Monsoon

country
by. Pira Sudham
 02 Literary works
of Pira Sudham
01 PIRA SUDHAM

03 Monsoon
Country
 Pira
Sudham 01
BIOGRAPHY
• He was born in a village in Isan,
Northeastern Thailand.

• At the age of fourteen he was

sent to Bangkok to study, where
he lived as a dek wat.

• He entered Triam Udom High

School before gaining a place at
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn
University.
He spent his years in the rice fields helping his parents and
tending a herd of water buffaloes until he went to Bangkok at
the age of 14 to be a servant to monks un a Buddhist temple
where he was also admitted to school.

To support himself through high school and the first year at

the Faculty of Arts Chulalongkorn University, he sold
souvenirs to tourist until he won a New Zealand Government
Scholarship to study English Literature at Auckland University
and later at Victoria University Wellington.
• His writing began to appear in literary publications in New
Zealand, Hongkong and USA. His first book was Siamese
Drama( now published under the title The Tales of
Thailand) was published in 1983 followed by People of
Esarn un 1987.
• He has lived for over twenty years in New Zealand,
Australia and UK, where he wrote Monsoon Country in
1988 and its sequel The Force of Karma in 2002.
• Pira Sudham’s literary works are concered with
social- econic political changes occuring in
Thailand. Widely read and highly acclaimed his
books has given a voice to the poor and the
voiceless.
• He been writing short stories, poems, and novels in
English. He has not produced any literary works in
the Thai language.
 Literary
02 works
LITERARY WORKS OF PIRA SUDHAM
Monsoon Country 1988

People of Esarn (1987)

Tales of Thailand (2002 )

The force of Karma (2002)

Canning Shadowed (2004)

 MONSOON COUNTRY
Monsoon country a novel, was published by Shire Asia
Publishers, Bangkok in 1988. The book has been
revised and published in several editions including
Rothershire Edition, Breakwater Edition, Mahanaga
Edition, Shadowed Country Edition and Castle
Court Edition.
It depicts the problems of social transition in present
day Thailand and gives insight into Thai life in the
rural Northeast. It is set in Thailand, Gemany and
England to convey cultural tension between East
and the West. The clashes between the new powers
and old values covering the span of 25 years of the
socio economic and political changes occuring in
Thailand.
PEOPLE OF ESARN
People of Esarn a collection of stories
about the people of Isan and was
published by Shire Asia Publishers,
Bangkok in 1987. The book was
expanded into two parts namely “ ,
The diamond of Thailand and The
Kingdom in Conflicts and was
published by Shire Asia Publishers
in 2007.
THE FORCE OF KARMA

A sequel to Monsoon Country

was published by Shire Asia
Publishers Bangkok un 2002.
The novel has had several
editions including Castle
Craft Edition.
MONSOON
COUNTRY
CHARACTERS IN THE STORY
• PREM ( TADPOLE )

