The Lioness in Bloom

Kepner's selection shows the many ways fiction has mirrored the lives of Thai women over the twentieth century. The spectrum is broad, encompassing the young and the old, the rural and the cosmopolitan, the privileged and the poor. Some writers address previously unacceptable themes: female sexuality, spousal abuse, gender oppression. Others display a scintillating sense of humor. They touch on many themes—injustice, the heartlessness of society, loneliness, the difficult choices that life presents. Susan Kepner's lyrical, faithful translations preserve the tenor and resonances of these voices, many of which will be heard for the first time by English-speaking readers.

Susan Fulop Kepner has been a Lecturer in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1991. Among the works she has translated from Thai are Letters from Thailand by Botan (1977) and A Child of the Northeast by Kampoon Boontawee (1987). She has also written a book of original prose poems entitled Somebody's Mother (1987).

Preface
Acknowledgments
Notes on Transliteration
Introduction

PART ONE: MOTHERS
Contents
Grandmother the Progressive
Junlada Phakdiphumin
Deep in the Heart of a Mother
Wat Wanlayankul
From People of Quality
Dok Mai Sot
From A Child of the Northeast
Kampoon Boontawee
Matsii

PART TWO: WIVES AND LOVERS
Snakes Weep, Flowers Smile
Suwanee Suklwntha
From Behind the Painting
Sri Burapha
From That Woman's Name is Boonrawd
Botan
Deaf Sim
Prabhassorn Sevikul
A Pot That Scouring Will Not Save
Anchan
When She Was a Major Wife
Subha Devakul
Sai-roong's Dream of Love
Sri Dao Ruang
From This Human Vessel
Krisna Asoksin 

PART THREE: DAUGHTERS
The Dancing Girl
Ussiri Dhammachoti
Greenie
Manop Thanomsri
A Mote of Dust on the Face of the Earth
Preechapoul Bloonchuay

Appendix: Kings of the Chakri Dynasty
Bibliography
Suggested Reading
Sources of Publications
Index