Almost no fiction from the Southeast Asian nations extending from Burma (Myanmar) to Vietnam is accessible to English-speaking readers, despite the strong literary traditions in several of these countries. Political isolation offers a partial explanation, as some of these countries have, to varying degrees, closed themselves off from engaging with the outside world for extended periods of time. Yet even fiction from Thailand, by far the most open of them, is seldom available in English translation. The publishing industry and writing culture are still underdeveloped in relatively small Laos and Cambodia, but both Myanmar and Vietnam have a very active literary scene.
BURMA (MYANMAR)
Burma was under British rule from 1886 until World War II before finally gaining full independence in 1948. Because of the limited foreign investment and industrialization under the secretive military dictatorship that came to power in 1962, the nation has remained in something of a time warp until recently, unable to escape its past, and the literature set there often seems to reflect that. The best-known works set in Burma are colorful historical fictions such as
Maurice Collis’s (1889–1973)
She Was a Queen (1937) and
F. Tennyson Jesse’s (1888–1958)
The Lacquer Lady (1929). Even more recent novels, like
Daniel Mason’s (b. 1976)
The Piano Tuner (2002), take place in the early colonial period.
Amitav Ghosh’s (b. 1956)
The Glass Palace (2000) begins with the British takeover, though at least it extends to the present.
George Orwell’s (1903–1950)
Burmese Days (1934), inspired by his own years there working for the colonial police, feels dated but remains among the best novels about Burma.
Only a few works of fiction have been translated from Burmese since independence. Ma Ma Lay’s (1917–1982) Not Out of Hate (1955, English 1991) is set in colonial Burma in the 1930s. In this novel, a very traditional girl marries a ridiculously Anglophile Burmese, who then imposes his ways on her. Well intentioned—as the title emphasizes—he nevertheless crushes the girl’s spirits in an obvious allegory of British rule. The depiction of small-town Burmese life and customs is appealing, and the story is engaging, but the writing now feels quaint.
Nu Nu Yi’s (b. 1957) more recent Smile as They Bow (2007, English 2008) seems to promise something far more exotic, though its real success is how it presents its colorful premises prosaically. The novel takes place in a transvestite milieu, the central figure a natkadaw queen named U Ba Si (but known as Daisy Bond) who plays a prominent role in a local annual festival. Smile as They Bow shows how deeply rooted superstition and spirituality are in Burmese life, as well as incidentally revealing the everyday hardships of getting by. Nevertheless, the novel is largely apolitical and has a timeless feel, as it could just as well be set during colonial times as the present.
Expatriate author
Wendy Law-Yone (b. 1947) left Burma in 1967, and her first novel,
The Coffin Tree (1983), recounts an experience of being an immigrant in America. The more ambitious
Irrawaddy Tango (1993) is clearly based on conditions in her homeland, though Law-Yone sets it in a fictional country named Daya. The central figure, Tango, marries a man who becomes the country’s dictator, but she is kidnapped by rebel forces and eventually winds up in the United States. With its lively main character and whirlwind story,
Irrawaddy Tango is ultimately more a novel about personal experience than about Burma.
CAMBODIA
During the horrific reign of the Khmer Rouge (1975–1979), Cambodia had almost no cultural activity, but in any case, until very recently, there have been limited opportunities for writers at any time in Cambodia’s modern history. Both under the French colonialists and then, after becoming independent in 1953, under Norodom Sihanouk, as well as after the toppling of the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese, political and economic realities prevented the development of an open literary culture. Moreover, what is considered the first modern Khmer novel, Rim Kin’s (1911–1959) not yet translated Sophat (1941), was first published in Vietnam.
While many memoirs and personal accounts of surviving the Khmer Rouge regime are available in English, almost no adult fiction has been translated. Among the few works available is Oum Suphany’s (b. 1946) Under the Drops of Falling Rain (1989, English 1997). The novel tells of a marriage arranged by the Khmer Rouge in which the couple does eventually find true love. Albeit a product of the Vietnamese-installed People’s Republic of Kampuchea (as the country was called from 1979 to 1993), where the dominant school of art still was strict social realism, the novel’s mix of romance and validation of cultural values after a period when all these had been denied make it an interesting curiosity.
A number of foreign authors have set their fiction in Cambodia, most notably Canadian-born author
Geoff Ryman (b. 1951). Several of Ryman’s award-winning shorter works of fantasy have been inspired by recent Cambodian history, and his novel
The King’s Last Song (2006) is a sweeping portrait of Cambodian culture and history that alternates between the present and the twelfth-century reign of Jayavarman VII.
