Abandoning

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International Conference on Thai StudiesApril 2005

Abandoning the Paradigms: Prabda Yoonand the Development of a Post-Modern Position

in Thai LiteratureSusan F. Kepner

Introduction

This paper will examine new directions in Thai fiction at the beginning

of the twenty-first century, with a focus on the author Prabda Yoon.

About eight years ago, Thammasat University literature professor

Chusak Pattarakunvanit made the following remarks:

Literature, like [other] arts [in Thailand], is perceived as amedium for the [promulgation of] moral teachings. Literature must be

forsomething -- it must be useful. The old guard writes to promotechaat - satsanaa - phramahaakasat; and the avant-gardewrite for the poor, the oppressed, 'the people.' Those are what youhave called 'the meta-narratives.' 1

About six years ago, the writer "Anchan" (Anchalee Vivathanachai)

was telling me about the effects of the American and British short stories she

loves on her own writing. "They have had many effects on my writing," she

said. "But sometimes I send what I think is a good story to a Thai editor, and

the response is, 'What is the point of this story?' If they can't see a point, they

don't like it. I am spoiled now. I forget about the point."

Always, Thai readers and critics have stressed "the point." But that ischanging.

Modern Thai Literature

1 E-mail message to the author from Chusak Pattarakulvanit, November 24, 1997.


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Thai fiction in the twentieth century was divided more or less between

the Literature of Social Preservation (conservative, moralistic, nostalgic for

traditional Thai culture, real and imagined), and the Literature of Social

Consciousness (socially liberal, politically progressive, impatient with the

pace of change). While there is considerable overlap in the work and the

attitudes of writers who represent these positions, almost without exception

Thai modern literature has met several basic criteria.

1. It is instructive and didactic,

2. It is reflective of a strong point of view on the ideal nature ofsociety,

3. It is focused on the experience of Thais within the context of Thai

society, or on the experiences of Thais in non-Thai settings.2 and

4. It is respectful of an author-reader contract concerning the nature,

purpose, and construction of a proper story, and concerning subject matter

that is acceptable or unacceptable.

The work of some new writers, of whom Prabda Yoon is arguably the

most outstanding and popular, exemplifies all of the features of a new, post-

modern trend.

1. It is demonstrative, rather than didactic;

2 The last element in this definition would apply to works from M.C. Akaatdamkerng'sLakhon Haeng Chiwit/l / / lakhn h\ng chiw|t (1929), and SeniSaowapong's Wanlaya's Love/ / khwaam r|ak khng wanlayaa(1951), set partly in Europe, partly in Bangkok; or Sri Burapha'sBehind the Painting/ / khaang lang phaap (1938) set in Japan and Bangkok. In all of theseworks, regardless of where they are located, Thais are focused on Thai issues, with otherThais, or viewing other lands and peoples through a Thai lens.

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2. It is focused on the individual, rather than society, or the ideal

nature of society, and ignores rather than rejects traditional metanarratives;

3. It is primarily concerned with presenting the spectacle of

contemporary life in a globalized, homogenized world, a kaleidoscope of

cultures, languages, attitudes, and behaviors; and

4. It is willing and eager to alter or even obliterate the

traditional author-reader contract. "Play" is an important element.

Prabda Yoon plays with language, culture, history, genres, and

Thai readers' expectations. The Thai alphabet, Thai linguistic history,grammar, usage, sound, and even the look of letters and words on the

page provide irresistible and limitless opportunities for play. He writes

about all kinds of people, most of them Thais, trying to figure out how

to live (occasionally, even whether to live) in the contemporary world.

But his stories are neither instructive nor didactic, nor are they

reflective of a strong point of view on the nature of an ideal society, nor

are they focused particularly on the experience of Thais within the

context of Thai society. They are set in many places: Lumpini Park, a

Bangkok rooftop, the streets of New York, a snowy field in Alaska --

and never is there a sense of cultural or ideological claustrophia

overriding the preeminence of pure story.

