Author: Chaloemtiarana, Thak

Source: South East Asia Research, Volume 15, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 29-52(24)

Publisher: IP Publishing Ltd

Abstract:

Published for the one and only time in 1916, the little-known Thai novel Nang Neramid [Divine Nymphs] is the recently rediscovered work of Khru Liam (pseudonym Nai Samran). Author of Siam's first example of a full-length novel, Khwam Mai Phayabat [The Non-Vendetta], Khru Liam's fiction bears a close relationship to translated Victorian works popular among Thai readers of the time, such as Marie Corelli's Vendetta and Sir Henry Rider Haggard's She. This article explores the Siamese adoption and adaptation of Western literary sources to produce a Thai novel in close imitation of the Western form. Nang Neramid, penned shortly after the reprinting of Khru Liam's own translation of She (under the title Sao song phan pi), is an adventure story set in Egypt featuring English, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Negro and Arab characters. Masquerading as the translation of a Western novel, Nang Neramid's tale of adventure, intrigue, magic, warfare, romance, occult and the erotic is revealed only in its closing pages to be without English prototype. It follows explorations by a young English scholar, James Billford, of ancient ruins and caves that harbour the well preserved mummies of young women, brought to life by the interventions of a grand wizard. The nymphs become sexually irresistible to any male who touches them, and the novel includes descriptions of the erotic trysts that ensue. Khru Liam combines his portrayal of male sexual drives and female responsiveness in this novel with a study of Buddhist religious concepts and the occult, examining how sexuality can be conditioned by the objective and the subjective self.

Keywords: LITERARY TRANSLATION; MODERN THAI LITERATURE; THAI SEXUALITY; BUDDHISM; VICTORIAN FICTION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5367/000000007780420507

Publication date: 2007-03-01

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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