Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [22]
Contemporary
The first Thai-language novel appeared only about 70 years ago, in direct imitation of Western models. Thus far, no more than a handful have been translated into English.
The first Thai novel of substance, The Circus of Life (Thai 1929; English 1994) by Arkartdamkeung Rapheephat, follows a young, upper class Thai as he travels to London, Paris, the USA and China in the 1920s. The novel’s existentialist tone created quite a stir in Thailand when it was released and became an instant bestseller. The fact that the author, himself a Thai prince, took his own life at the age of 26 only added to the mystique surrounding this work.
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NOVELS
English-language translations of Thai novels are still relatively few, and most foreign-penned novels about Bangkok never make it past the go-go bar door, but the following are quality reads about the city.
A Woman of Bangkok, Jack Reynolds (1956) The precursor of the Bangkok fiction school of writing. Click here, this novel established the city as a setting for countless subsequent exotic crime novels.
Bangkok 8, John Burdett (2003) The first of the popular series of detective novels featuring half-Thai, half-Western detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep.
Four Reigns (Si Phaendin), Kukrit Pramoj (1953; translated 1981) The English translation of a classic of contemporary Thai literature, this novel depicts Thailand’s transformation from absolute monarchy to modern society through the eyes of Phloi, a woman working in the Royal Palace.
Jasmine Nights, SP Somtow (1995) Originally released as a series of short stories in the Bangkok Post, this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel binds American and Thai culture and history.
Sightseeing, Rattawut Lapcharoensap (2004) A Thai voice in contemporary English-language literature.
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The late Kukrit Pramoj, former ambassador and Thai prime minister, novelised Bangkok court life from the late 19th century through to the 1940s in Four Reigns (Thai 1953; English 1981), the longest novel ever published in Thai. The Story of Jan Dara (Thai 1966; English 1994), by journalist and short-story writer Utsana Phleungtham, traces the sexual obsessions of a Thai aristocrat as they are passed to his son. In 2001, director/producer Nonzee Nimibutr turned the remarkable novel into a rather melodramatic film (see Click here). Praphatsorn Seiwikun’s rapid-paced Time in a Bottle (Thai 1984; English 1996) turned the dilemmas of a fictional middle-class Bangkok family into a bestseller.
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BANGKOK FICTION
First-time visitors to virtually any of Bangkok’s English-language bookstores will notice an abundance of novels with titles such as The Butterfly Trap, Confessions of a Bangkok Private Eye, Even Thai Girls Cry, Fast Eddie’s Lucky 7 A Go Go, Lady of Pattaya, The Go Go Dancer Who Stole My Viagra, My Name Lon You Like Me?, The Pole Dancer, and Thai Touch. Welcome to the Bangkok school of fiction, a genre, as the titles suggest, defined by its obsession with crime, exoticism and Thai women.
The birth of this genre can be traced back to Jack Reynolds’ 1956 novel, A Woman of Bangkok. Although long out of print, the book is still an acknowledged influence for many Bangkok-based writers, and Reynolds’ formula of Western-man-meets-beautiful-but-dangerous-Thai-woman – occasionally spiced up with a dose of crime – is a staple of the modern genre.
Standouts include John Burdett’s Bangkok 8 (2003), a page-turner in which a half-Thai, half-fà·ràng (Westerner) police detective investigates the python-and-cobras murder of a US marine in Bangkok. Along the way we’re treated to vivid portraits of Bangkok’s gritty nightlife scene and insights into Thai Buddhism. A film version of the novel is in the early stages of production, and its sequels, Bangkok Tattoo and Bangkok Haunts, have sold well in the US.
Christopher G Moore, a Canadian who has lived in Bangkok for the last two decades, has authored 19 mostly Bangkok-based crime novels to positive praise both in Thailand and abroad. His description of Bangkok