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Rewriting Ibsen's Nora: Fiction and the New Woman in Thailand (1920s–1940s)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2020

Thosaeng Chaochuti
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Abstract

Previous research has shown that the New Woman was a global phenomenon and that fiction was crucial to the emergence of this New Woman. One work that was of particular importance was Henrik Ibsen's A doll's house. This article examines the rise of the New Woman in early twentieth century Thailand. It traces the campaigns for gender equality that Thai women waged in local newspapers and magazines. It also examines the reactions towards these campaigns by three major authors, all of whom turned to Ibsen's play in their engagement with the New Woman phenomenon.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 397 - 413
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Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore, 2020

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References

1 See, for example, Schaffer, Talia, ‘“Nothing but foolscap and ink”: Inventing the New Woman’, in The New Woman in fiction and in fact: Fin-de-siècle feminisms, ed. Richardson, Angelique and Willis, Chris (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002), p. 40Google Scholar; and Nelson, Carolyn Christensen, ‘Introduction’, in A New Woman reader: Fiction, articles, and drama of the 1890s (Ontario: Broadview, 2001), p. ixGoogle Scholar.

2 Vicente Edward Clemons, ‘The New Woman in fiction and history: From literature to working woman’ (MA thesis, Pittsburg State University, 2016), p. 61.

3 Ibid., p. 1.

4 This was, according to Angelique Richardson and Chris Willis, a reference to Keynotes (1893), a collection of short stories by well-known New Woman writer George Egerton (Mary Chevelita Dunne). Richardson and Willis, ‘Introduction’, p. 20.

5 An 1881 play by Henrik Ibsen.

6 Dodo, a detail of the day (1893) was a popular and controversial novel by Edward Frederic Benson. It was supposedly an exposé of the New Woman. See further Morrison, Kevin A., ed., Companion to Victorian popular fiction (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018), p. 23Google Scholar.

7 Quoted in Nelson, A New Woman reader, p. 226.

8 Templeton, Joan, Ibsen's women (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 112Google Scholar.

9 Sally Ledger, ‘Ibsen, the New Woman and the actress’, in Richardson and Willis, The New Woman in fiction and in fact, p. 79.

10 Heilmann, New Woman fiction, p. 56. Schreiner published The story of an African farm under the pen name Ralph Iron in 1883. It is widely recognised as one of the first feminist novels.

11 Sarah Wintle, ‘Horses, bikes and automobiles: New Woman on the move’, in Richardson and Willis, The New Woman in fiction and in fact, p. 81.

12 Heilmann, New Woman fiction, pp. 56–7.

13 Quoted in Heilmann, New Woman fiction, p. 57.

14 Angelique Richardson and Chris Willis, ‘Introduction’, in The New Woman in fiction and in fact, p. 1.

15 Talia Schaffer, ‘Nothing but foolscap and ink’, p. 40.

16 See Heilmann, Ann and Beetham, Margaret's New Woman hybridities: Femininity, feminism, and international consumer culture, 1880–1930 (London: Routledge, 2004)Google Scholar.

17 Barmé, Scot, Woman, man, Bangkok: Love, sex, and popular culture in Thailand (Chiang Mai: Silkworm, 2002), p. 134Google Scholar.

18 Women's progress was seen as one of the signs of civilisation. It consequently became an important issue in a country that was trying to modernise itself in order to keep up with the rest of the world. For more on the impetus behind Siam/Thailand's pursuit of civilisation, see, for example, Winichakul, Thongchai, ‘The quest for “Siwilai”: A geographical discourse of civilizational thinking in the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Siam’, Journal of Asian Studies 59, 3 (2000): 528–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

19 Barmé, Woman, man, Bangkok, p. 211.

20 Suwadee Tanaprasitpatana in ‘Thai society's expectations of women’ (PhD diss., University of Sydney, 1989, p. 153) argues that, as urban culture grew, Thai women were expected, at the end of the nineteenth century, to meet new requirements. These requirements included ‘provid[ing] their husbands with happy and comfortable surroundings, [being] their intellectual helpmate … cordially receiv[ing] guests as well as … attend[ing] social gatherings with their husbands.’ In addition to being ‘efficient wives’, Thai women were also expected to be ‘wise mothers’ and act as the first educators of their children. See also Yo Chak, ‘Ying koed ma khuan rian arai’ [What are women born to study?], Narinat, 20 Aug. 1930, p. 77; Sanamchan, ‘Phuying khuan rian arai’ [What should women study?], Narinat, 1 Feb. 1930, pp. 100–101.

21 Rachini was founded in 1904 by Queen Saowapha, wife of King Chulalongkorn and the most important supporter of female education.

22 Sanamchan, ‘Phuying khuan rian arai?’, p. 110.

23 Ibid.

24 Suwadee, ‘Thai society's expectations of women’, p. 216.

25 ‘Kodmai kab satri’ [Law and women], Satrithai, 4 Oct. 1926, pp. 5, 7.

