Novel
Behind the Painting
ข้างหลังภาพ
Siburapha · 1937
Synopsis
Nopphon, a young Thai man studying in Tokyo, is asked to accompany a couple of compatriots on a trip to Japan: a wealthy, elderly high dignitary, an acquaintance of his family, and his young wife, the aristocrat Mom Rajawongse Kirati, fifteen years older than the student. In the course of their walks a love grows between them that they cannot admit to each other, and each is caught between what he or she feels and what rank and family demand.
Context
Siburapha wrote the novel on his return from a stay in Japan, and it appeared as a serial in 1937. Reprinted nearly forty times and read in schools, it has been brought to the screen twice, by Piak Poster in 1985 and by Cherd Songsri in 2001, and adapted into three musicals. David Smyth translated it into English in 1990, and Marcel Barang into French for the éditions Zoé, in Geneva, in 2020.
Who it is for
A short first-person novel, seemingly simple in style; it exists in French and in English.
Prizes and reception
David Smyth ranks it among the classics of the Thai novel canon, and it is among the most frequently reprinted books in the country.