‘The Son of a Javanese’: Translating and Positioning Luuk Chaai Khon Chawaa in a Comparative Literary Frame

Abstract

This paper provides a commentary on a short story by the Thai writer Paitoon Thanya, Luuk chaai khon chawaa, an English translation of which precedes the paper. It sets the author in his socio-political context, in particular in the context of the political turmoil of the period 1973–76, the subsequent departure of Bangkok radicals for the jungle, and then, towards the close of the 1970s, their growing disillusionment with the communist movement. The paper also relates the work of Paitoon Thanya to earlier Thai literary traditions — for example, to a tradition of the veneration of nature — and to other examples of contemporary Thai fiction, not least by other Southern Thai writers. A highly distinctive feature of Luuk chaai khon chawaa is that, concerned as it is with the fate of a Javanese outsider in a Southern Thai rural community, it draws attention to the cultural resistance that is widespread among Thai communities towards close neighbours. Commentary on the story, and consideration of the problems which arise in translating it into English, therefore throw considerable light on the important issue of making Thai literature more accessible for regional — that is, South East Asian — and international comparative literary study. The paper argues that this accessibility requires a far greater understanding of the political, social, and literary contexts within which Thai literature is produced, and at least some understanding of the history of Thailand's distinctive relations with the outside world.