| ID | 142848 |
| Title Proper | Re-narrating a local myth, reproducing the Thai 'royalist–nationalist' narrative |
| Other Title Information | the Myth of Sao Hai' by Daen-arun Saengthong |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Suwanwattana, Wanrug |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This analysis of 'The Myth of Sao Hai', a short story by the contemporary Thai author Daen-arun Saengthong, focuses on the transformative act of translating an oral provincial myth into written literary form. 'The Myth of Sao Hai' depicts the sacrifice for the 'nation' of a female spirit inhabiting a millennial tree in a remote part of the jungle. The contention in this paper is that the myth, as re-narrated by Daen-arun, reveals the problematic conditions under which peripheral voices are constantly relegated to a subaltern position in relation to the centre. These are the same conditions under which Thailand's local history has been written: that is to say, under and through a hegemonic 'royalist–nationalist' history. However, through an analysis of 'ironic fissure' – that is, of dissident voices which disrupt the narrative homogeneity – the paper argues that the relationship between the national and the local is not mirrored in a fixed binary opposition of oppression and subordination. Rather, the relationship is marked by ambivalence, an ambivalence that is crucial to the possibility of the writing and the 'narration' of both. |
| `In' analytical Note | South East Asia Research Vol. 23, No.4; Dec 2015: p.505-520 |
| Journal Source | South East Asia Research 2015-12 23, 4 |
| Key Words | Myth ; Local History ; Daen-Arun Seangthong ; Royalist–Nationalist History ; Thai Historiography ; World Literature |