Friday, August 10, 2012

The Palace of Dreams (Istana Mimpi)


[conclusion is at the bottom of this post]

Setiap orang yang menguasai daerah kegelapan dalam diri manusia akan memiliki kekuatan yang luar biasa.”

‘Daerah kegelapan’ di quote tersebut dapat kita asumsikan sebagai mimpi. Maka setiap orang (atau institusi) yang menguasai mimpi manusia, akan memiliki kekuatan luar biasa. Dalam kisah realism-magis karya Ismail Kadare ini, kekaisaran Ottoman yang meraja di abad 19 memiliki institusi yang disebut Istana Mimpi atau Tabir Sarrail. Di Tabir Sarrail, mimpi dari seluruh masyarakat se-kekhalifahan dikumpulkan, disalin, dipilah-pilah, kemudian ditafsirkan. Dari mimpi-mimpi itulah Sultan atau pemimpin kekhalifahan mengetahui kondisi kekhalifahan yang dipimpinnya; mirip dengan dinas inteligen dalam suatu negara.

Mark-Alem adalah seorang pemuda pemalu dan penggugup yang kebetulan merupakan anggota keluarga Quprili—keluarga paling berpengaruh yang banyak menempatkan anggotanya dalam jabatan-jabatan tinggi di kekhalifahan. Antara Sultan dan keluarga Quprili selalu ada permusuhan, gara-gara kecemburuan Sultan terhadap keluarga Quprili yang kisahnya sering disebut-sebut dalam epik di Albania maupun Serbia, sementara tak pernah ada orang menciptakan epik tentang sang Sultan sendiri. Dalam kondisi ini, Mark-Alem tiba-tiba mendapati dirinya diterima bekerja di Tabir Sarrail sebagai staf bagian Penyortiran. Mark yang tak tahu apa-apa, selalu kebingungan dari awal bekerja, tak tahu apa yang harus dikerjakannya, tiba-tiba saja karirnya melesat dengan cepatnya. Meski ia perlahan-lahan menyadari bahwa keberadaannya di Tabir Sarrail adalah karena kepentingan politik keluarganya, ia tak tahu apa yang mereka harapkan darinya. Hingga terjadilah sebuah malapetaka bagi keluarga Quprili, dan saat itulah Mark menyadari betapa besar kekuasaan sebuah mimpi terhadap jatuh bangunnya sebuah kekuasaan!

Buku ini berkisah tentang kediktatoran, di mana sebuah institusi dapat mengontrol bukan hanya kehidupan rakyatnya, namun hingga hal pribadi seperti mimpi. Aku masih saja bertanya-tanya, bagaimana kekhalifahan dapat ‘memperdaya’ rakyatnya untuk mengirimkan mimpi-mimpi mereka? Tak sadarkah mereka bahwa itu melanggar hak asasi mereka? Apalagi pasti sudah banyak kasus para pemimpi yang mimpinya bersifat ‘berbahaya’ hilang lenyap tanpa pernah kembali ke rumahnya setelah diinterogasi di Tabir Sarrail. Pertanyaan kedua, bagaimana penguasa dapat memastikan bahwa mimpi yang dikisahkan itu adalah mimpi sebenarnya yang dialami pemimpi? Atau justru, bagaimana mereka dapat memastikan bahwa mimpi itu bukan rekayasa salah satu pihak untuk menjatuhkan mereka?

Kalau demikian halnya, pertanyaan terbesarnya: Sebenarnya siapa yang menguasai siapa? Kekhalifahan menguasai rakyat karena mengontrol mimpi mereka? Ataukah mimpi-mimpi milik rakyat itu yang justru menguasai kekhalifahan, karena Sultan begitu percaya (dan takut)nya pada mimpi-mimpi itu? Ironisnya, lewat Istana Mimpi Sultan berhasil menyerang keluarga Quprili, namun justru lewat Istana Mimpi pula kurasa keluarga ini—lewat Mark-Alem yang akhirnya menjadi Kepala Istana Mimpi—akan berbalik mengalahkan sang Sultan. Sang Sultan boleh saja tetap penguasa kekhalifahan, namun bukankah siapa yang menguasai mimpi berarti memiliki kekuatan luar biasa?