26 Sanamchan, ‘Phuying khuan rian arai?’, p. 108.

27 Ibid., pp. 106–7.

28 According to Suwadee, some men, such as the commoner intellectual Thianwan, criticised the practice of polygamy for its detrimental effects on Thai men. Others, such as Prince Svattivat, King Vajiravudh's legal councilor, and Prince Chakrapongse, the king's brother, advocated the outlawing of polygamy for fear that it would provoke criticisms from the West. Tanaprasitpatana, ‘Thai society's expectations of women’, pp. 200–204.

29 ‘Thang yik thang khuan’ [Prodding and pinching], Satrithai, 1 Mar. 1925, p. 20.

30 Satrithai, 14 Feb. 1926, p. 3.

31 Lertkrai, ‘Suphapsatri pen phuthan tambon’ [Women becoming district representatives], Netnari, 1 Oct. 1933, p. 5.

32 Ibid.

33 Barmé, Woman, man, Bangkok, p. 18.

34 Khrupueak, ‘Sonthana kap Ekasatri’ [Conversation with Ekasatri], Satrithai, 18 Oct. 1926, p. 5.

35 Tawanok (pseud.), ‘Muearai satri jueng ja mi sit samoepak thao chai’ [When will women have equal rights as men?], Suphapnari, 2 Jul. 1931, p. 22.

36 Ibid.

37 Supannee Varatorn, ‘Prawat nawaniyai thai tungtae plai ratchakan thi 5 tung samai plianplaeng kan pokkhrong phoso 2475’ [History of the Thai novels from the latter part of King Chulalongkorn's reign to the revolution of 1932] (PhD diss., Chulalongkorn University, 1973), p. 250.

38 The term samai mai literally means ‘modern’, so questions might be raised as to why I have chosen to translate ying samai mai as ‘New Woman’ instead of as ‘modern woman’ or ‘Modern Girl’. In England, the New Woman came onto the scene, as discussed above, in the 1890s. By the 1920s, however, her presence gave way to a new type of woman, that of the Modern Girl. The New Woman was, as we have seen, associated with demands for women's rights and appeals for gender equality. With her interest in fashion and her consumption of clothes, cosmetics, and hygiene products, the Modern Girl was, by contrast, often seen as more frivolous. While the New Woman clearly predated this Modern Girl in Western countries, in Thailand as in other ‘semicolonial and colonial contexts […] these two figures surfaced simultaneously in the interwar period’. See Weinbaum, Alys Eve et al. , The Modern Girl around the world: Consumption, modernity, and globalization (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008), p. 10CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Scholars such as Su Lin Lewis and Natanaree Psrithong have studied the emergence of the Modern Girl in Thailand. Natanaree argues that the term sao samai that was used in the Thai press in the 1920s designated this figure of the Modern Girl: Psrithong, N., ‘The Siamese “Modern Girl” and women's consumer culture, 1925–1935’, Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 34, 1 (2019): 118Google Scholar. By translating the word samai mai in ying samai mai as ‘new’ instead of ‘modern’, I hope to distinguish the group of progressive Thai women I am investigating from their contemporaries, sao samai (Modern Girls).

39 Jurai Saowaphaphong, ‘Khwam nai jai khong phuying’ [Women's innermost thoughts], Thaimai, 8 Jan. 1930, p. 15.

40 ‘Burut kap satri’ [Men and women], Satrithai, 29 Mar. 1925, p. 8.

41 Ko Phongphanit, ‘Phuying khuan rian arai?’, p. 100.

42 ‘Satri khuan dai rap kan sueksa thao chai’ [Women should receive the same education as men], Narinat, 1 Oct. 1931, p. 51.

43 Sithong, ‘Tham yangrai chueng cha hai sami rak’ [How to make your husband love you], Satrithai, 9 May 1927, p. 14.

44 For more on the significance of fiction, particularly Ibsen's A doll's house, in the transnational New Woman movement, see, for example, Lowy, Dina, ‘Nora and the “New Woman”: Visions of gender and modernity in early twentieth century Japan’, U.S.-Japan Women's Journal 26 (2004): 75–97Google Scholar; Chien, Ying-Ying, ‘Feminism and China's new “Nora”: Ibsen, Hu Shi, and Lu Xun’, The Comparatist 19 (1995): 97–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Chang, Shuei-may, Casting off the shackles of family: Ibsen's Nora figure in modern Chinese literature, 1918–1942 (New York: Peter Lang, 2004)Google Scholar; Choi, Hyaeweol, ‘Debating the Korean New Woman: Imagining Henrik Ibsen's “Nora” in colonial era Korea’, Asian Studies Review 36, 1 (2012): 59–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 The play was translated by Chanid Saipradit under the pen name Juliet. Chanid was the wife of Kulab Saipradit, one of the authors discussed below. The translated play first appeared in the weekly newspaper Prachamit-Suphapburut in November 1946 and was later included in the collection Niyai khong nakkhian-ek haeng lok [Fiction of world masters] (Bangkok: Samnakphim suphapburut, 1954).

