National Symposium Towards Literary Theory "Jungkir Balik Dunia Budi Darma", Not Just a Rembrance of Budi Darma's Work

In order to commemorate the legend in the world of Indonesian literature, Prof. Budi Darma, M.A, pH.D, Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Surabaya held a national symposium entitled "Towards Literary Theory "Dunia Jungkir Balik Budi Darma". 

The symposium, which was held on September 14, 2021, was attended by 16 speakers, of whom they were Indonesian writers and some of whom were closest people to Prof. Budi Darma, M.A, pH.D.

Prof. Dr. H. Budi Darma, M.A. born on April 25, 1937. He is an Indonesian writer, essayist, and academic who has worked as a professor at the Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Surabaya. Professor Budi Darma started writing since 1968. 

His writings are in the form of short stories, novels, essays, or papers for various meetings. According to the speakers, Professor Budi Darma is someone who has a smart personality, humble, polite, but also a firm person. He is known as a good teacher, respected by students, and humanist. 

Not only giving knowledge, he also teaches morals to his students in order to motivate people to act with goodness based on the obligation to be moral. 

The passing of the figure of Professor Budi Darma gave deep sorrow to his family, friends, to colleagues and the world of Indonesian literature. 

Professor Budi Darma's dedication to the world of literature cannot be doubted. He has produced extraordinary works until he has won several awards, both on a national and international scale.

The symposium was divided into four sessions, each session discussing the world of writing in the style of Professor Budi Darma and how Professor Budi Darma's figure was in the eyes of his friends and his contribution to the world of Indonesian literature. 

The event, which was held through a zoom meeting, was attended by participants from several circles, including academics, writers, students, and the general public.

Students were the ones who dominated this event, one of the students who took part in this symposium was Aulia Anggraini. Aulia is a student at Universitas Negeri Surabaya, majoring in English Language and Literature. 

The reason she joined this symposium was because she wanted to know more about the figure of Professor Budi Darma in the eyes of the speakers (writers). 

Not only that, as a student at the Universitas Negeri Surabaya, she feels familiar with his name and want to remember all of his works by attending the symposium. 

Moreover, with her background as a student of literature, Aulia is even more excited to participate in this symposium so that her knowledge in the field of literature will increase. 

Aulia admitted that she was familiar with the name Budi Darma because she was also a major lecturer at the Faculty of Language and Arts, Universitas Negeri Surabaya. 

In addition, her lecturer is the daughter of Professor Budi Darma. She added that Professor Budi Darma is a writer or it can be said that he is a writer who is very influential in the development of literature in Indonesia. As a writer who has produced various works such as short stories, novels, essays, and others.

Of the four sessions at the symposium, Aulia attended two sessions which were the first session with some speakers, they were Faruk HT, Seno G. Ajidarma, Suyatno, and Okky Madasari and the third session with Eka Budianta, Much. Khoiri, Akmal N. Basral, and Wahyudi Siswanto. 

All speakers at the session succeeded in impressing Aulia, "they explained very easily to understand and many things made me understood how Professor Budi Darma writes. There was also a detailed explanation of Professor Budi Darma's answer in responding to all matters relating to literary works." 

Said this 21-year-old woman. She added that there was a material that made an impression on her heart. First, she liked the explanation of Mr. Seno G. Ajidarma because he explained in detail how the works of Professor Budi Darma. 

It was like how Professor Budi Darma's attitude when writing is not always conceptualized because the source of everything is in the brain. Mr. Seno G. Ajidarma also explained about the creative process when Professor Budi Darma wrote. Professor Budi Darma's writing strategy is always human-centered, where humans are the ready-to-use theme. 

Meanwhile, secondly, she likes Mr. Eka Budianta's explanation because he made her know more about Professor Budi Darma's figure starting from his response about a writer, how writers are serious and only pretend, and how Infonesian literary works that actually need to rebel but use brain.

After attending this symposium, Aulia said that she got inspiration from Professor Budi Darma. It is very inspiring for her because as a student majoring in English Literature she needs to learn how she is in writing. She can learn through his figure as well as his conversations that are focused, frank, and respect the reader as an intelligent person. 

"I hope this symposium is also useful for others because it is very interesting because I can take a lot from him." She said at the end of interview. For Aulia, this symposium is not only about remembering the figure and works of Professor Budi Darma, but also as a place to learn the writing style of the Indonesian literary legend.