Korbjitti, Chart 1954–

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Korbjitti, Chart 1954–

(Chat Kopjitti, Chart Korpjitti)

PERSONAL: Born June 25, 1954, in Sasmut Sakhon, Thailand; father a ferryman, mother a grocery-story owner. Education: Attended vocational school.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Howling Books, P.O. Box 20, PTJ, Pak Chong, Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand.

CAREER: Writer. Previously worked odd jobs and then set up and worked in a business manufacturing leather bags.

AWARDS, HONORS: Sea Write Award, 1982, for Kham Phiphaksa; award for best novel among ASEAN countries, 1984, for Wela.

WRITINGS:

Chon trok (novella; title means "Dead End"), Tonmak (Kotho, Thailand), 1980, published as No Way Out translated by David Smyth, Howling Books (Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand), 2003.

Kham Phiphaksa (novel), 1981, published as Mad Dogs & Co., translated by Marcel Barang, Howling Books (Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand), 2002.

Phan ma ba (novel), 1983, published as The Judgement, Thai Modern Classics, 1995.

Kao kao, Samnakphim Wal'I (Krung Thep, Thailand), 1983.

Ru'ang thammada, Samnakhim Khon Wannakam (Krung Thep, Thailand), 1983.

Mit prachamtua (short stories), Samnakphim Hon (Bangkok, Thailand), 1984.

Ma nao loi nam, Khon Wannakam (Bangkok, Thailand), 1987.

Nakhon mai pen rai, Samnakphim Khon Wannakam (Bangkok, Thailand), 1989.

Wela (novel), Samnakphim Hon (Bangkok, Thailand), 1993, translated by Marcel Barang as Time, Howling Books (Nakhon Rachasima, Thailand), 2003.

ADAPTATIONS: Kham Phiphaksa ("The Judgement") was made into a movie and a television series.

SIDELIGHTS: Chart Korbjitti burst onto the Thai literary scene in the 1980s. His early novel Kham Phiphaksa ("The Judgement") received widespread notice. Focusing on the theme of social hypocrisy, the novel tells the story of Fak, a janitor whose father has died. His young stepmother, Somsong, is mad and rumors begin that Fak is sleeping with her. Fak soon faces a series of events that result in his ultimate demise, including a demoralizing bludgeoning of a supposedly rabid dog and ultimately his first drink of alcohol, which leads him quickly to become a drunk. Fak's fall is complete as he loses his job and then throws a coconut at some taunting children, killing one of them. He soon finds himself in jail and dying. Writing on the Things Asian Web site, Kenneth Champeon called the book "a meditation on how the vicious and powerful corrupt the virtuous and the weak." Champeon added that "it presents a country quite different from the one found in tourist brochures, and one more akin to Thailand's grisly newspapers or its sordid television dramas."

Several of Korbjitti's books have been published in English, including Wela, which was translated as Time. A contributor to the Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20th Century called the novel "an evocative and stylistically sophisticated portrayal of life in a nursing home." Another book translated into English, Mad Dogs & Co.—first published in 1988 as Kham Phiphaksa—also looks at Thailand's marginalized society and the growing emphasis on materialism. A contributor to the Thai Online Library noted: "A scathing observer of the foibles of society, Chart deftly handles all the shade[s] of irony." The writer added, "His vision of the world is consistently somber, yet redeemed by the implicit humanistic values of his stories, and his celebration of friendship of his characters."