Born in England and educated at Warwick University, John Burdett practiced law in England and Hong Kong before deciding on a career in writing. After honing his narrative chops with the intriguing thrillers A Personal History of Thirst and The Last Six Million Seconds, he went on to write three arresting novels featuring the unforgettable detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep: Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, and most recently, Bangkok Haunts (Knopf, $24.95).
1. Please describe the climate of “functional barbarism” to which Sonchai alludes. [cannot find the page reference but the phrase is memorable]
“Functional barbarism” is Sonchai’s epithet for the modern age, globalism in the most general sense. To his Buddhist eyes, the whole construct of modern society, which of course includes the modern parts of Asia, is based not only on illusion in the sense that the material world is a mere trick of perspective, but on a kind of moral illusion: we Westerners tend to think of ourselves as humane, sensitive, educated, enlightened, generous, only wanting the best for the Third World etc. To Sonchai this is grotesque nonsense.
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