Prabda was born in Bangkok in 1973, the son of well-known journalistSuthichai Yoon. His parents had studied abroad, and at the age of 18 Prabda

also to went abroad to complete his education. He was accepted at the

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York, where

he received a B.A. in Fine Arts in 1996. After working briefly in New York

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as a graphic designer, he returned to Thailand and began writing fiction. (It

is interesting that another prominent, innovative new writer, Win Liawwarin,

older than Prabda but also writing from a post-modern perspective, was and

remains an architect with an MBA, a successful writer, designer and graphic

artist. Their email correspondence has been published as a book.)

Prabda's short stories were immediately successful. The first collected

book of his stories, "Muang mum-chak" (Land of right angles, 2000),

reflected his experiences living in New York. The second collection,

"Khwam na ja pen" (which may be translated either as "What ought to be,"or "Probability," 2001), focused on the lives of young urban Thais like himself

and his friends. In 2002, he was awarded the SEAWrite Prize for Literature

for this collection.3 In the same year, his third book of collected short stories,

"Uthokphay nay duang ta"("A flood in the eyes") was published, and he co-

wrote the screen play for Pen-ek Ratanaruang's film, "Last Life in the

Universe," which was released in Thailand and internationally in 2003, and

has received very positive and thoughtful reviews in the Western press. It is

this film that is perhaps the most accessible example of what may fairly be

called a post-modern trend in Thai literature, if we include screenplays.

Does Prabda's relatively privileged background, the length of his tenure

in New York, and his "globalized outlook" suggest a divide between young

elite writers such as himself, and less affluent young Thai writers who have

3 The SEAWrite Prize, awarded annually to rotating genres (poetry, short fiction,etc.), is the leading "establishment" literary award in Thailand; the selectioncommittee is comprised of leading figures in the literary and academiccommunities. It is criticized by writers representing the "literature of socialconsciousness" faction, which awards some prizes of its own, but no one in thatfaction has ever objected to being nominated for the SEAWrite Prize, or refused toaccept it.

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had no access to these things? Do some writers of his generation resent his

advantages, and the undeniably international perspective that underlies his

dazzling, sophisticated yet down to earth style? Indeed, they do. One

established Thai writer and admirer of Prabda's work told me, "If I were those

writers, I'd be jealous of him too."

Thais who are less than enthusiastic about Prabda's work include older

writers and readers who are simply perplexed by it. They don't think he

writes all that well. They usually say something like, "I don't 'get' these

stories, I don't see what's so good about them." Moreover, the tastes of

middle-aged and older reading public were shaped by the "consciousnessraising" literature of the 1970s, and stories of the kind Prabda writes do not

seem to have a "point." If he is supposed to be such a good writer, why can't

he write stories that have a point?

What is there to be "learned" from Prabda's fiction? Basically, the

reader learns about the world that Prabda has seen during his lifetime, and

how some people are living in this world that he has seen. Most authors

angrily deny that their work is autobiographical. But not Prabda. When I

suggested to him that one alternative to my translating his stories was for him

to translate them as first drafts, followed by a collaborative effort, editing and

refining the translations, he said that he could never do that, because the

stories were from his life, and it would be too painful to revisit them. Once

he has written them, he doesn't want to see them again.

Thais who went to study abroad twenty, thirty, or forty years ago went

and stayed, and rarely returned to Thailand until they had completed their

education. People like Sutichai Yoon, Prabda's father, lived eitherin the Thai

world, or in the Western world; and they were able to navigate in either quite

well. But it is very different, this globalized world in which their children

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live, a world that spans, includes, and homogenizes Berkeley and Bangkok,

Chicago and Chiang Mai. These young Thais play the same video games as

their contemporaries in the U.S., Hong Kong, Rio or Rome, they wear outfits

bought in New York but made in Thailand in Japanese factories; and their

world view is largely shaped by television and films. Which is not to suggest

that they have no interest in Thai issues, or ideas, including Thai pop culture.

