sharp, violent, atmospheric and moody and humid stories about toxic masculinity and the labours of desire. ( )

Thai Social Realism Shorts
Review of the Tilted Axis Press paperback edition (2020) translated from selections of the Thai language originals ฝันแห้งและเรื่องอื่นๆ (Arid Dreams and Other Stories) (2014) and other works.

TW = animal/bird cruelty in The Attendant; domestic abuse in Men’s Rights.

Although Arid Dreams is sometimes listed as an edition of the 2014 Thai language original Arid Dreams and Other Stories, only the title work is from that collection. The English language copyright page lists that most of the original stories were published in earlier works in 1995, 2000 and 2006.

In Thailand Pimwana is not thought of as a feminist writer. Rather, she is called a “genderless” writer because to many her work reads as if it could have been written by a man, a far cry from the romances Thai readers traditionally expect from female authors. - translator Mui Poopoksakul*

In the Arid Dreams English language translation collection it appears that the translator Poopoksakul has accentuated this statement by selecting a majority of short stories that are written from a male point of view. These stories however are still examining male – female relationships or dynamics in which the female role is still dominant, be it as the object of desire or power or of a quest.

As it happened, my favourites here were the opener Arid Dreams and the closer The Second Book. In the former, a Thai man tourist is on a short island vacation when he is attracted to a masseuse/therapist who he discovers doubles as a sex worker. He is disappointed to discover that her services are only available to foreigners so as to not have to be selective about locals and, in her own way, to retain their respect. He leaves the encounter with a new understanding. In the closing The Second Book, a failed politician returns to a bookstore from his youth to track down the 2nd volume of a collection for which he could only afford the 1st volume when he was a poor younger boy. It is a symbolic quest towards an achievement that is still within his new limited reality. The bookstore owner and her sister have the power to fulfill this or not. This one especially had an ambiguous ending which left its interpretation up to the reader.

I read Arid Dreams as part of the Borderless Book Club which has been organized by Peirene Press and 7 other UK independent publishers for a 16 week period (May 14 to August 20, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. It is the successor to the earlier Translated Fiction Online Book Club which was organized for 6 weeks.

Trivia and Links
* I found the article What Does It Mean to be a Thai Feminist, from which the above quote was selected, thanks to Jenny (Reading Envy)’s review. ( )