Isolated Paradise Again

Cerpen Inggris cukup banyak perannya dalam global tulis menulis. Mau tak mau, gaya penulisan dan gaya bercerita para penulis sekarang sedikit banyak dipengaruhi oleh gaya tutur penulis klasik dengan cerita nan begitu melegenda. Siapa nan tidak kenal Drakula nan ditulis oleh Bram Stoker? Memang, pada akhirnya Drakula lebih terkenal dari Bram Stoker. Akan tetapi, tidak ada nan memungkiri kalau dialah "arsitek" di balik terciptanya tokoh pengisap darah ini.

Lalu, kisah The Great Gatsby nan dikarang oleh F. Scott Fitzgerald. Sebuah romansa nan begitu mendalam dari seorang laki-laki nan rela berkorban nyawa demi wanita nan begitu dicintainya. Bukankah kisah ini tidak lekang dimakan waktu dan tidak terempas oleh kejamnya zaman?

Masih banyak lagi cerita klasik nan semakin asyik buat dibaca ulang. Cerita-cerita tersebut dapat menjadi sumber inspirasi nan tidak akan habis buat digali. Ambil contoh gaya bercerita Charles Dickens (1812-1870), salah seorang penulis terbesar dari Inggris terutama di abad ke-19. Dapat jadi, Charles Dickens ialah penulis klasik paling populer hingga kini bila sudah menyangkut cerita satir nan menyinggung permasalahan kemasyarakatan, tata sosial, kritik terhadap para penguasa, dan dibalut dalam romansa nan begitu mengharu biru. Telaahlah apa nan telah ditulisnya pada novel-novelnya, seperti, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, dan Oliver Twist .

Dalam novelnya, David Copperfield , Dickens dengan piawainya menceritakan perjuangan sang tokoh dari kecil hingga dewasa dan menjadi seorang penulis terkenal. Tidaklah sulit buat menebak dari mana ide cerita novel ini. David Copperfield ialah novel semi autobiografi.

Dengan tangan dinginnya, Dickens meramu kisah perjuangan hayati David menjadi begitu menggugah semangat para pembacanya buat tak mudah menyerah pada nasib dan bahwa setelah kesedihan itu, Tuhan tak tidur. Tuhan akan memberikan penghiburan nan dibutuhkan oleh umatnya. Bayangkan, di tengah David menikmati hasil kerja kerasnya, istrinya meninggal.

Akan tetapi, David tak terlalu berlarut dalam nestapa. David semakin produktif dalam menulis. Pada akhirnya, kisah ini berakhir cukup menyenangkan, David menikahi seorang wanita bernama Agnes nan ternyata telah memendam cinta nan begitu mendalam dan dalam kurun waktu nan cukup lama terhadap David.

Dalam novel ini juga, Dickens menggambarkan kehidupan seorang penulis dalam meraih kesuksesan. Bagaimana kondisi kejiwaan penulis akan sangat mempengaruhi gaya tulisannya. Namun, walau bagaimanapun Dickens tak menceritakan kisah konkret hidupnya sepenuhnya. Bagi Dickens, ada beberapa episode dalam kehidupannya nan terlalu pahit bila harus diungkapkan tanpa diembel-embeli dengan khayalan di sana-sini. Walau David Copperfield dianggap salah satu karya terbaik Dickens, para kritikus tetap menemukan titik buat mengkritiknya.

Bagi beberapa kritikus, gaya Dickens menggambarkan Agnes terlalu baik ( too good to be true ). Agnes digambarkan sebagai seorang nan begitu paripurna dari awal hayati hingga masa dewasanya. Cinta Agnes kepada Dickens sepertinya terlalu mengada-ada. Apa pun nan dikatakan oleh para kritikus, kisah David Copperfield tetap asyik buat dibaca.

