Five studies on Khun Chang Khun Phaen : the many faces of a Thai literary classic / edited by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Baker, Christopher John, 1948- editor.

Pasuk Phongpaichit, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Khun Chāng Khun Phǣn--Criticism, Textual.

Khun Chāng Khun Phǣn.

Thai literature--History and criticism.

Thai literature.

Criticism, Textual.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Physical Description:

209 pages ; 21 cm

Other Title:

Khun Chang Khun Phaen

Place of Publication:

Chiang Mai : Silkworm Books, 2017.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Siam's great folk epic The Tale of Khun Chang Khun Phaen has entertained and delighted readers and audiences down through the centuries, with its rich and earthy portrayal of life and relationships in love and war. Here, a mix of Thai and Western scholars present five critical essays that uncover hidden layers of meaning and expose new themes using theories and approaches developed mainly within the field of Western literary criticism. The first two essays arise out of the crucible of Thailand's social upheaval and student protest movement in the early 1970s, when Thai literary criticism was nascent. They argue that the tale shows a society without principle, and the characters reveal the latent aggression that resides universally in the human psyche. The remaining three essays originated a generation or more later. The third essay contends that the tale was designed to teach Buddhist morality by employing the Three Worlds cosmography and the law of karma. The fourth essay analyzes the forest as a metaphorical space for the recovery of selfhood, and the final essay examines the tale as a manual that gives crucial guidance on power and politics Book jacket.

Contents:

A society which lacks principle / M.L. Boonlua Debyasuvarn

The aggression of characters in Khun Chang Khun Phaen / Cholthira Satyawadhna

Khun Chang Khun Phaen and the moral landscape of the three worlds cosmology / Warunee Osatharom

Space, identity, and self-definition, the forest in Khun Chang Khun Phaen / David C. Atherton

The revolt of Khun Phaen, contesting power in early modern Siam / Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit.

ISBN:

9786162151316

616215131X

OCLC:

973810149

Publisher Number:

99974135811