Imagining Siam: A Travellers' Literary Guide to ThailandThailand has been systematically transformed into a classic neocolonial object of Western desire - an easily penetrated erotic zone that caters to the appetites of Western interlopers. In the first comprehensive critical study of Western literature about Thailand, Imagining Siam provides a thorough analysis - using Edward Said's concepts - of English language travelogues and travel literature. It offers a broad view, covering literary attempts to describe Siam in the 13th century, through the formative phase of Western engagement in the 16th century and the various competing European imperialisms in the 19th century, to today's era of mass tourism and the global reach of economically and culturally powerful 'First World' populations. Imagining Siam will appeal to those interested in Thailand, critiques of travel writing, and the Anna Leonowens' legacy (Anna of Anna and the King of Siam). |
From inside the book
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Page 4
... revealing what Ali Behdad calls ' the imaginative geography that separates the Orient from the Occident , the black ... revealed the West's conceptions of itself in relation to Thailand . It argues that the rhetoric of travel ...
... revealing what Ali Behdad calls ' the imaginative geography that separates the Orient from the Occident , the black ... revealed the West's conceptions of itself in relation to Thailand . It argues that the rhetoric of travel ...
Page 81
... reveals her bitterness about missionary life in Never dies the dream , through a comment made early in the narrative by her protagonist : India Severn had long ago accepted the fact that to be a missionary was to be considered queer ...
... reveals her bitterness about missionary life in Never dies the dream , through a comment made early in the narrative by her protagonist : India Severn had long ago accepted the fact that to be a missionary was to be considered queer ...
Page 100
... reveals him to be a scholar and a doting father , as well as a man who ' really had a conscience ' and who had a ' remarkable ' mind ( 1988 : 159,109,264 ) . In fact , a re - reading of Leonowens's work reveals that she presents a more ...
... reveals him to be a scholar and a doting father , as well as a man who ' really had a conscience ' and who had a ' remarkable ' mind ( 1988 : 159,109,264 ) . In fact , a re - reading of Leonowens's work reveals that she presents a more ...
Common terms and phrases
19th century Adiele adventure American Anna Leonowens Asian Australian Ayutthaya bar girls beach Beauvoir become Behdad biography Bristowe Bristowe's British character Chiang Christian civilisation claims colonial criticises critics depiction describes despite destination East edition English governess European example exotic expatriate experience farang fiction film foreign Fournereau guidebook harem Hicks images India Iyer jungle Kepner King Chulalongkorn King Mongkut King of Siam Kukrit Land of Smiles Landon Leonowens's Leonowens's books literature lived in Thailand Lonely Planet Loubčre male Margaret Landon McGilvary memoirs missionaries Morgan Nang Harm Neale night novel Oriental paradise particularly Patpong Phaulkon Phuket political Pornsawan present prostitute published readers reveals romance says sex industry sex tourism Siamese Smithies Southeast Asia stereotypes story teacher temples Thai culture Thai women Thailand tourists travel guides travel writing tsunami visitors Warren West Western imagination Western writers Westernisation woman of Bangkok written