SOCIOCULTURAL APPROACH TO INTERTEXTUALITY IN MALAY NOVELS: A READING OF PRASERT EH CHAI'S PHENSI

Abstract

The transmigration of Siamese people to Kelantan began as early as the middle of the 13th century. The formation of Siamese and Malay sociocultural and ethnic identity is said to be modern but still intact to traditional elements in life. However, the acceleration in the field of technology has marginalized traditional Thai socio-culture among the Siamese community of Kelantan. This study focused on observing the process and relationship between texts in the production of Malay novels. The process and relationship are linked to intertextuality, which is the phenomenon of text within a text or what is called dialogue between texts. This research framework utilized ideas by Julia Kristeva. The intertextual formula presented the relationship between the hypotext (short story) and the hypertext (novel) to see the meaning, the proposed process, and the appropriateness of the author. This study refers to Prasert Eh Chai's novel Phensi (2022) which showed a tendency towards intertextual works. The study found that within the framework of intertextuality, Chai demonstrates loyalty to non-creative texts (the socio-cultural society of Siam Kelantan) which was later developed into a novel. Authorship style by Prasert Eh Chai shows his sensitivity in blending social experience into Phensi. This study summarizes the intertextuality of Chai's Phensi not only physically from the socio-cultural viewpoint of the novel but also from the Siamese environment of Kelantan and the traditional roots of Thailand.