A collection of nine short stories by nine Nobel laureates in literature delivering fascinating insights into humanity around the world. This, Nakorn's 14th compilation of brief pieces by Nobel Prize-winners, features writers whose work, like good-quality wine, tends to improve with the passage of time.
Khon Ba Phu Yak Pen Phra Racha (The Lunatic Who Would Be King) Translated into Thai by Vimol Khunracha Nakorn (2013), 303pp, 240 baht
The title of the book is derived from the first story it features _ The Man Who Would Be King, Rudyard Kipling's tale about two adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan. The taboo subject of incest is treated by Thomas Mann in The Blood Of The Walsungs. Swedish author Selma Lagerlof's Uncle Reuben is a mystery told in the style of a children's book and Heinrich Boll's The Man With The Knives is set in Germany after the end of World War II. Other stories are penned by Frans Sillanpaa (the Finn who won the Nobel for literature in 1939), Octavio Paz (Mexican, prize-winner in 1990), Halldor Laxness (Icelander, 1955), George Bernard Shaw (Irish, 1925) and Grazia Deledda (Italian, 1926).
- Pimrapee Thungkasemvathana
Khong Mun Sun Tae Un Mun Yai (Great Short Short Stories) Translated into Thai by Nirattisai Lhorarunotai Nakorn (2013), 271pp, 210 baht
The English-language title says it all: brief tales by brilliant writers; a collection of 20 in all, each about 10 pages long on average. offering the opportunity to relish works by a number of acclaimed authors in a single sitting. Classic stories for the most part, they are presented in a way that caters to the short attention span of so many contemporary readers, the text lending itself to being perused in short snatches. The items chosen for the collection were mostly written around the turn of the 20th century.
There's A Country Doctor, Kafka's surreal tale whose events unfold on a winter's night, and A Ghost Story by Jerome K Jerome, a humorist prominent in Victorian-era England. The focus of Kate Chopin's A Pair Of Silk Stockings is a widow who finds herself left with only $15 to spend. Other stories are by household names like Anton Chevkov, Thomas Mann, Guy de Maupassant, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens and Rabindranath Tagore.
This is a delightful glimpse into the oeuvre of past masters of the short story, doled out in handy little doses.
- Pimrapee Thungkasemvathana
Sua Sib Jed Tua Khong Luta (Luta’s 17 Tigers) By Linda Christanty Translated into Thai by Pensri Panich and others Nakorn (2013), 116pp, 130 baht
One needs to suspend belief in order to derive the maximum benefit from work by Linda Christanty, the Indonesian writer/journalist who won a SEA Write award last year.
This collection of 13 short stories penned by her addresses political conflicts within her homeland as well as various aspects of the history and culture of that vast and ethnically diverse archipelago.
Christanty deftly uses mythical figures and even ghosts from Javanese folklore in tales that have contemporary socio-political significance. Maria Pinto, a female university student, is anointed by shamans in eastern Aceh to be the guardian angel of the separatist movement in that far-northern region of Sumatra. In a house full of wandering spirits, parents wait for the return of their political activist daughter who was made to "disappear" by the authorities. Luta, the character of the title story in this collection, is an immortal warrior who lived through the struggle against the Dutch for independence and survives to see the emergence of modern-day Indonesia.
Christanty, a former political activist who resisted the authoritarian Suharto regime, has been praised for her use of magical realism, a narrative technique concocted by Latin American writers to circumvent censorship which incorporates supernatural elements into a story in order to express views on politics or society.
The publication of this book should help generate more interest in the politics and culture of this fellow Asean member state.
- Anchalee Kongrut
