Novel
The Judgment
คำพิพากษา
Chart Korbjitti · 1981
Synopsis
Fak, caretaker of the village school, had left the pagoda to help his father and dreams of going back. When his father dies, he looks after his stepmother, a widow who is not entirely in her right mind and undresses in front of people. Less than a month later, the village takes it for granted that he has made her his wife. No one comes to the cremation, and the gravedigger, his only friend, introduces him to drink, while the rumour does its work.
Context
The novel was named book of the year by the Literary Council of Thailand and won the S.E.A. Write Award. The author draws on his childhood in Samut Sakhon and his years in the temple, and the narrative opens with a performance of likay, the popular opera. Marcel Barang translated it into French, and Gope reissued it in 2020; an English translation appeared in 1995. The novelist publishes his own books through his own house, Howling Books.
Who it is for
A harsh novel in Thai, readable in French and in English, on the workings of rumour in a small community.
Prizes and reception
Its translator, Marcel Barang, regards the author as the best living novelist in Thailand.
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