Khamsing Srinawk

Early life

Born December 25, 1930 in Bua Yày (Thai: บัวใหญ่) District of Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province, Khamsing was raised on a farm in the countryside. Khamsing read heavily during his childhood and was encouraged in his studies by his uncle, a Buddhist monk, and other members of his family. He was the sixth of seven children by his parents Suay and Kham Srinawk. After completing schooling in the local Bua Yày government school, he traveled to Bangkok and simultaneously enrolled in the faculty of Journalism at Chulalongkorn University and the faculty of Economics at Thammasat University. Unable to afford room and board, Khamsing lived in a Buddhist temple in Bangkok while attending night classes and working part-time as a journalist until he was overcome with illness and forced to drop out of school. As a journalist he served as a political reporter and feature writer. He saw journalism as a way to improve society. The first paper he worked for was Naew Na. Newspapers were Khamsing's entry to the literary world of Bangkok and he would use these connections to begin publishing his work. His personal farm in Pak Chong district, Khorat became a refuge in times of crisis or government suppression of intellectuals especially in the late 1950s and on his return from exile in the early 1980s. The farm produced corn, cotton, and milk using "modern" methods. It also may have added a mystique to Khamsing's persona as one who could seemingly shift between country-side and urban contexts seamlessly. More importantly, his farm in later years became a place for young writers to come and learn the craft. From Bangkok, Khamsing took a job with the state forestry service, working in the far north as a forest ranger for three years (1953–1956). Herbert Phillips, who personally knew Khamsing, said that it was a time when the author "thrived – psychologically, physically, and as a reader and writer." On his return to Bangkok, he worked for a Cornell anthropology research project with Phillips and others. He took odd jobs as a traveling sewing machine salesman. He even briefly opened his own publishing house named Kwian Thong (Golden Oxcart).

Publication of Fáa Bɔ̀ Kân

A year after his time in the forestry service, Khamsing began publishing short stories in the newspaper Piyamit (Thai: ปิยะมิตร) [Dear Friend]. Other publications where his work appeared include: Chiwit, Sangkhomsat Parithat, Khwuan Chai and Chathurat. This corresponded with the relatively free press Thailand enjoyed during the years of 1955–58. Due to the growing political power-struggle between CIA backed Phao Sriyanond and Pentagon supported Sarit Thanarat Thai writers and intellectuals were free to express their ideas. This atmosphere of free press quickly burgeoned after September 16, 1957 coup that drove Phao and Plaek Pibulsonggram into exile. Anderson argues that Khamsing's Fáa Bɔ̀ Kân, a collection of many of his stories originally published in Piyamit, best symbolizes this period of intellectual freedom. Shortly after the publication of Fáa Bɔ̀ Kân, Sarit seized power and established an absolute regime. Sarit's regime instated strict censorship, ending the period of free-thought through imprisonment, exile and execution (only one or two cases) of Thai intellectuals, writers, and progressives. This crackdown on progressives and independent press forced Khamsing to abandon writing for a number of years, during which time he returned to Khorat to his farm.

Travels Abroad and Return to Thailand

In 1967–1968 Khamsing was awarded a Time-Life grant to come to America. He spent the year working with the publishing house. On his way back to Thailand he visited France, Germany, Israel and the Ivory Coast apparently as an "official guest" studying literary and agricultural activities. He was able to lecture at several universities on his work and contemporary Thai literature. After his return to Thailand, Suchat Sawatsi invited him to contribute regularly to Sǎŋkhommasàat Pàríthát (Thai: สังคมศาสตร์ปริทัศน์) [Social Science Review]. These articles, many of which were concerned with social injustice in rural Thailand, were compiled in a 1975 publication known as Kamphɛɛŋ (Thai: กำแพง) [Walls]. Suchat, along with Sulak Sivaraksa rediscovered the work of Khamsing after a visit to his farm, which led to the republication of Fa Bo Kan and his writing was disseminated in magazines of university literary clubs.

In 1970 Khamsing was married to Prawee. They would subsequently have three daughters together.

Political Action and Exile

Khamsing continued writing and working on his farm in Khorat until the beginning of the 1973 student democracy movement. After the military and police crackdown on student demonstrations at Thammasat University on October 14, 1973, Khamsing became politically active and was elected vice-chairman of the Socialist Party of Thailand. It is said that on two occasions in the early 1970s, Khamsing sold off many of his milking cows to finance unsuccessful campaigns for election to Thai parliament. In 1975 a Committee for the Revision of Textbooks in the Ministry of Education sought to revise the school curriculum to emphasize the average people in society. As a result, on 17 May a new reading list for Mathayom Suksa 4 and 5 was published in Sayam Rat which made the work of Khamsing, along with fifteen others, part of the mandatory reading.

After the violence of October, 6 1976 (known as the Thammasat University massacre), Khamsing fled with many others into the jungles, eventually making his way to Laos. His work was banned by the incoming government. Several months later, in 1977 he decided to go into exile with his family to Sweden after a disagreement with the Communist Party of Thailand. In Sweden he was made a member of the Swedish Association of Writers and was able to promote his work in Europe. While in exile, he went on a lecture tour in the U.S. He also began again working on his first novel ˈMɛɛw (Thai: แมว) [Cat], which is a metaphor for Thailand itself. Khamsing first began working on ˈMɛɛw after the events of October, 14 1973, however, the manuscript was lost after the Thammasat massacre of 1976. Eventually, the novel was published in 1983 after Khamsing had returned to Bangkok in 1981.

Influence on Thai Literature

Even though he is not the most prolific of Thailand's celebrated authors, Khamsing is credited with beginning a tectonic shift in Thai literary style and focus. While the majority of Thai literature before the twentieth century was dominated by royal and elite authors writing for the kingdom's gentry, it has been argued that Khamsing's divergence from typical Thai literary subject matter has created the concept of the Thai peasant as a literary hero. By giving literary voice to the common peasant, often in vernacular voice and within the village setting, Khamsing's writings, most notably Fáa Bɔ̀ Kân, have worked to democratize Thai literature. With literature, Khamsing has attempted to depict the plight of the Thai peasant, and in doing so seek social justice and the betterment of Thai society in general. His writing is seen as a preeminent example of the "Life as Art" movement advocated by Jit Phumisak. His work has been listed as among the best works in a century of the Thai Short Story. In 1992 the National Cultural Commission, with royal support, awarded him the title "National Artist of Thailand in Literature," which included a small stipend for life. His work is now featured as part of the national school curriculum. He has also received international attention: his work has been translated into nine languages including English, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Japanese, Singhalese, Malay, German and French. For English his translators have included Michael Smythes, Herbert Phillips and Domnern Garden.

Most recently (May 2011), Khamsing has added his name to what has come to be called the 'Thai Writers' Manifesto,' a petition signed by 359 Thai writers and academics calling for drastic revisions to Thailand's lèse majesté laws (Article 112 of current Thai Criminal Code), under which numerous Thai and international citizens have been jailed.