Episodes in the lives of two childhood friends subsequently separated by ideology: one now the town's Buddhist monk (Krang), the other a hothead wannabe Communist (Kwaen). Guess which one always wins.
The preface to the English translation of the novel -- written in third person but doubtless by M. R. Kukrit himself -- cheerfully admits that the author based his novel on Guareschi's "Don Camillo" stories and frequently "plagiarizes" from them. (Who else but the author would claim plagiarism without risking a libel lawsuit from the author?) Now as any teacher can tell you, more often than not plagiarism punishes itself, because the plagiarist usually does so so poorly. This would seem to be the case here. The third chapter, for instance, borrowed directly from Guareschi, is about a peace petition signed by almost everyone in town, but most of the townspeople have no idea it's Communist propaganda. Authorities to the rescue, and a second petition, disowning the first, is signed by everyone in town except the aforementioned hothead. Even his Communist comrades sign the disavowal petition and somehow nobody manages to tell Kwaen about it until Krang surprises him with the signed disavowal petition.
One wonders about the novel's title. Red bamboo doesn't exist, yet Red Bamboo is the name of the village. I guess it's not impossible that M. R. Kukrit means to suggest that some kind of rapprochement was possible between Communism's better angels (as it were) and the traditional pillars of Thai society -- one could still hint as much in the 1950s, when Field Marshal Phibun was pretending to be a democrat, without fear of imprisonment or worse -- but if so, the message comes out terribly garbled in the one story in which traditionalists and Communists openly join forces. This is in Chapter 13, in which Kwaen and his friends refuse to harvest the village elder's rice because they believe the wage to be exploitatively low. Instead of the proffered 6 ticals they demand 15. Do wage negotiations ensue? No. Given the Communists' categorical refusal to budge, the village elder, assisted by Abbot Krang, exhorts the traditionalists among the villagers to help out gratis -- and the Communists join them . . . because now it's work for the collective. But it's still the village elder's rice, isn't it? But everyone is rewarded by a tear from the village elder's eyes. Yay.
Some of the episodes are decently constructed, but some aren't, and the didacticism is laid on with a trowel. A great disappointment when compared to the two other novels of M. R. Kukrit's available in English. Of these three it's the least available -- out of print for at least a generation -- so perhaps it's suitable that it should be sought out only by diehard readers of Thai fiction. A generous two stars.
The stories of the village Red Bamboo, it’s monastery and inhabitants is first published and serialised in the ‘Siam Rath Thai Weekly Review’. My own copy and English translation dates from 1961 and is I believe never reprinted after. What is a pity because the stories are quit charming. Unfortunately I know close to nothing about the life’s and times of their author Kukrit Pramoj, but I can imagine that he wrote these stories at the beginning of his career as a writer. At least that is what I see a beginning and talented author trying his pen.
The stories of Red Bamboo are inspired by the Don Camillo stories written by the Italian author Giovanni Guareschi, sometimes even fully plagiarised. Be that as it may the stories are given an interesting Thai touch. Although the image of the lord Buddha speaks freely in the village monastery, it does so in an impersonal sort of way, not in the way Christ talks to Don Camillo the priest. The Thai Abbot works under a different set of disciplines from that of the Catholic priest. Don Camillo’s opponent the communist mayor of the village is replaced by a not less stuborn communist villager. Showing us the interaction between traditions and the than new thoughts and doctrines of communism. All in a mild form and seasoned with humour. That way Kukrit and Giovanni let the old and the new interact, not only at the world stage, but also on the ox-cart in the small village of Red Bamboo.