about who has the upper hand.

dan membuat bingung pembaca siapa yang lebih unggul.

For O’Connor, no subject was off limits.

Bagi O’Connor, tidak ada batasan dalam menulis.

Though she was a devout Catholic,

Meski dirinya penganut katolik,

she wasn’t afraid to explore the possibility

Dia tidak takut membahas

of pious thought and unpious behavior

pikiran dan perilaku yang bermoral atau tidak

co-existing in the same person.

yang ada pada seseorang.

In her novel The Violent Bear it Away,

Di novelnya, The Violent Bear it Away,

the main character grapples with the choice to become a man of God –

Tokoh utama berjuang menjadi pendeta

but also sets fires and commits murder.

tapi juga melakukan pembunuhan.

The book opens with the reluctant prophet in a particularly compromising position:

Cerita dimulai saat tokoh utama di posisi yang mecurigakan:

“Francis Marion Tarwater’s uncle had been dead for only half a day

"Paman Francis Marion Tarwater sudah meninggal setengah hari

when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave.”

saat anaknya terlalu mabuk untuk menggali kuburannya..

This leaves a passerby to “drag the body from the breakfast table

Ini membuat orang sekitar menyeret jasadnya dari meja makan

where it was still sitting and bury it […]

di mana dia berada dan menguburnya.

with enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up.”

Dengan tanah sekadarnya agar anjing tak menggalinya."

Though her own politics are still debated,

Meski politiknya masih diperbincangkan,

O’Connor’s fiction could also be attuned to the racism of the South.

Karya O’Connor sesuai dengan perlakuan rasis di Amerika Selatan.

In “Everything that Rises Must Converge,”

Di “Everything that Rises Must Converge,”

she depicts a son raging at his mother’s bigotry.

Sang anak menentang kefanatikan ibunya.

But the story reveals that he has his own blind spots

Tapi dijelaskan sang anak memiliki kelemahan

and suggests that simply recognizing evil

serta memberi kesan menyadari adanya kesalahan

doesn’t exempt his character from scrutiny.

tidak membebaskan karakternya yang perfeksionis.

Even as O’Connor probes the most unsavory aspects of humanity,

Meski O’Connor membahas aspek tidak mengenakkan.

she leaves the door to redemption open a crack.

Dia tetap membuat pertobatan terbuka lebar.

In “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”

Di “A Good Man is Hard to Find,”

she redeems an insufferable grandmother for forgiving a hardened criminal,

Dia memaafkan nenek menyebalkan karena mengampuni penjahat kejam,

even as he closes in on her family.

Meski penjahat itu dekat dengan keluarga nenek itu.

Though we might balk at the price the woman pays for this redemption,

Walau kita mungkin menolak cara nenek itu untuk penebusan

we’re forced to confront the nuance in moments

Kita dipaksa menghadapi suasana kejadian ini

we might otherwise consider purely violent or evil.

Di mana dapat dianggap jahat atau kejam.

O’Connor’s mastery of the grotesque

Kemampuan O'Connor membentuk cerita aneh

and her explorations of the insularity and superstition of the South

Serta penjelajahannya tentang kepicikan dan kepercayaan di Amerika Selatan

led her to be classified as a Southern Gothic writer.

membuatnya dikenal sebagai penulis gotika di Amerika Selatan.

But her work pushed beyond the purely ridiculous

Tapi karyanya melampaui karakteristik yang aneh

and frightening characteristics associated with the genre

dan menyeramkan diikuti dengan aliran

to reveal the variety and nuance of human character.

di mana mengungkap macam dan nuansa karakter manusia.

She knew some of this variety was uncomfortable,

Dia paham beberapa ceritanya tidak nyaman,

and that her stories could be an acquired taste –

dan dibutuhkan selera tersendiri.

but she took pleasure in challenging her readers.

Tapi dia menantang pembacanya saat membaca karyanya.

O’Connor died of lupus at the age of 39,

O’Connor meninggal karena lupus saat berusia 39 tahun,

after the disease had mostly confined her to her farm in Georgia for twelve years.

Penyakit itu mengurungnya di perkebunan, Georgia selama 12 tahun.

During those years,

Selama itu,

she penned much of her most imaginative work.

Dia berhenti menulis.

Her ability to flit between revulsion and revelation

Kemampuannya untuk berganti antara rasa takut dan rasa sadar

continues to draw readers to her endlessly surprising fictional worlds.

Selalu mendorong pembacanya ke dalam dunia fiksinya yang mengejutkan.

As her character Tom Shiftlet notes,

Seperti karakternya Tom Shiftlet berkata,

the body is “like a house:

Raga layaknya rumah:

it don’t go anywhere,

Takkan pergi ke mana pun.

but the spirit, lady, is like an automobile:

Tapi jiwa, Nona, seperti mobil:

always on the move.”

Selalu bergerak.”