LAOS
Laos, with by far the smallest population of any of the countries in the region, is also relatively isolated. Outhine Bounyavong’s (1942–2000) collection of stories Mother’s Beloved (English 1999) is a rare sample of Lao writing. Even though the stories are hardly exceptional, they do offer some sense of the country and culture, and Peter Koret’s lengthy introduction, a survey of Lao literature, is also very useful.
Despite the paucity of Lao literature in translation, the country has not been entirely ignored by writers from elsewhere, and British-born Colin Cotterill (b. 1952) set a series of crime novels featuring coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun in 1970s Laos after the Communist takeover. Using a great deal of local color, ranging from Lao superstition to Communist politics, and with their comic touch, these are entertaining mysteries.
THAILAND
Thai fiction remains largely unknown in the West, and Thai censorship—under its draconian lèse-majesté laws (Thailand is still a monarchy)—is the only aspect of reading and writing in Thailand that gets much attention abroad—and even then, it is usually only when foreign authors or publications are involved. Any writing perceived as in any way insulting to the monarchy is strictly prohibited, and offending journalists and authors have been sentenced to long jail terms. In 2009, Australian author Harry Nicolaides pleaded guilty to the offense of slandering the Thai royal family in a passage in his self-published novel Verisimilitude (2005) of which only a few copies had been sold; he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Rattawut Lapcharoensap (b. 1979) is one of the few authors with strong ties to the country who have found any recognition in the English-speaking world in recent years. Born in America, he was raised in Thailand before completing his higher education in the United States, and he writes in English. His collection of stories
Sightseeing (2005) describes contemporary Thai life and takes in the familiar tourist scene but also delves more deeply into local issues. From a story about evading the military draft to a longer piece about cockfighting, Lapcharoensap sketches his characters simply but effectively.
In the best one-volume introduction to modern Thai fiction, Marcel Barang’s The 20 Best Novels of Thailand (1994), offers a useful (if very idiosyncratic) contemporary overview as well as excerpts from the twenty selected works. Several of these have also been published in full in translation, including Siburapha’s (1905–1974) Behind the Painting (1937, English 1990), Kukrit Pramoj’s (1911–1995) Four Reigns (1954, English 1981), Wimon Sainimnuan’s (b. 1958) Snakes (1984, English 1996), and Chart Korbjitti’s (b. 1954) The Judgment (1981, English 2001).
Siburapha’s Behind the Painting is a nostalgic romance that in some ways resembles an Eastern variation of the fin-de-siècle novel. The narrator, Nopphon, looks back on a relationship he had years earlier with an older woman, a newlywed and aristocrat, in Tokyo and what it meant to both of them. Whereas he overcame the passion of youth after they parted, he discovers that she has continued to harbor feelings for him. Nopphon represents a new, forward-looking generation, and his beloved, Kirati, is from an aristocratic class that is literally dying out.
Kukrit Pramoj was a member of the royal family and briefly served as prime minister (1975–1976)—and also played the role of Prime Minister Kwen Sai in the film
The Ugly American (1963, starring Marlon Brando and based on William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick’s novel about American diplomacy in Southeast Asia). Kukrit Pramoj also was a prolific writer.
Four Reigns is a historical novel that follows the life of its female protagonist, Ploi, through the reigns of four Thai monarchs—Rama V through Rama VIII—from the late nineteenth century through World War II. Its depiction of court life and Thai customs and its appealing central character make this much-loved Thai classic a fine introduction to the local culture and history, though the English translation can seem prolix.
The vast majority of Thais are Buddhists, and the religion plays an important role in the country. With its depiction of the potential for corruption among the clergy and the abuse of religion by politicians, popular author Wimon Sainimnuan’s Snakes offers particularly interesting insights into this world.
Chart Korbjitti is the leading contemporary Thai writer, whose breakthrough work was the dark novel of small-minded small-town life, The Judgment. In this novel the main character, Fak, gives up a religious life to help his father but becomes the victim of local gossip when he is suspected of having an affair with his beautiful but feeble-minded stepmother. These rumors lead to greater misery for Fak and eventually drive him to his death. Other novels by Chart also rely extensively on short, fast exchanges of dialogue and action. Chart addresses a wide variety of social issues in an entertaining fashion that contrast with the region’s otherwise generally earnest and socially engaged fiction (as well as its popular but very light romantic fare). In Time (1993, English 2000), Chart experiments with the form of the novel. The narrator of Time is a filmmaker getting on in years who is watching a long-winded play about the elderly. He describes what he sees and thinks and also reimagines how he would have the scenes play out if he were filming this story. Time is a novel about aging and throughout the cleverly structured narrative are constant rhythmic reminders of time slowly and steadily passing.
