SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The name Kulap Saipradit or 'Siburapha' has in recent years become increasingly familiar to the western student of Thailand, Information about his life and literary work nevertheless remains fragmentary and superficial. This study is an attempt to familiarize the western reader with the life and major works of a writer who is today widely regarded by Thais as one of the country's major novelists. The Introduction explains briefly who Kulap is and sets out some of the limitations of the western writer in examining the works of a Thai novelist. Chapter I synthesises information about Kulap's life from a Variety of Thai sources and sets this against a background of events within Thailand at the time. Chapter II looks at five of Kulap's early novels, all of which appeared within a space of about twelve months. Written to a formula, these works brought rapid fame to Kulap and can be taken as being indicative of popular taste of the day. Chapter III examines Kulap's two most acclaimed novels and looks closely at what various Thai critics have said or - sometimes equally significantly- left unsaid about them. Chapter IV deals with Kulap' s later more radical fiction in which he often quite openly criticised government policy, and which led to these works being out of print for nearly two decades. Chapter V concludes with a brief look at the resurrection of Kulap's later works, his promotion as a symbol of radical thought in the early 1970's and his present incorporation into Thai literary genealogies. The Appendix includes a translation of one of Kulap's most highly regarded novels, Khang lang phap (Behind the Painting) and two of his later short stories, Khon phuak nan (Those Kind of People) and Khao tu'n (He's Waking Up); in addition, there is a list of some of his better known novels and short stories.