WRITING THAILAND: A CREATIVE EXPLORATION OF THAI CULTURAL IDENTITY IN THE FORM OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE SHORT FICTION AND NON-FICTION by PANCHARLE THONGPANICH A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Film and Creative Writing School of English, Drama, and American and Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis is comprised of a creative and critical component. The creative component is a collection of short stories and non-fiction vignettes centred around Thai identity named Thai Myths and Other True Stories. It performs the fragmented nature of identity by juxtaposing short stories that belong to very different genres of writing, including several retellings of Thai myths, and by blurring the lines between fiction and non-fiction. Many of the pieces are written in response to either the official government vision of Thai identity, or to the tourist expectations about Thailand. The critical component includes a critical essay and commentary. The critical essay delineates the theoretical frameworks centred around the writing of non-native English speakers and exploring aspects of Thai culture. It also offers an analysis of the themes and narrative strategies of selected texts by a range of writers – namely S.P. Somtow, Rattawaut Lapcharoensap, Salman Rushdie and Nathan Englander – whose projects resemble that of this thesis. The commentary details the process of writing the short story collection and investigates the implications of the choices made by the author regarding the form and thematic, and the styles and approaches influenced by the four writers mentioned in the critical essay. ii Acknowledgements It would have been almost impossible to write this thesis without the help of a group of people. The most important persons involved in shaping this thesis are my supervisors, Dr Dan Vyleta and Dr Ruth Gilligan. Dr Vyleta’s invaluable comments and feedback help shape this thesis, transforming a chaotic jumble of thoughts into clear, coherent writing. His unwavering faith in the project had boosted my morale during hard times, including a period of writer’s blocks and self-doubt. Dr Gilligan’s useful critiques also guide the paths taken to complete the thesis and are greatly appreciated. I would also like to thank Dr Richard House for accepting me into the PhD course and for consulting on the thesis in its early stage. I also consider lecturers of the Department of Film and Creative Writing, including Dr Luke Kennard and Dr Elsa Braekkan Payne, a great source of creative contribution and inspiration. I wish to acknowledge the Office of the Higher Education Commission for financial support towards the cost of tuition fees and student general maintenance cost during the PhD study. In addition, I also appreciate the educational and welfare support from the Office of Educational Affairs, the Royal Thai Embassy. I acknowledge the help of Michael Springer as a third party editor for this thesis. Classmates from the MA and PhD in Creative Writing programmes are also in aid of the PhD journey. Special thanks to friends from my MA course – Rosemary Worsley, Richard Solly, and Harry Hartless – for their valuable friendship and support. Finally, I wish to thank my grandmother and the rest of my family for their patience and encouragement throughout my study. iii Table of Contents ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... III INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................... 1 1 PART ONE ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 FRAMEWORKS AND THEORIES ......................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Postcolonial Writing ............................................................................................... 4 1.1.2 Metonymic Gap ...................................................................................................... 6 1.1.3 Contact and Exophonic Literature ......................................................................... 7 1.2 CULTURAL REPRESENTATION AND THAI IDENTITY ....................................................... 10 2 PART TWO ...................................................................................................................... 13 ANALYSIS OF THE THEMES AND NARRATIVE STRATEGIES OF SELECTED WRITERS ............... 13 2.1 S.P. SOMTOW’S JASMINE NIGHTS .................................................................................. 13 2.2 RATTAWUT LAPCHAROENSAP’S SIGHTSEEING ............................................................... 20 2.3 SALMAN RUSHDIE’S EAST, WEST ................................................................................... 27 2.4 NATHAN ENGLANDER’S WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ANNE FRANK ... 35 3 PART THREE .................................................................................................................. 44 THAI MYTHS AND OTHER TRUE STORIES ..................................................................... 44 ARRIVAL ................................................................................................................................ 45 TO BE A BACKPACKER (OR NOT) .................................................................................... 46 GRANDMA ............................................................................................................................. 51 iv WHY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW, IT ASKS .......................................................... 53 BEDROOM .............................................................................................................................. 73 HIDE AND SEEK .................................................................................................................... 74 NAAK OF PHRA KHANONG ................................................................................................ 81 NAAK ....................................................................................................................................... 83 THE ENCOUNTER ................................................................................................................. 89 FOOD OBSESSION ................................................................................................................ 94 HOW TO BREW SUNLIGHT IN YOUR DREAM ................................................................ 96 HER GHOST MOTHER ........................................................................................................ 103 GAME OF KHON .................................................................................................................. 104 GO-KART KING ................................................................................................................... 120 SOCIAL MEETINGS ............................................................................................................ 123 MISS KAEW HORSEFACE ................................................................................................. 125 DRIVING IN BANGKOK ..................................................................................................... 131 THE GRAND EXAM ............................................................................................................ 132 SUPERSTITIONS .................................................................................................................. 139 WELCOME TO THE CLUB ................................................................................................. 140 THIS IS NOT ABOUT MY MOTHER’S DEATH ............................................................... 155 FARANG AND MIA FARANG ............................................................................................ 158 PARTY, TAXI, BOY SCOUT CAMP ................................................................................... 178 v SUPERNATURAL FM .......................................................................................................... 183 AT THE TEMPLE ................................................................................................................. 188 BAD NEWS IN ICELAND .................................................................................................... 200 NAI LUANG .......................................................................................................................... 203 YELLOW-SHIRT PROTEST ................................................................................................ 205 THE MESSAGE ....................................................................................................................