Sebuah penggambaran metafora yang indah dari Ismail Kadare tentang kediktatoran yang menguasai pikiran, namun aku merasa kisah ini lemah sebagai fiksi karena ceritanya melompat begitu cepat, tanpa keterangan apakah dari scene sebelumnya ke scene berikut berjarak hari, bulan atau tahun. Mark-Alem mulai bekerja setelah lulus kuliah, namun di akhir kisah ia tiba-tiba berusia 28 tahun, jadi apakah rentang waktu antara ia mulai masuk Tabir Sarrail hingga menduduki posisi puncak memakan waktu bertahun-tahun? Di sini Ismail Kadare kurang teliti dalam merakit cerita, mungkin justru dengan sedikit melebarkan plot, beliau akan menghasilkan cerita yang lebih berkesan.

Tiga mimpi untuk Istana Mimpi!

Judul: Istana Mimpi (judul asli: The Palace of Dreams)
Penulis: Ismail Kadare
Penerjemah: Fahmy Yamani
Editor: Adi Toha
Penerbit: Serambi Cerita Utama
Terbit: Juni 2012
Tebal: 274 hlm

Conclusion:

The Palace of Dreams is a magic-realism story by Ismail Kadare about how the dictatorship of Ottoman Kingdom in 19th century oppressed its people by controlling their dreams. Everyone must send details of their dreams to be noted, sorted and interpreted by an institution called The Palace of Dreams or Tabir Sarrail, which was run by the Sovereign. These dreams are powerful tools for the Sovereign to keep updated about every movement among the Kingdom; some kind of intelligence agencies.

The protagonist is Mark-Alem, a young man who was just graduated and found a job inside the Palace of Dreams; this story was told from his point of view. Later on he realized that he was placed there by his powerful family—the Quprili—who had the biggest influence in the whole Kingdom, that even the Sovereign was terrified of them. Mark worked at the Selection department, and one day he found a specific dream. He did not know what to do with it or how to interpret it. Little did he know that that particular dream would cause a huge blow for someone he loved; if only he had known what that dream was about when he was in charge of it! What had happened to the Quprilis only confirmed that who holds people’s dream, has the biggest power on his hands. And poor Mark-Alem, despite of his career leap from the Selection department to the highest level in Tabir Sarrail, was only a helpless pawn in a power war between Quprili family and the Sovereign.

This is quite an interesting story but there are few things that I did not really get it. Firstly, how the Kingdom forced people to voluntarily send every personal dream they had? Didn’t it occur to the people that that practice was against their human rights? They could have lied that they rarely had a dream; who could proof it? Secondly, how did the Sovereign make sure that the dreams received by Tabir Sarrail were not fake dreams written by whomever against them? If they were so affected by the dreams, that the Sovereign used them to make his decisions, how absurd it was! Didn’t it mean that the dreams have controlled the Sovereign rather than the other way?

The story’s idea is OK, but I think Kadare should have widened the plot to make it flow more naturally. There are no signs of time setting in this book, I did not know whether Mark-Alem has been working for weeks or month or years before he was promoted to a higher level. He started his career straight after his graduation, however he was already twenty eight when the story ended. Did it mean all of these had happened for years? I don’t know…

Three stars for The Palace of Dream, the first Albanian literature I have ever read! [I read the Indonesian translation edition]

6 comments:

  1. Heey
    I love your review style and this book sounds pretty good, aside from the plot flaws you pointed out! I'm a new follower and I might put this book on my reading list because I have never read anything from Albania! Thanks for sharing!
    Juli @ Universe in Words

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    1. Hi Juli, thanks for the follow. Yes, I'm intrigued too to read anything from Albanian author. Kadare has a unique style to write, and maybe it's just that I'm not familiar with it, or it's because I never like magical realism.

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  2. Ooh, Kadare! I read Broken April and absolutely loved it, but I couldn't get into anything else by him, including this book. But Broken April is awesome :)

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    1. I've never heard about Broken April; but it seems interesting (have browsed about it in google). I might read this in the future, thanks for the recommendation, Claudia!

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  3. I have never read any Albanian literature either. I think it's wonderful that you try so many different forms of writing!

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    1. Yeah, we need to get out from our comfort zone sometimes, right?

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What do you think?