46 So Plainoi, ‘Song Thephasit tonbab khong San Thewarak’ [Song Thephasit, the role model of San Thewarak], in Khwamrak chiwit lae ngan Song Thephasit tonbab khong San Thewarak [Love, life, and work of Song Thephasit, the role model of San Thewarak] (Bangkok: Samnakphim dokya, 1993), pp. 20–21. This book is a collection of Song's short stories, compiled/edited by So Plainoi.

47 Malai Chupinit, ‘Kan khian rueang san’ [Writing a short story], quoted in ‘Kham thalaengkan khong samnakphim’ [Publisher's statement], in Khwamrak chiwit lae ngan, pp. 6–7.

48 Song Thepasit, ‘Namchai khong Nara’ [Nara's Spirit], in Khwamrak chiwit lae ngan, p. 36.

49 Ibid., p. 36.

50 Ibid., p. 36.

51 Ibid., p. 36.

52 Ibid., p. 37.

53 Ibid., p. 38.

54 So Plainoi, ‘Song Thephasit tonbab khong San Thewarak’, p. 21.

55 Siburapha (pseud.), ‘Nob’, Sing thi chiwit tongkan [What life needs] (Bangkok: Samnakphim Dokya, 1988).

56 Luk phuchai has traditionally been regarded as one of the first ‘authentic’ Thai novels, although the criteria used to designate it as such has lately been criticised. See Thak Chaloemtiarana, ‘Making new space in the Thai literary canon’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 40, 1 (2009): 87–111.

57 There is an allusion to Ibsen's A doll's house in Khang lang phap, but it is very brief and veiled, so the novel will not be discussed here. But see Thosaeng Chaochuti, ‘Pom Idipas lae prakasit khong pho nai Khang lang phap kab Chua fa din salai’ [Oedipus complex and the name of the father in Khang lang phap and Chua fa din salai], in Thok Thieng Rueang Khun Kha [Debating values], ed. Suradech Chotiudompant (Bangkok: Vibhasa, 2016).

58 Of the three authors discussed, Kulab is the only one who is known to have definitely read A doll's house. In his posthumously published prison diaries, Kulab wrote in his entry on ‘Education’ that in February 1942 he had read four plays by Ibsen: Pillars of society, Hedda Gabler, Ghost, and Wild duck. He then went on to mention that he had already read A doll's house before his imprisonment. See Kulab Saipradit, Bunthuek issarachon: Thinnakon khong phu tong khumkhang doi khoha wapen kabot [Diaries of a free man: Exposé by a prisoner charged with treason] (Bangkok: Samnakphim Matichon, 2001).

59 Siburapha, ‘Nob’, p. 157.

60 Ibid., p. 160.

61 Ibid., p. 160.

62 Ibid., p. 165.

63 Jurai Saowaphaphong, ‘Khwam nai chai khong phuying’, p. 15.

64 Ibid.

65 Riameng (Chupinit, Malai), Chua fa din salai [Eternity] (Bangkok: Krathom, 1999), p. 19Google Scholar.

66 Ibid., p. 20.

67 Ibid.

68 It has been pointed out, however, that most of the story is told by a male character and a male narrator who might have been biased in their representations of Yupphadi. For more on this interpretation, see Suthida Wimuttikosol, ‘Chua fa din salai: Muea kan lao rueang poedpong rueanglao’ [Chua fa din salai: When narration exposes the narrative], An 3, 3 (2011): 192–205.

69 Riameng, Chua fa din salai, p. 26.

70 Ibid., p. 31.

71 Ibid., p. 31.

72 Ibid., p. 32.

73 Henrik Ibsen, A doll's house (New York: Dover, 1992), p. 68.

74 Song Thepasit, ‘Namchai khong Nara’, p. 28.

75 Ibid., p. 29.

76 Ibid., p. 51.

77 Ibid., p. 52.

78 Ibid.

79 Siburapha, ‘Nob’, p. 162.

80 Ibid., p. 163.

81 Ibid., p. 157.

82 Ibid., p. 159.

83 Ibid., p. 166.

84 Riameng, Chua fa din salai, p. 58.

85 See, for example, Anderson, Benedict, ‘Studies of the Thai state: The state of Thai studies’, The study of Thailand: Analyses of knowledge, approaches and prospects in anthropology, art history, economics, history and political science, ed. Ayal, Eliezer B. (Athens: Southeast Asia Program, Ohio Centre for International Studies, 1978), pp. 193–247Google Scholar.

86 Winichakul, Thongchai, ‘Foreword: Decentering Thai studies’, Disturbing conventions: Decentering Thai literary cultures, ed. Harrison, Rachel (London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014)Google Scholar.

87 Harrison, Rachel, ‘Introduction: The allure of ambiguity: The “West” and the making of Thai identities’, in The ambiguous allure of the West: Traces of the colonial in Thailand, ed. Harrison, Rachel V. and Jackson, Peter A. (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010), p. 3CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

88 See also Natanaree Posrithong, ‘The Siamese “Modern Girl”’, which uses images and cartoons from women's magazines in the 1920s–1930s to show that Thailand was part of the global Modern Girl phenomenon.