Apa nan diceritakan di atas merupakan salah satu karya cerpen Inggris nan sangat memesona. Dickens sangat piawai dalam menglah kata dan jalan cerita menjadi kisah pendek nan sangat menarik dan sayang buat dilewatkan. Apakah cerpen Inggris hanya sebatas karya dari Dickens? Tentu saja masih ada cerpen Inggris lainnya nan tak kalah menariknya. Berikut ada beberapa contoh cerpen:

By: Sitav Nabi

There she was sitting alone in the cafeteria again. To her left sat a group of unruly boys busying themselves by seeing who could choke on their peanut butter and jelly sandwich the fastest and then guzzle it down with milk. And to the right sat the most evil of the schools inhabitants, looking up and down into their little pocket mirrors to find a patch of skin that wasn’t covered in make-up. Looking backward, you could see the group of nice girls who always smiled as they looked in her direction but never invited her to sit with them. And, forward, was the group of shy boys who never spared a passing glance, since they were too busy exploding paper bags.

She sat in the middle of the congested lunchroom eating her ham and turkey sandwich, chocolate pudding, and juice in peace. It was comforting, it was as it had always been, and to her, it was right. Her place, right outside of the ninth grade social circle, was something she looked forward to. Everyday she sat down and enjoyed not having any arguments to settle, any friendships to maintain, and any meaningless conversations about lip-gloss. Although others looked down upon her as the antisocial girl, she didn’t care, she was proud of it.

But one day, it all changed. The day started out normally. The morning passed by and soon everyone was racing down the halls to get to the cafeteria, taking their seats, and shaking their heads from left to right to catch up on rumors with friends. She sat down at her private little table and was finally isolated from the nonsense of the teenage world. It was right then that he came, straight down from the blue, walked up to her lunch table, and sat down next to her. He smiled and she frowned wondering why the new kid was sitting with her.

As if that wasn’t torture enough, he began to talk uncontrollably. It was as though he looked to this period of the day to pour out his life story to this poor, annoyed girl who wanted nothing more than to be left alone for forty-five minutes. He traced back his life to five years ago and started there, ending with his future plans, all the while smiling and glancing backward to see if any of the boys were throwing something at him.

This went on for the next few months and there was nothing special about the lunch period to her anymore, nothing that kept her hopes up. There was no quiet, isolated island left at her table, just an annoying voice that never let up. And as she sat down to another forty-five minutes of torture, he smiled, but she could easily see that it wasn’t the same smile. It didn’t reach his eyes and didn’t light up the rest of his face. He told her that he left his history book back in the last class, and that he would return after he got it. To her surprise, he never came back to her table. The next day he sat down at the boy’s table and didn’t speak to her. He didn’t smile at her, and didn’t grab her some extra napkins. And she sat in her isolated paradise once again, just like she always did, all by herself.

***

Sea Sight of The Greece

Shirley was a beautiful woman of England. Yet, she was not young anymore she was 42 year old already. She lived in Liverpool, the city where she was born.

One summer, her best friend, Jane invited her to go to holiday in Greece. She never goes to Greece, she was curious about that country, so she decided to join with Jane in Holiday.

In the Greece they stayed in a hotel near the beach. There, they welcomed by a friendly man named Costas. He was the manager of the hotel. One evening Shirley went to the bar for some beverage, she found Costas stood there and they begun a conversation.

“You know, I have a boat located near this beach. Actually it belongs to my brother, but if you want, we can go for a ride tomorrow. What do you think?” said The man to her.

“Wow, it would be nice,” she accepted the invitation and she went with him next day. They enjoyed their trip very much, especially Shirley who never sails with a boat.

Actually, Shirley likes the sights of Greece, so after the first trip, she went out with the manager of hotel every day. As usual they swam, sunbathed and spent much time together in the sea. They enjoyed it very much.

The end of holiday came, Shirley had to go back. She was in Airport already but, suddenly she decided to not to go home to Liverpool, her home town. She thought, she wanted to stay in Greece. Then, this girl left the airport and went back directly to the hotel where Costas as the manager.

When she had arrived she saw Costas in the bar with a woman and she decided to hear their conversation.

“Would you like to go for a ride in my brother’s boat?” said costas inviting the woman. But, Shirley didn’t care about that and she came nearer to them.

Costas was shocked when he found Shirley standing beside him and the woman. He was extremely surprise, He got she smiled at him. Costas thought Shirley would angry with him but, she only told her purpose that she was looking for a job in his hotel.

Shirley was not angry when she knew the fact that Costas was a playboy, because She was not in love with that man but, she fallen in love with the Greece and the sea sights of it.

***