People of Esarn

by Pira Sudham

Focusing Isan, Northeastern Thailand.

Genres: Short Stories, Asia

147 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Margaret Hart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories chronicling the lives and stories that are all too common in Esarn. A lack of knowledge of the region is why I picked up this book. Both in media and through my students I've heard many a jab towards people of Esarn (or Isan as I commonly see it written) and I've been left pondering why a region is viewed so negatively. I knew it was a class issue, but I wanted to understand the roots of this impoverishment. That's why I both appreciate this book and am deeply confused by it.

Perhaps it started with the intro, where a quote from the author declares that he wishes to give voice to the voiceless yet at the same time he states that his job is just to write and not to participate in the actual demonstrations. That to me feels like an extremely privileged stance, to see a problem, write about a problem, but declare that your "better angels" say to stay out of it, to let them reach their breaking point. I am very sympathetic towards the dangers faced by activists, especially in countries where it can be a death sentence, but it seems to me once you insert yourself into the narrative you have a moral obligation. So maybe I started reading this book on the wrong foot, already chafed by what I saw as speaking from a place of privilege. Not to mention, the fact he writes in English, which seems like an odd choice to truly give voice to the voiceless of Thailand. Raising international awareness is important, but I feel like a change from within is just as important.

The first section of this book is the collection of short stories, which on one hand were enlightening but made me wonder why I was reading them. In my mind, the stories read like the author met these people on an average afternoon at the coffee shop or some such place, got to talking about their lives, wrote them down, and parted ways never to see each other again. I was left with this bereft feeling like there wasn't a closure or takeaway. Though I really liked the boy and the old man, I felt this story was the exception. It revealed a problem and it had an impact on the boy's life.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the second part of the book. A more factual breakdown of the issues facing Esarn was more engaging to me because it had a clear purpose. Plus, I'm deeply interested in the issues of development along the Mekong and its impact on native groups, so the information I gleaned from this section gave me new things to research.

All in all, I appreciated the knowledge I gained from this book but the execution was a bit odd to me. Though I would be interested in reading his other works.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pira Canning Sudham is from the Esarn area of Thailand, the large northeast area of Thailand comprised of mostly infertile agricultural land. Over the years greedy politicians have 'stolen' this land from the Esarn people. Many live in extreme poverty. Pira Sudham is their voice to the world. He writes in English so most of the people he writes about cannot read his books.



It is a collection of sad, true stories of families struggling to get by each day. But in many of those shown to be suffering there is still a peace within them.



This book has been signed by the author and contains further hand written notes and newspaper clippings that discuss the last upheaval in Bangkok.



Though this is the only book I've read of Sudham's I'd probably recommend reading his book 'Shadowed Country'. I'll be getting that one soon. His voice is simple yet powerful. He has the ability to paint vivid and haunting scenes but still offer the reader a glimpse of hope not only for the people of Esarn, but for mankind.

[HansBlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aus HansBlog.de:

