34 B.T.W.M., 7 July 1925, Great Britain, F.O. 371/22207, Great Britain, [Annual Report 1931], F.O. 371/16260, B.T.W.M. 8 September 1930.
Wichit's involvement with radio began during the latter experimental stage in 1930, when he gave a series of addresses on the role of women.35 After the system became fully operational the following year, he was to be heard with increasing frequency discussing such subjects as religious belief, the history of newspapers, and the importance of the monarchy.36 Thus, in addition to being a writer and bureaucrat, Wichit became one of the first Siamese radio personalities, an individual whose ideas were given an immediacy that had not previously been possible.
This brings to an end the brief description of Wichit's life prior to the overthrow of the absolute monarchy. We may now turn to look more closely at some of his work and the influences which helped shape it.
3.3 The Incorporation of Western Ideas in Thai Writing
A key factor in the development of the new social discourses of nationalism, civilization and progress, which accompanied Siam's gradual incorporation into the international capitalist economic order, was the translation and adaptation of Western texts and literary forms by local intellectuals. As has been discussed earlier, this general process of cultural appropriation began during the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was marked by the publication of various books, newspapers and magazines which introduced readers to a range of foreign ideas, and provided translations of Western fiction, most particularly Victorian novels and short stories of the 'penny dreadful' genre.37
In addition to the many translations of 'literary' texts, a number of more serious, practical works of Western origin also began to appear. During the early part of the twentieth century some of Herbert Spencer's writings on education were translated by a
Phraya Medha, and an unnamed, socialist-style work on political economy was translated and adapted by Phraya Suriyanuwat (Koet Bunnak), though its publication was suppressed.38
Wichit Wathakan, Luang, 'Phuying' [Women], radio address 3 November 1930, Pathakatha lae kham banyai [Lectures and Talks], vol. 1, Soemwit Bannakhan, Bangkok, 1973 (84-95).
See Wichit Wathakan, Luang. Pathakatha lae kham banyai [Lectures and Talks], vol. 1 and 2, Soemwit Bannakhan, Bangkok, 1973.
See Wipha Senanan, The Genesis o f the Novel in Thailand, Thai Wattana Panich, Bangkok, 1975: 32-35. Wyatt, 1969: 129, 134. Reynolds, 1976: 134. Sathian Chanthimathon, Saithan wannakam phu'a chiwit khong Thai, [The Course of Critical Thai Literature], Chaophraya, Bangkok, 1982: 68-70. N o te: Under Damrong as Education Minister, a new elitist school system was created in which 'the mechanics of reading, writing, and translation into and from English’ was taught. Wyatt 1969: 134. This, no doubt further aided the Thais in process of appropriating Western ideas.
B .T .W .M ., 12 August 1918. N o te : The fact that Phraya Suriyanuwat's work, S u ppayasat (Economics), was largely a translation has not been recognized by Thai scholars. Chatthip Nartsupha for one, seems to infer that the text was a wholly original work. See Chatthip Nartsupha, The Economic Thought of Phraya Suriyanuwat', in Readings in Thailand's Political
Elsewhere, in the field of Thai historical writing, major changes were ushered in with the work of Prince Damrong, who was said to have been strongly influenced by the work of the nineteenth century German historian Leopold Von Ranke (1795- 1886).39 Ranke advocated the critical study of sources, and emphasized that history should only be based on the 'purest, most immediate documents'.40 He was also particularly interested with the notion of historical units of time, or epochs, which in his view possessed a 'unique essence'. These periods he asserted could be 'linked together1 to produce a 'universal history from the beginning to the present day'. Having said this he went on to argue that the purpose of historical research was not simply to satisfy academic interest, but was something which 'should above all benefit [one's] own nation.'41
These conceptions and prescriptions were absorbed by Damrong who went on to map out the dimensions of official Thai historical discourse. The basic categories he used in his work, those of the Sukhothai, Ayuthayan and Bangkok periods and their various royal rulers, came to exert, in one way or another, the most powerful and pervasive influence on subsequent Thai historical writing.42
As Damrong was setting out to create a more modem, rational conception of the past, the young Wichit, who was living and studying at Wat Mahathat, also became involved in this process of cultural appropriation, or modelling when he began translating the German history mentioned above. Broadly speaking, the work was concerned with the history of the Germanic peoples from the pre-Christian era until the early twentieth century. In common with Western history of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, it featured a linear, evolutionary view of progress in which a series of events (i.e. wars, movements of people, legal changes) culminated with the emergence of modem independent nations 43 Progress was also strongly identified with particular cultural groups, in this case the Prussians, who as a result of hard work and frugality came to dominate other German speaking communities and play the leading role in bringing the German nation into being.
The concepts of progress and nation at the heart of this work had, as we have seen, become central to Thai socio-political discourse. In producing his translation,
Economy, Vichitvong na Pombhejara [ed.], Bangkok Printing Enterprise Co., Bangkok, 1978: 402-413.
Kopkua Suwannathat cited in Chamvit Kasetsiri's Thai Historiography from Ancient Times to the Modem Period', in Perceptions of the Past in Southeast Asia, A. Reid and D. Marr [eds.], Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. (Asia), Singapore 1979: 165.
40 Stem, Fritz [ed.], The Varieties of History From Voltaire to the Present, Meridan Books, New York, 1956 : 54. Note : Ranke is widely regarded as 'the father of modem historical scholarship'.
Ibid. : 54.