WC: You stated during your reading that ghosts are a big part of Thai culture. Can you explain for the uninformed Westerner both the superstition and power that ghosts exert over the minds of Southeast Asians?

JB: Once again, we must be careful not to fall into a patronizing attitude here. Sure, many Thais seem to believe in ghosts, but it’s not without irony. Girls in particular are given to using “ghosts” as a slightly flippant excuse of universal application, for example to be used to avoid work, or visiting an inconvenient location, or to express menstrual tension. But I would say Asians in general live closer to the human subconscious. They are more willing to express themselves by reference to the folklore, which includes ghosts. They also tend to interpret what we Westerners might call psychological events as supernatural ones. This enables them to seek support from various shamanic personalities, including clairvoyant monks and seers, where in the West we might seek a chemical solution. On the other hand, we must not discount the continuing tradition of ancestor worship, especially amongst the Chinese and Indonesians. In this tradition, the ancestors, i.e. the ghosts, have great power and influence over the present and need to be treated with respect and gratitude. There is some of this influence at work even amongst urban Thais, but with regard to “up country” people and in particular the hill tribes, we find very often that the ancestors form the core of the community identity.

WC: There is a scene after Damrong’s death in the snuff film where Sonchai “sees” Damrong (or is it her ghost?) in a supermarket—it haunts the reader into thinking that Damrong might still be alive.

JB: It is in the nature of real ghosts, as opposed to the comic opera type, that they manifest as perfectly ordinary people. When I practiced law in South London, I found this to be a fairly common theme amongst the urban poor, including some Anglo-Saxon tribes.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7