• HEADMAN
• KUM SURIN

• LIANG SURIN

• KIANG
EXPOSITION
In the Year of the Horse. Boonliang Surin gave birth to her sixth child.
It was a baby boy. After giving birth, the monsoonal rains began to
give life back to the village of Napo. Summer had ended. The rainy -
season had commenced. The rains poured down day and night,
promising and bountiful. The birth of the baby was associated with a
good season, so the parents named him ‘Prem which means joy. Kum
Surin leads his way to the house of the headman to record the name
of his son Kum was very nervous because the headman need a son
but all he had was daugthers. It was considered retribution not to
have a son to carry on the family name. The headman told Kum that
being born in the year of the horse in the morning, the boy will be
very easy to teach and he will have a good brain.
 RISING ACTION
Kum was felt anxious because since the frail little boy had not opened his eyes
and hardly made any movement or sound. Kiang the older boy of Surin
family named the boy Tadpole. He got the name because he read it in a
spelling book about a tadpole. A few years later, when the Tadpole had
become an extremely quiet timid boy, the people of Napo began to refer to
him as a mute. Liang thought that such a difficiency, due to the boy's own
retribution or karma. The children of Napo began to start making rock out of
the Tadpole. But there was Piang his older brother. She knew that her little
brother was not a dumb or mute. Kiang himself is happy because he had a
brother because her other brothers had died in their infancy. He saw Prem
as his future partner in strength. Kiang could not cared less if his brother
remained mute all his life as long as he did not grow up to be weaking. He
did not care what other people said as long as he had brother.
CLIMAX
Kiang looked anxiously at the silent boy, fearing that an illness or the evil spirits which
had claimed and taken his three other brothers not long ago will take Tadpole too, but
Kiang is sure that his brother would surviveIn June 1958 Prem started talking but he
was still trying to talk little by little. “tell me how-how you know know”
“DOOOOO” Which means look, those are his words while he was talking to Piang
about the coming monsoon season. One girl asked him if he was afraid of the
lightning, the Tadpole opened his mouth but with difficulty to utter word which
resembled to the sound of “WOOOOO”,which mean No. Piang was to the rescue and
quickly said that Prem was afraid and Piang told Prem that he must shut his mouth
because it makes him look like a dumdum whenever he opened his mouth
So Prem just want to spend his time with his buffaloes finding some comfort in silence.
With the animals who doesn’t have to speak, words sounded crude for Prem. It was
like a rough blocks which needed to put into certain places to make sense. Piang was
there to let him learn how to arrange words so that people could understand him
but Piang lost her patience.
“You’re hopeless at language people will believed that you’re stupid, They’ll laugh
at you if you keep talking” . Those are her words and Piang can’t stand it.
Words can’t come easily to his lips in their proper order. They fluttered in his mind
like butterflies, Some of which could escaped through his mouth. He could speak
more and faster after he had fallen from the hug and lost his consciousness. And
when the soothsayer prayed for his life he can speak more and faster. But he still
stammered whenever he was obliged to say something to awesome people such
as the village headman, policemen or strangers who asked for direction. So
Prem would rather stay alone, avoid having to speak with other people by
spending more of his time in the company of his buffaloes on the plain where he
find comfort and silence with them.
FALLING ACTION
Then one day Prem fall unto a lotus pond outside the village. He would
drowned if not for a passer by who noticed that he had been down in
the deep water for too long. For once again the soothsayer prayed for
his life together with the people of Napo. They believed that a spirit
wanted his life to make him one of his sons. So the people of the village
prayed and begged the spirit not to take his life from his aging parents
who needed him to work in the fields. Prem family promised that they
would make merit at the temple and transfer the merit gained to the
spirit. They will also prepared food for monks and donate fund and
yellow robes to the temple.
However night had passed, yet Prem still in danger and there was no
sign that he would come back to life.
FALLING ACTION
The soothsayer said that there was one thing left to do to save his life and that is to
offer Prem to the spirit. Hearing the news Liang his mother was unhappy after the
news but she is so dedicated to do everything just to bring Prem to life. In the
process of offering Prem to the spirit it brought tears to many eyes and Prem
become the Spirit son. Prem recovered from the offering and finally can speak as if
he had never been a mute. People of Napo believed that he had been truly
adopted by the spirit who had endowed its son with supernatural qualities. who
from then on would look after Prem as its offspring. Somewhere near Prem , the
Spirit would be hovering, keeping an eye on him. So some people especially
children become afraid of him. Once they heard a rumor that dogs howler
whenever he walked.
Resolution
The poor became lonelier than before knowing that the others were afraid of him
and si he spent most of his waking hours on the plain with his buffaloes and
at night he stayed in the hut. Buffaloes remained his source of comfort. At
times Kiang would play with him trying to teach him how to defend himself
by using fist and feet to hurt his attackers. Sometimes Kiang would teach him
also how to set birds and fish traps and how to imitate to cooing of doves.
Prem seen how men raised ther hands to vote and got paid for it to stretch their
hands upward was such an easy feat to do, for ten baht, when one would have
had to work the whole day as a laborer to earn a similar amount. Prem
wondered whether those who had raised their hands for money knew that they
would have to pay a high price for it later. For when the man was installed in a
position which bestowed on him the Master’s power with policemen and the
law on his side he would use it for his own gain.
Thank
you!!