They are quite likely to throw Thai singer Katlyea's best-selling new CD into

their carry-on bag, to listen to on the plane to Bangkok, or from it -- or the

new CD "Thaitanium Hip Hop" CD. This, from the eThaiCD website:

Thai Hip Hop pioneers where they take you where you've neverbeen before. October 16th, 2004, the day Thai Hip Hop stands up and

fights for the respect in the Thai music industry. Let it be known

they're here and they're to stay, Hip Hop Revolution.4

Young Thais who do read Thai fiction (and it must be said that many

rarely or never do) like Prabda Yoon because he speaks to their condition.

He is a human being in the world, who happens to be Thai.

What are the features of this writer's work that exemplify a shift

to a post-modern sensibility? It evinces a markedly indifferent attitude

toward metanarratives in general, and cultural artifacts in particular.

He neither loves nor hates them. He plays with them. In the story,

"What Ought to Be," the narrator and hero (or, anti-hero) is a young

man who, having stumbled through a few early career failures(particularly in art, Prabda lampooning his own initial career goals), is

now a successful creative director in a Bangkok advertising agency.

4 From the eThaiCD website: eThaiCD.com :: Concert VD : Thaitanium - HipHop Stands Up.

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As a boy, orphaned when his parents died in a car accident, he had

gone to live with his grandfather, an eccentric noodle shop owner who

showed old black and white "Dracula" movies to the neighbors every

Friday night. The narrator tells us that his grandfather looks a lot like

Dracula in the movies, but the evidence is against it.

Despite his appearance, Grandfather was just a normal rice

porridge seller during the day, and he was not much different at night.

No changing into a bat, flapping his wings and flying around biting the

necks of the neighbors and scaring the wits out of everybody. I neversaw him raise his arms, shaking and terrified, shielding his face from

the sight of garlic. He could eat all the garlic he wanted. Anyway,

Grandfather was a Buddhist, and said his prayers faithfully every night

before his head hit the pillow....Grandfather told me that Dracula wasn't

anything like Thai ghosts, who wander around sticking out their ugly

tongues and making their eyes bulge out, going around hating people,

seeking revenge and haunting them, or hacking their chests open....But

vampires were worse off than Thai ghosts, Grandfather said, because

they were unable to die. They were forced to live forever as evil

beasts, and that was why he considered them to be the most

unfortunate of beings. 5

From Transylvania to Thonburi and back again...no problem. Thedepictions of family life in Prabda's work reflect traditional Thai sensibilities,

5 From my unpublished translation. Forthcoming in Susan F. Kepner, editorHowWe Live Now in Siam: An Anthology of Contemporary Thai Literature," SilkwormBooks, Chiang Mai, edp 2006.

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and notions of family values, but they are frequently mocked and subverted.

He remembers his relationship with his father, when he was a little boy.

...there was one time in my life when I considered suicide. I wasfeeling ill-used and downhearted because my father would not buy me

the plastic robot, even though it cost much, much less than the bottle of

wine he had just bought. I went to his bureau and took out one of his

neckties and tied it around my neck like a noose. I went to my father

holding the necktie up above my head with one hand to show my

intention, and with tears streaming down my face I informed him that I

was going to hang myself. This picture is indelibly printed in my mind,

because it was a prize-winning performance. My father stared at me

for a moment, and then walked away saying, "After you're dead, don't

forget to call home. But at that time, I had no income and no cell

phone.6

Another story in this collection, less cynical and in fact quite tender,

takes place in Bangkok and in Alaska. A Thai woman has a son who, when

he was four years old, came to her bedside early one morning and solemnly

presented her with two handfuls of grass, saying, "Snow for you, Mother."

He has been doing this every morning since, and he is now in his thirties. She

patiently saves money, until at last she is able to buy two tickets to Fairbanks,

Alaska. The sight and the feel of real snow, she hopes desperately, will curehim of his strange behavior. Standing on a frozen field in Alaska, bundled up

in his new parka, the son looks confused at first, then smiles, picks up snow

6Ibid.

