Fiction, Memory, and Reclamation

[reader]

From Thai Enquirer

What does it mean for us to excavate, understand, and retell the past? At what point do narratives become fiction, and how do we retell history? What does it mean for us to take on that role of a storyteller? 

Emma Larkin (pseudonym), award-winning author of several non-fiction books on Burma, tackles these issues in the process of making her fictional debut, “Comrade Aeon’s Field Guide to Bangkok.”

Divulging on her writing, her career, and what it means to articulate a city as vast and immeasurable – and with as complicated a past – as Bangkok, Larkin explores different modes of memory and how we write history.

Writing non-fiction has been Larkin’s strong suit: her memoir, “Finding George Orwell in Burma,” has won numerous awards.

“Comrade Aeon” is a decisive step not only from Myanmar to Thailand, but also from non-fiction into fiction. Despite such a change, however, Larkin confidently strides into the new chapter of her career.

“It’s liberating,” she says, “shifting from non-fiction to fiction.”

In the process of writing non-fiction, there’s great responsibility in telling that story given the deeply sensitive political context of places like Myanmar: “someone’s given you their safety,” says Larkin. “Their safety is in your hands once they tell you their story. It can be quite constraining to the creative process.” 

Fiction, however, allows for exploring all sorts of topics with the aide of allegory and allusion, letting subtext fill in the gaps where something more explicit is too dangerous. “If you were writing a non-fiction book about Thailand, it would be very hard to tell a complete story,” she explains.  

“It’s always struck me that in places … where you have controlled access to certain aspects of the news, fiction plays an important role in all of our lives,” Larkin continues, “there’s rumours, there’s belief systems built around the lack of access to the truth, there’s all sorts of fictions that interplay in our day-to-day life and the way we perceive governments, each other, and history.”

“Comrade Aeon” becomes a vehicle not just to tie together the different realities of Bangkok, but also to explore “the cycles of history” that Thailand is prone to. Though she chose to write about Black May, what Larkin is really interested in is how Thailand is haunted by “a recurring cycle of unfinished, incomplete stories.”

“It’s quite spooky how there are so many unresolved issues in Thai history,” she elaborates. “Things happen that never get resolved and they just trail along across decades like ghosts.”

Will we ever address our past? Can we? The answer remains perpetually unclear in the seemingly endless regimes of military dictatorships and media censorship that the country is constantly under. But if there ever were a time that we lay our roots bare, Larkin envisions it to be very similar to what unfolded in Myanmar in 2012, after elections are held for the first time since 1990. 

https://www.thaienquirer.com/29926/fiction-memory-and-reclamation-an-interview-with-emma-larkin/

[PeterRS]

16 hours ago, reader said:

“It’s quite spooky how there are so many unresolved issues in Thai history,” she elaborates. “Things happen that never get resolved and they just trail along across decades like ghosts.”

Any examples? Is there anything in the book about the gay scene in Bangkok, even fictional?

[reader]

9 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Any examples? Is there anything in the book about the gay scene in Bangkok, even fictional?

I guess you have to actually read it to answer those questions.

Take Alex Kerr's "Bangkok Found," in which he portends the slow demise of the Bangkok gay scene, and compare it to his latest book, "Another Bangkok."  Based on the interview with him that I posted in another thread, he doesn't seem to have much now to say on the topic. Nevertheless, there are likely many readers who'll find his observations about architecture and culture of interest.

Lots of articles and opinions posted on the forums aren't directly related to the gay scene. They do, however, provide a broader context for understanding what's happening in east Asia, the geographical center of interest of most readers. You have posted many such items and they have certainly helped us form a greater appreciation of what the region has to offer.