VIETNAM
The Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, still casts a long shadow over Vietnam and its literature. All aspects of the prolonged American involvement in the conflict, in which several million members of the military served, have been treated in many works written by Americans, but few Vietnamese works covering this period have been translated. The victorious Communist government that unified Vietnam has restricted what can be written and published in Vietnam. Economic liberalization and reform have accelerated in recent years, however, and have led to greater cultural freedom, despite reversals. As in China, there was considerably more openness in the late 1980s, followed by a retrenchment after the collapse of the Soviet Union. With a majority of its large population having been born after the end of the war, the continued shift from politically engaged—and politically correct—fiction to writing that examines contemporary everyday concerns (as well as escapist entertainment) seems inevitable.
THAILAND AS A SETTING FOR FOREIGNERS’ FICTION
With its glorious beaches and notorious sex trade, Thailand has also been a popular setting for fiction by foreigners. Alex Garland’s (b. 1970) idyll-shattering, backpacking novel The Beach (1996) remains a favorite among tourists. A surprising number of mysteries and thrillers also are set in the region. While the best that one can say about Dean Barrett’s (b. 1942) Thai novels is that they are action packed, Bangkok-based authors John Burdett’s (b. 1951) and Christopher G. Moore’s (b. 1952) familiarity with Thai culture and subculture serve them well in their crime books.
The Vietnam War dominates Bao Ninh’s (b. 1952) stark The Sorrow of War (1991, English 1994). From his childhood to his disappointment when he returns to civilian life, the war defines the life of the protagonist, Kien. Most significantly, it also crushes his hopes for love. Nguyen Khai’s (1930–2008) Past Continuous (1985, English 2001) is another novel presenting the war from the Vietnamese perspective. Its three main characters, including a secret agent and a Catholic priest, each engaged in the conflict in a different way, offer a vivid portrait of the North Vietnamese struggle.
Duong Thu Huong (b. 1947) is among the few Vietnamese authors whose works have been widely translated. She has long been a prominent and outspoken critic of the regime and was expelled from the Communist Party and imprisoned for several months in 1991. Several of her books, including the trilogy that begins with
Novel Without a Name (1991, English 1995), were first published abroad, and many are still banned in Vietnam. One of the major story lines in
The Zenith (2009, English 2012) focuses on an aging Ho Chi Minh, no longer at the center of government as he was at the height of the Vietnam War.
In Duong’s Beyond Illusions (1987, English 2002), the central character, Linh, is despondent about the compromises her husband and then her lover make, selling out their ideals. Situated in Hanoi in the late 1980s, this novel is a revealing picture of the difficulties of remaining true to oneself and one’s beliefs in a totalitarian society that cannot live up to its own slogans and ideology. Several of Duong’s novels revolve around difficult personal relationships, often involving degrees of separation between lovers as lives and relationships are made more complicated by the Vietnam War and its aftermath. Although politics is omnipresent in her fiction, her main characters are frequently engaged in the arts. Duong’s focus on the creative and the personal—and a powerful, direct style of writing—make for stories that transcend their narrow Vietnamese setting.
In Crossing the River (English 2003), the most comprehensive collection of his fiction, Nguyen Huy Thiep (b. 1950) presents a gritty, realistic picture of postwar Vietnamese society. Many of his characters are far from the Communist ideal found in social realist fiction, and he depicts the failures of the impossible perfect society for which the Vietnamese had fought and the realities his characters now face.
KEEP IN MIND
• Ho Anh Thai’s (b. 1960) novels include Apocalypse Hotel (2002, English 2012), about fast times in fast-changing 1990s Vietnam, and The Women on the Island (1988, English 2000).
• Pham Thi Hoai’s (b. 1960) story The Crystal Messenger (1988, English 1997) is about of twin sisters in postwar Vietnam.
• Ma Van Khang’s (b. 1936) Against the Flood (1999, English 2000) is an appealing novel about an idealistic writer, Khiem, undone by the conniving that goes on around him in an increasingly corrupt modern Vietnam. The translation, however, distorts much of the original, including uprooting its Communist foundations.