A Drunken Bee: Sunthorn Phu and the Buddhist Landscapes of Early Bangkok

Sunthorn Phu (1786–1855) is an unlikely figure through which to understand nineteenth-century Buddhism in Siam. Despite being described as a “drunken writer” by the court astrologer after his death, he is now the national poet of Thailand. Yet the majority of Sunthorn Phu’s literary accomplishments, including many of the nirat journeying poems translated in this volume, are scarcely available in English. In A Drunken Bee, Paul Lewis McBain argues that the irreverent, rebellious, and parodic voice of Sunthorn Phu is an invaluable resource for understanding the Buddhism of early Bangkok. A wealth of information about the conflicts and contradictions of the religious thought of this period can be found in the ways in which the poet describes his local landscape. Following Sunthorn Phu on his journeys, readers encounter cities of celebration and rivers of sadness; kingly processions, railways, and unruly pilgrims on their way to the Saraburi Buddha Footprint; forests of spirit-guardians; and life-prolonging alchemical materials as well as the semimythical oceans of Buddhist cosmology used to make sense of the new, more varied world opening up to Siam in the nineteenth century.

In this volume McBain employs theories not only from literary studies but also from the interdisciplinary study of landscapes, applying an innovative approach to understanding how journeying poems may be used as critical sources for uncovering past ways of thinking with and within place. What emerges is one of the most colorful windows into the emergent modernity of Siam in the nineteenth century. The author convincingly showcases how the kingdom was already developing its own nascent individuality, irony and skepticism, all broached by redefining Buddhist concepts. The book offers students and scholars of literature and religion new approaches to the study of journeying poems and how literary texts may be employed in landscape studies, as well as how religious affect may be tied with place.

• Paul Lewis McBain, Author

  Paul Lewis McBain is head of Thai studies at Pridi Banomyong International College, Thammasat University.

• Brilliant. Quite an intellectual gratification!
  —Thongchai Winichakul, author of Siam Mapped and Moments of Silence
• A Drunken Bee is the first book-length study of a major classical Thai literary figure, Sunthorn Phu, and his nine nirat poems. McBain skillfully demonstrates his familiarities with many forms of Buddhism beyond Thailand engaging with an innovative interpretive approach that combines the religious studies and landscape studies. The volume offers valuable contribution to comparative studies across cultures and analysis of modernity. Scholars will find the English translation of Sunthorn Phu’s poems insightful and useful for their own interpretation.
  —Thak Chaloemtiarana, Cornell University