Guest Posted April 5, 2003 Report Share Posted April 5, 2003 i do like 'a child of the north east'. would be somehow worth somesort of a sequel, how the last 15 years have affected and changed villagelife here in thailand. i don't mind reading books about the live of westerners living here in thailand, i think there is a lot in there to explore, but unfortunately mostly books on that topic leave the thais involved almost always very scetchy and superficial in their characterisation. i would expect more from writers based here. thailand joy was a definate exception to that and hopefully will serve other writers here as an inspiration. i think it doesn't matter really of which nationality the writer is as long as there is real dephth in his/her books. that i see lacking in most books here, both written by thais and farang. that's the thing here i miss from india (and partly china) - go to any bookstore and find some brilliant books. when i was in india, pre internet days, post retante only, no cable TV, almost any city i went i could by kilos of books by local writers for a few dollars. that's how i got to know R.K. narayan's malgudi, satyajit ray's lovely feluda stories, all those great books on almost every aspect of hinduism... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted April 6, 2003 Report Share Posted April 6, 2003 Says flyonzewall: i do like 'a child of the north east'. would be somehow worth somesort of a sequel, how the last 15 years have affected and changed villagelife here in thailand. Unfortunately the author died last Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted April 6, 2003 Report Share Posted April 6, 2003 Says OldAsiaHand: A remarkable number of people seem to develop what you can only describe as a personal and highly emotional relationship with Bangkok as a city, and to a lesser degree, with Thailand as a whole. In my observation, this relationship all too frequently leads them to become self-appointed guardians of 'the truth' as to what the 'real' Bangkok really is and what kind of books about it are therefore worthwhile. As a result, there is never any shortage of people insisting that this novelist or that who writes about their beloved city fails to protray accurately the true reality of this place, although I have to admit that it's pretty original to condemn all such novelists as a group as 'crap' and 'a load of garbage' since they only 'entertain' and fail to 'make better falangs' of us all. I'm sure I'm guilty of that from time to time (OK ALL the time) but I guenuinely find that most of these books tend to fall into the same old cliches and few ever come close to reflecting the experience that I have had here. What grates is that while there are many authors writing about many aspects of life in LA or Italy, locally based writers seem restricted to a kind of monothematic drudery which wasn't so appealing in the first place. And yes, If I thought I had an ounce of literary talent I would write a book myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUZIBANDIT Posted April 10, 2003 Report Share Posted April 10, 2003 Speaking of Jake Needham's novel 'The Big Mango', apparrently James Gandolfini read it, loved it and now ole Tony Soprano is going to make the movie and star in it. I didn't really like the book, although it was fun, but it was the typical cliche Thai sterotypes all around. It will be interesting to see how they film the shoot-out on Soi Cowboy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted April 10, 2003 Report Share Posted April 10, 2003 thailand is so much more. ----------------------- shhhh... Don't tell anyone, they may listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattaya127 Posted April 10, 2003 Report Share Posted April 10, 2003 i think it doesn't matter really of which nationality the writer is as long as there is real dephth in his/her books. that i see lacking in most books here, both written by thais and farang. ----------------------------------- A candid opinion that honors you. I believe decades of self-censorship and taboo subjects have helped in that hindrance. On the other hand, poetry, which can hit the point while seemingly not relating directly to concrete situations or persons, has a great tradition. the best writers can shake a nation upside down, or at least provoke questionning on the most sensitive subjects. But you know where that leads in Thailand. Shot in the middle of the night, or in jail, spending one's royalties on lawyers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 10, 2003 Report Share Posted April 10, 2003 >>>I believe decades of self-censorship... <<< that i see as the biggest problem. people so afraid of possible problems that before they even have a problem they apply that blasted selfcensorship, and what you can read then is complete mush. >>>But you know where that leads in Thailand. Shot in the middle of the night, or in jail, spending one's royalties on lawyers.<<< fuck royalties. quality is produced by obsession, by people who are driven. and thailand is not anymore stuck in the dark days of the communist insurgency and extreme governmental opression, so i do believe writers do now have the freedom to adress things even rather straightforward. i only wonder why there are so few around who do that. the topics are out there, but rarely does one touch upon them. concerning thai writers, i think the biggest problem here nowadays is the very strict social hirarchy which makes it very difficult for someone who had the money and the opportunity to get a university education to move into completely different social classes. most foreign writers unfortunately just move around in their own little expat world, rarely touch thailand beyond thais who are western educated (and of course prostitutes catering for westerners). what you generally get is very insular works, without vision, without context, not representing the whole circle. the topic matter which is presented in this country is tremendous, if one would take the time and scratch a bit below the surface here incredible layers more and more confusing are opening up, an incredible depth. what i get presented instead most of the time is very shallow. sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted April 11, 2003 Report Share Posted April 11, 2003 Says flyonzewall: >>>I believe decades of self-censorship... <<< that i see as the biggest problem. people so afraid of possible problems that before they even have a problem they apply that blasted selfcensorship, and what you can read then is complete mush. >>>But you know where that leads in Thailand. Shot in the middle of the night, or in jail, spending one's royalties on lawyers.<<< fuck royalties. quality is produced by obsession, by people who are driven. and thailand is not anymore stuck in the dark days of the communist insurgency and extreme governmental opression, so i do believe writers do now have the freedom to adress things even rather straightforward. i only wonder why there are so few around who do that. the topics are out there, but rarely does one touch upon them. concerning thai writers, i think the biggest problem here nowadays is the very strict social hirarchy which makes it very difficult for someone who had the money and the opportunity to get a university education to move into completely different social classes. I agree. Also I think that the political suppression has been replaced with a corporate conservatism which seeks to make everything 'nice'. Not that there's nothing out there. I have a book called ÃÑ°ºÒÅ¡ÃËÃÕè (Rataban Galee) "Government of Whores" which doesn't pull punches. Of course it's in Thai and I can't see it being translated into English anytime soon. Still it's a phenonmena that crosses all media. In the 80's Carabao wrote songs about social justice now they're 'energy drink tycoons'. (Carabao's first hit was 'Loong kee mao' about a displaced farmer driven to drink, now Add Carabao sings nationalist songs to promote beer, who said the Thai's have no sense of irony?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 11, 2003 Report Share Posted April 11, 2003 >>>I have a book called ÃÑ°ºÒÅ¡ÃËÃÕè (Rataban Galee) "Government of Whores" which doesn't pull punches<<< can't read thai, only speak it, so i will have to wait for that translation, but i am tremendously interested. i really don't understand why the translation industry into english here is so small. i really enyoyed marcel barang's project a few years ago, but that unfortunately was cut short when the manager group went broke. if i compare that with india, jeesas, nearly every book written there is translated back and forth into all the languages there and english as well. >>>now Add Carabao sings nationalist songs to promote beer<<< interesting that you mention that plactic revolutionary but he really does somehow fit into that discussion here. he's one of those blokes who behind all their hippy look are not very nice and tolerant. often now, when i see those hippy-looking thais i mostly get the impression that they are the complete opposite from what the style represents in our culture. i do not like to listen to carabao's songs, so many of them have those not so nice racist undertones. and interesting enough, the nastiest fights you have during and after carabao concerts, some of them make the arenas look like slaughterhouses with dozens of injured. heard of that TV ad he did where a group of soldiers shoots some hilltribe people out of whose backpacks fall then some jaa maa pills, and he jumps into the picture with his stupid sign? there is some irony in that as well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted April 12, 2003 Report Share Posted April 12, 2003 I started to doubt Add Carabao's the credibility about 10 years ago when I saw him driving his Proshe near Ram. He was also the national handgun champion at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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