Abstract:
This research is a study of the construction of "farang" identities and the imagining of Thailand in eight contemporary novels by Western writers. The study reveals that the imagining of Thailand is part of the construction of farang identities, carried out through the three steps of the traditional travel novel plot: the departure of the protagonist/narratormostly male in this casefrom his homeland, his entry into Thailand, and his return to the native country. Besides, this construction is also performed through the relationship between farangs and Thai bar girls as lovers that sexual relationships are considered in two different manners: objectively as part of a profitable profession by the Thai bar girl characters and emotionally as acts of romantic love by their farang counterparts. Moreover, farang identities are variously formed through the different spatial sections of Thailand being imagined. In the space of bars in the red-light zone, it is found that the farang characters identify themselves as tourists directly looking for pleasure and entertainment whereas the areas of tourists lodgings serve as sites of farang communities, where these people gather to share their experiences and hang out in the daytime. Other types of non-red-light spaces found in the novels studied are the Thai girl characters homelands in which their farang lovers are in the positions of learners; sites of tourist attractions where the farang characters perform their happy traveler roles; and certain spaces of Bangkok or Thailand that are represented as dangerous places.