Author: Harrison, Rachel

Source: South East Asia Research, Volume 13, Number 1, March 2005 , pp. 91-111(21)

Publisher: IP Publishing Ltd

Abstract:

When Kham Phakaa's newspaper columns on popular Thai fiction were published collectively under the provocative title, Krathuu dork thorng (Queries from a Common Slut) in 2003, a new contribution was made to the study of modern Thai literature. Billed as 'feminist' criticism, her innovative discussions set out deliberately to fly in the face of traditional Thai literary analysis and, in particular, its respect for authorial intention as the defining signification of the text. Instead Kham Phakaa adopts a position at the extreme negative end of the spectrum of acceptable female behaviour, speaking symbolically as a 'slut' and a 'whore', from which to suggest new and unthinkable sexual agendas for the heroines of modern Thai literature: agendas often beyond the cognizance of their authors and determined or denied by sociocultural pressures and the overarching control of the state. In so doing, Kham Phakaa produces a culturally valuable and wittily written piece of polemic that in turn deserves close analysis in itself.

Keywords: FEMINIST CRITICISM; GENDER STUDIES; SEXUALITY; CULTURAL STUDIES; CONTEMPORARY THAILAND; THAI LITERATURE

Document Type: Review article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/0000000053693554

Publication date: 2005-03-01

More about this publication?

• South East Asia Research publishes articles based on original research or fieldwork on all aspects of South East Asia within the disciplines of archaeology, art history, economics, geography, history, language and literature, law, music, political science, social anthropology and religious studies. This peer-reviewed journal is published four times per year by IP Publishing in cooperation with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). SOAS is the leading centre in this field in Europe and one of the most prestigious centres of South East Asian Studies in the world.

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