Die Hauptfiguren im eher literarischen Teil dieses schmalen Buchs sind Ich-Erzähler aus dem Isaan (Esarn), der armen flachen Gegend im Nordosten Thailands. Manche können nicht lesen. Sie berichten von ihrem armseligen Landleben, Pech in der Liebe, einige gehen zum Arbeiten nach Bangkok.
Schmucklose Protokolle:
Die Geschichten klingen fast wie Interview-Protokolle, so schmucklos und ohne Effekthascherei schreibt Sudham, und immer aus der Ich-Perspektive. Der Ton ist stets ruhig bis resigniert. Dialoge gibt es nicht. Nur ausnahmsweise klingt es poetischer, etwa bei dieser alten Frau auf dem Reisfeld zu ihrem Mann (S. 37):
Old man, if I die first, i shall become a cloud to protect you from the sun, always.
Etwas dichterisch kunstvoll klingt auch das Stilmittel, nacheinander in einer Geschichte Mann und Frau über sich reden zu lassen. Es erscheint allerdings mindestens zweimal, ebenso wie auch inhaltliche Motive zu oft wiederkehren: das ärmliche Landleben, unterdrückte Gefühle, ungewiss lange Trennung von bettelarmen Eltern, schwer verständliche Sitten der Jungthais, Arbeitsmigration gen Bangkok, gelegentlich Abwandern nach Hamburg. Gleichwohl lässt sich das gut lesen, und ähnliche Einblicke gibt es nicht oft. Alle Geschichten erklingen aus der Ich-Perspektive, sogar mit wechselnden Sprechern innerhalb einer Story.
Während die Vor- und Nachbemerkungen samt den journalistisch-aktivistisch anmutenden Teilen teils politisch aufrütteln, trifft man in den eher literarischen Geschichten kaum auf Engagiertes, Intellektuelles. Eine einfache Nudelkellnerin redet jedoch etwas unplausibel von "that harmful monosodium glutamate to cheat the palate" (S. 41); und die "Gunman"-Geschichte handelt direkt von Korruption, Verbrechen, Gier und Umweltvernichtung. Ebenfalls nicht in den Sudham-Mainstream passt die Geschichte vom Dorf-Ladyboy, der später in Hamburger und Zürcher Cabarets reüssiert.
In einer Geschichte erzählt Sudham offenbar seinen eigenen Lebensweg mit mehrjährigen Aufenthalten in Neuseeland, Australien und London und bezeichnet sich selbst als "westernized Thai". Das liest sich fast wie ein uninspiriert ausgeschriebener Lebenslauf. Doch Sudham sagt nach all den Jahren im Ausland nichts Interkulturelles oder warum er lieber Englisch als Thai schreibt – ein Versäumnis. Sudham schließt diesen Text lieber wieder mal mit einem seiner bekannten Themen: Rückkehr in den Isaan nach langer Abwesenheit. (Im Roman Shadowed Country, der die früheren Romane Monsoon Country und The Force of Karma zusammenfasst, erzählt Sudham offenbar Teile seines Lebens noch weit ausführlicher.)
Die letzten etwa 30 von 130 Seiten sind Texte gegen Korruption, Kinderhandel, Umweltzerstörung, die politischen Morde von 1973, 1976 und 1992, teils von Sudham, teils offenbar Kopien aus der Presse. Die hier journalistisch berichteten Tatsachen erschienen bereits zuvor motivisch in den eher literarischen Geschichten. Dazu einige Seiten über die guten Taten des Pira Sudham Estate, "accrued from royalties and the sale of his literary works", für verarmte Landfamilien.
Einige Themen der Kurzgeschichten:
- Prostituierte blickt auf ihre Zeit im Dorf, in Pattaya und als Ehefrau eines Deutschen in Hamburg
- Zehnjähriger Dorfjunge wird ins Kloster nach Bangkok gegeben, trauert der Heimat nach, begibt sich auf den Rückweg
- junge Frau geht vom Dorf als Arbeiterin nach Bangkok, kehrt nach Jahren in ihr Dorf zurück – will aber nicht bleiben
- alter Mann und seine alte Ehefrau reden nacheinander über ihr Bauernleben
- Ladyboy auf dem Dorf und in Hamburg
- Auftragskiller soll Aktivisten gegen Korruption und Umweltzerstörung erschießen – daran zerbrach einst seine eigene Familie
- Sudhams Lebensweg
Hintergründe:
Der Thailänder Pira Sudham kommt aus einem Isaan-Dorf und schreibt auf Englisch. Die Kurzgeschichtensammlung People of Esarn wurde mehrfach erweitert und womöglich unter anderem Titel neu veröffentlicht – sehr unübersichtlich.
Ich hatte die 7. Auflage von 1994 des thailändischen Shire-Verlags. Sie enthält mehrere kurze Vor- und Nachwörter, teils zu politischen Themen, die sich nicht immer von den eigentlichen Geschichten unterscheiden lassen, auch ein Vorwort des australischen Dozenten und Dichters Noel Rowe und mehrere kurze Texte von anderen anderen Autoren gegen Buchende. Laut Vorbemerkung gab es die Geschichten Hired Gunman und Impersonator nicht in früheren Auflagen – sie unterscheiden sich auch deutlich von den eher fatalistischen Armutserzählungen zuvor. (Eine Sudham-Geschichte steht auch im Band Frauen in Thailand.) Inhaltsverzeichnis oder Angaben zu Entstehung und Ersterscheinen der Geschichten gibt es nicht. Im Vergleich zu anderen Büchern ist das ein konzeptloser Verhau.
Meine Ausgabe ist durchgehend in zu großen Fettbuchstaben gedruckt. Es gibt ein paar irritierende, grobe Interpunktionsfehler, und die Rechtschreibregeln für englische Überschriften werden nicht eingehalten. Thai-Ausdrücke wie "prik-nam" oder "waied" werden nicht erklärt, auch nicht in einem Glossar.
Hier und dort zeigen ein paar unkommentierte Schwarzweißfotos offenbar diejenigen Thailänder und Europäer, die der Text beschreibt. Einige unbeschriftete Bilder haben unklaren Textbezug; der Jungmönch und das Skelett neben ihm lassen sich aber Personen aus der umgebenden Geschichte zuordnen.
Assoziationen:
Pira Sudhams Thai-Dorf-Roman Shadowed Country (eine erweiterte Kombination der Romane Monsoon Country, 1988, und The Force of Karma, 2002, mit vielen sehr ähnlichen Motiven, jedoch insgesamt weit schlechter)
Die Thai-Dorf-Geschichten von Michael Smithies, Tarmo Jajasaari und Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Malaysia-Dorfroman Srengenge von Shanon Ahmad
Filme: Kambodscha-Dorf-Film Das Reisfeld von Rithy Panh (nach dem Srengenge-Roman) und Monrak (transistor) aus Thailand

