Javanese Local Colours in the Fictions of Umar Kayam

One of the phenomena of writing literary works in Indonesia since the last few decades are the tendency to promote regional culture in accordance with the socio-cultural background of the author. The purpose of this study is to explain the form of local colours represented by Umar Kayam in his fiction works. This study, the sociological approach is used as a social reflection of the community. There are two novels by Umar Kayam which become the subject of this study, namely Para Priyayi (1992) and Jalan Menikung (1999). Data is collected by reading repeatedly and intensively to find data in the form of phrases or sentences and discourses that reveal the discussion of local Javanese colours. The collected data is then analyzed with qualitative descriptive analysis using the sociological literature theory framework. The results showed that the work of Umar Kayam's fiction contained many Javanese local colours in the form of Javanese art, especially puppets, Javanese songs, tayuban or Javanese dance. Other local Javanese colour elements are social status as priyayi, the use of Javanese language and the attitude of the Javanese life that always promote harmony. The local colour of Java in the fiction of Umar Kayam's works mostly functions as story material and setting so that the fiction works become more interesting. Keywords—Javanese local colours; fiction; Umar Kayam