A. Reading assignments
Please read in Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s book Sightseeing the stories “Farangs”, “Draft Day,” “Priscilla the Cambodian,” “At the Café Lovely” and “Don’t Let Me Die in This Place.” Rattawut Lapcharoensap is an award-winning Thai-American writer in his 40s whose stories are set in Thailand. In an interview (“Clint Eastwood, Summer Love, and Cockfighting,” AsianWeek, January 21, 2005) Rattawut Lapcharoensap stated as motivation for his book the following: “Many of the stories were partly born out of a certain frustration with depictions of Thais and Thailand in contemporary English-language literature. The Thailand I often encountered seemed a far cry from ‘The Thailand I thought I knew, the Thailand I loved.”
B. Discussion Board Assignments
All questions relate to Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s book Sightseeing. Also, the word count applies to a total of all your answers. You do not need to address the questions in this sequence. As long as your answer addresses all questions asked, you can write one coherent text and do not have to wonder about the numbers.
Please answer to the following questions:
What image of Thais and the interaction between Thai and Western culture does Rattawut Lapcharoensap portray in his stories? Please incorporate an example from the stories listed above in your answer.