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 1987 collection of five pieces plus a prologue appears to straddle the line between fiction and autobiography. The title refers to the northeastern Thai province commonly transliterated in the west as "Isan" -- a historically very rural and destitute part of the kingdom, whose inhabitants are predominantly of Lao ethnicity. The author grew up in a tiny village there, herding water buffalo and picking rice until travelling to Bangkok at age 14 to further pursue an education. The opening story, "A Novce" follows exactly such a character to the big city, where he works as a lay servant in a monastery. This is a recurring theme through several of the stories, as destitute men dip in and out of monkhood as a vocation seemingly more for survival than spiritual ends.

"A Farmer and His Wife" is written from the perspective of characters who might well be standi-ns for the author's own parents, extolling the virtues of the quiet and simple village life. "A Food Vendor and a Taxi Driver" is the most fully-realized story of the collection, about double the length of any other in the book. It's the story of a young peasant woman who moves to Bangkok to survive, and just barely does so, serving and cleaning in a shabby Chinese-run food stall. An older taxi driver befriends her, and the two of them go on a road trip to her childhood village. I can easily imagine it being teased out into a contemplative film. Another woman narrates "A Thai Woman in Germany" which is exactly what it sounds like, a Thai sex worker now living with her German husband reflecting on her circumstances. The final story, "A Writer", reads more like a personal essay from the author than fiction.

Reading these stories some 35 years after they were published, I'm not quite sure what to make of them. One can clearly see the running theme of Isan people being seen as second-class Thais, and there's a huge strain of romanticism for the simple life of the rural village, and dismay at the products of modernity and the West. Like many writings of the time from all over the world, there's a strong theme around migration to urban centers in search of a better life that proves elusive. It's worth noting that about a third of the book is taken up by photos, some of which appear to link to the stories, and many of which have no obvious connection. There's no explanatory text, and they add to the sense of the book being a very personal story, as opposed to straight fiction.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

People of Esarn is a collection of short stories and real-life accounts mostly involving the Isan region of Thailand. The author talks about the hardships of people from this poor region of Thailand. We hear about how they are forced off their land due to government dam construction, salt mining or commercial forestry projects. There is some repetition in the first part of the book with short stories that appeared in the author’s previous book “Tales of Thailand”.

The book is a bit difficult to read at times. We hear the horror stories of destitute families who sell their children into slave labor in factories or to work as prostitutes in brothels. Many of the families are forced off their land due to corrupt commercial forestry or hydro-electric dam construction. There seems to be little help for these people who go to Bangkok and protest to deaf ears in front of Government House. Several of the poor protesters are beaten and unjustly arrested by the military or police or outright killed. We hear about the injustice, corruption and environmental disasters in Thailand.

The author's books were written in English to reach a broad audience. He is very courageous and honest to tell us about all of these atrocities that he has witnessed or lived through. I am glad that I read the book, although it definitely gave me a new perspective about the “Land of Smiles”.

[Christine Hall]

Pira Sudham is a Thai author from Buriram Province (Isan), born into a farming family and raised in rural Thailand. At fourteen he moved to Bangkok as a temple boy (dek wat) to continue his schooling, later winning a scholarship to study English literature in New Zealand. Writing exclusively in English, his fiction and poetry explore Thai society, rural life, and political change. His best‑known works include Monsoon Country and People of Esarn.

[Maria Armero López · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una maravilla, especialmente si estás viajando por Tailandia. Ojalá se tradujeran más novelas de autores tailandeses al inglés y no fuera tan imposible encontrar las pocas que se traducen. Un tesoro este libro.

[Ian McHugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read by Thai author Pira Sudham and I was impressed. The adage to "write about what you know" seems to have served Sudham well here. The book tells the story of numerous "People of Esarn" from a Buddhist novice monk (based on Sudham's own experiences) to a Bangkok taxi driver, to a ex-Pattaya prostitute, to a fast food vendor. All of the characters that Sudham writes have a love of their "home" - the beauty and quiet and simple life of Esarn. Sudham writes vividly and, although in places the subject matter seems dated (the edition I read was published in the late 1980s), there are still little vignettes of truth that still apply. Modern Thai migration to the cities could easily be told through the use of the first part of "A farmer and his wife" with the reference of 'modernity' replaced with technology rather than jeans. The rationale for a sex worker's desire to wed a 'farang', no matter the hardship, may be someway explained by the story "A Thai Woman In Germany".
My favourite story was the first in the book, entitled "A novice". In part here (and this is bold statement) I was reminded of "David Copperfield" in the way the first person narrative set out so clearly the desires and thoughts of a ten year old boy.
I shall be reading more of Sudham's work no doubt. If you have not read any of his work, this is a very good place to begin.