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in both of his mittens, and trudges toward her. "Snow for you, Mother," he

says, offering it to her.

It is a devastating moment, so final -- nothing will change, he will

always be a four year old boy who brings her handfuls of snow every

morning. Later, back home in Bangkok, reflecting on the great sacrifice she

had made on his behalf, she says to herself, "What a fortunate person is my

son, to have such a mother."

She has made her peace with reality. This could be interpreted as a

significant "Buddhist message" -- but really, there is no traditional message in

this story, of the kind that used to be required, in Thai fiction. Here is amother, here is a son, this is how their life is, in this world. We have

observed them for awhile, and now we are leaving.

"Last Life in the Universe"

Prabda co-wrote the screenplay for this very successful 2003 film, with

director Pen-ek Ratanaruang. It is readily available, with English subtitles.

This film meets all four of the criteria I have enumerated, describing the

characteristics of a post-modern position. The main male character is

Japanese, not Thai. The main female character is Thai. People in the movie

communicate in Thai, Japanese, and, most of the time, in the universal

language, English. They converse, they share, but they do not talk

specifically about how they feel about anything. The film is supremely

demonstrative, and visual, rather than didactic. Its only "purpose" is to give

us, the audience, two hours in which to observe the anomie, strangeness, and

confusion of the characters' lives. Like living chips in a cosmic kaleidoscope,

they drift, they rise, and they fall.

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We may assign countless meanings to many things in this film. My

own favorite character in the film is a house. The house that belongs to the

Thai woman, a prostitute for the Japanese business community who looks

forward, more or less, to moving to Osaka. The house is an architectural,

cultural artifact and remnant of the 1960s or early 70s -- an American-inspired

ugly stucco monument to the gods of economic development. It has been

neglected for years. The house is filthy, the garden is wrecked, the swimming

pool is grown over and, with the tree that has taken root in the middle of it,

has the appearance of a jungle ruin, a modernistic monstrous repository of

lost dreams, lost human beings, a civilization imagined but not achieved. Thewoman lives in a ruin, weirdly haunted by the ghosts of development and

westernization, of plastic furniture, eight-track tape players, and parties on the

patio, beside the tiled pool. The characters in the film see the house through

lenses of their own; its meaning for them we cannot really know. The man

attempts to clean and fix the house; the woman barely sees the wreckage,

climbing over it to sleep, eat, bathe, dress, and go out once again to her

Japanese businessmen.

I look at this house and I cannot help but think,

"annicang"...impermanence... but what does she think, the owner of this

place? What does he think, this young Japanese man, adrift in the universe?

And what are we supposed to think about all of it? As is the case with so

many of the stories Prabda has written, we are given no instructions.

We have to think for ourselves.

Sources and Suggested Reading

Thai

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Chusak Pattarakulvanit. Cherng-at watanatham / /Footnotes to Literature. Bangkok: Matichon, 1996.

Prabda Yoon. Khwam na ja pen / / What ought to be.

Bangkok: Amarin Press, 2002,Win Liawwarin. Sing mii chiiwit riak wa khon / / Living thingsthat are called people. Bangkok: Double Nine Printing,1999.

English

Kepner, Susan F. Married to the Demon King: Sri Daoruang's Tales of theDemon Folk. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2004. (Sri Daoruang"played" with Ramayana characters, placing them ni contemporary

Bangkok, in seven short stories she called "tales of the demon folk."These stories, reviled at first by Thai critics, who found them"inappropriate" or "not real fiction," were precursors of the post-modern trend in Thai fiction.)

Win Lyovarin. [Win Liawwarin] "The Chaniang Pot by the Window."Translated by Malithat Promathatavedi. Asean Short Stories and

Poems. Edited by Srisurang Poolthupya. Bangkok: Thai P.E.N.Center, 1999.

Film

"Hom Rong." (The Overture) Directed by Itisunthorn Wichailak.Available from eThaiCD.com (No subtitled version available as ofthis writing.)

"Last Life in the Universe." Directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Availablefrom Amazon.com., with subtitles.

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