the last drop of ink | win lyowarin

the last drop of ink WIN LYOWARIN

2

the last drop of ink TRANSLATED FROM THE THAI BY MARCEL BARANG

© WIN LYOWARIN © MARCEL BARANG for the translation Internet edition 2008 | All rights reserved

WIN LYOWARIN | THE LAST DROP OF INK

3 ‘This year’s most outstanding novel is A Single Drop of Rain, written by Weit Wathin.’ Thunderous and prolonged applause greeted the announcement.

As Weit Wathin stepped onto the podium, hundreds of pairs of eyes converged on him. He bowed a little as he received the Asiawrite Award from the president of the jury, placed the golden plaque down on the stand and beamed. The Asiawrite is given every year to five outstanding writers in the whole of Asia, and is the most prestigious award crowning the career of an Asian writer. In the course of twentyfour years of literary toil, Weit’s output had been steady and his books not only made money but also won much critical acclaim. None of them, however, had qualified for the coveted award, until his latest offering, A Single Drop of Rain, which was hailed by critics as the best novel he had ever written.

A Single Drop of Rain is the story of two youngsters from the Northeast who struggle through thick and thin together, working in one of Bangkok’s

Newspaper reports 17th January LEADING WRITER SUES GREENHORN FOR MAKING HIM WIN AWARD Well‐known writer Weit Wathin filed a court action this morning, alleging his name had been used without au‐ thorization by an amateur writer named Khom Kang‐ wan.

As a result of the announcement made by the Asia‐ write Award jury, which selected Weit Wathin’s work, A Single Drop of Rain, as this year’s best novel, the well‐ known writer de‐ clared in front of hundreds of persons attending the award presentation cere‐ mony that the novel was not his own work, but that of a young writer named Khom Kangwan.

THE LAST DROP OF INK | WIN LYOWARIN

4 sweatshops. Unable to stand the cruelty with which the owner of the sweatshop treats the child labourers, one of them plots to murder him and ends up in jail. When he comes out ten years later, he discovers his friend has become the owner of the sweatshop.

Despite its simple plot, the novel was cleverly crafted. Its blunt and incisive language hammered home the thoughts and moods to great effect, in a style as different as day and night from Weit’s previous works. But the novel won the approval of the readers.

Weit pulled the microphone a little closer to himself before saying, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I feel both gladness and regret that the novel A Single Drop of Rain has won this coveted award.

Never in my life did I imagine I would have the opportunity to stand on this podium. Yet it is my duty to inform you that…’ He paused for a while. ‘…I am not the author of this book!’

The entire hall was struck silent.

The well-known writer continued speaking amid the confusion and puzzlement of the whole assembly.

‘This book was written by an ama-

Mr Weit claimed he was under medical treatment abroad when Mr Khom sent the manuscript to Suesarn Publishing House, which de‐ cided to publish the novel, unaware that it was not Mr Weit’s work. When he re‐ turned from abroad, Mr Weit found the book already on sale.

After the award presentation cere‐ mony, Mr Weit told reporters the real author, Khom Kang‐ wan, had come to see him upon hear‐ ing that A Single Drop of Rain had won the award. Mr Khom had confess‐ ed he had merely wanted his novel to be read nationwide, and had never thought of deriving any other benefit from it.

Mr Weit added that, in spite of his sympathy, he had to

WIN LYOWARIN | THE LAST DROP OF INK

5 teur writer named Khom Kangwan.

He published it under my name without my permission. Though the novel has won the award, I feel too embarrassed to pretend to the fame it entails.

I am glad for the author, who has been able to create a literary work of quality, but I am sorry that I must take full legal action against him.’

AN INTERVIEW WITH WEIT WATHIN [This interview, transcribed verbatim, took place at Weit Wathin’s residence on 2nd February. It is a candid talk about Thailand’s literary, music and advertising circles.]

Did you know Mr Khom before this case?

Like you, I’d never heard of him before, but I’m sure from now on everybody will remember it.

Why didn’t he write under his real name?

I don’t know. I was abroad when they announced the novel had won the award. (He coughs discreetly.) Mr Khom came to see me and confessed he had borrowed my name because he wanted people to read his book, and

sue Mr Khom on charges of using his name without per‐ mission, otherwise others might want to follow suit.

19th January Fifty thousand copies of A Single Drop of Rain have been sold in record time, more than all previous bestsellers ever published, owing to the notor‐ iety of the legal act‐ ion engaged against its young author.

22nd January The jury of the Asiawrite Award made the following statement today: ‘A Single Drop of Rain won the award not because of Weit Wathin’s fame as a writer. The jury has never based its deci‐ sion on a writer’s reputation.

The reason the novel re‐ ceived the award is because it is a work of outstanding qual‐

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6 he has certainly achieved this much.

How do you feel about the fact that your legal action against him has boosted the sales of A Single Drop of Rain?

Whether the book sells well or not is none of my concern, since it wasn’t written by me. (He laughs.) But personally, I’m not at all surprised.

Why? Because the event made the headlines, the media contributed indirectly to the promotion of the book.

You mean readers buy the book because it’s being promoted?

To a certain extent, yes. Is there anything these days that needs no advertising or promotion? Even literature has come to depend on it. In Mr Khom’s case, he did what he did because he couldn’t find a publisher for his work, so he had to find a way to get it published. That’s all there is to it.

Do you think he wants to be famous?

I don’t think so, of if he does it’s only so that people would read his book.

But you see, borrowing my name has also made me more famous. In other words, this has helped advertise two

ity, reflecting and re‐ vealing aspects of the Northeast in a way that is both lively and inform‐ ative…’

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7 writers at the same time. (He laughs.)

It’s a kind of disguised advertising.

What do you mean?

I mean advertising you are exposed to without being aware that it’s advertising. It’s very dangerous if it’s misused. Take for example (he points at the television set in the sitting room) those music videos on TV or the songs the radio keeps dishing out without you realizing it, and some entertainment columns in the papers that keep raving about this or that film until you feel you have to go and see it yourself.

As for this novel, it’s a bestseller mostly because of the news you’ve generated and the Asiawrite Award label.

Do you think this is a wrong use of the media?

I accept that awards are an important factor in determining the choice of certain types of consumers. If you follow the news, I think you can remember that a few years ago, one magazine cleverly decided to grant ‘outstanding product’ awards to various categories of consumer goods, such as outstanding furniture, outstanding sanitary

Newspaper reports 27th February Khom Kangwan, the latest winner of the Asiawrite Award, was sentenced to‐ day to six months in jail for using Weit Wathin’s name with‐ out his permission.

2nd March A Single Drop of Rain is being reprinted for the fifth time in only two months. Three hundred thousand copies have report‐ edly been sold.

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8 ware and the like. The companies that won the award were invited to attend the presentation ceremony in some posh hotel, in exchange for a modest contribution to expenses paid by them to the magazine; after that they could use the award label to advertise their products. The arrangement benefited both parties. You can see if you put too much faith in an award, the chances are you’ll end up being cheated. So awards are double-edged swords. But you have to accept that A Single Drop of Rain is really good and did deserver to win.

AN INTERVIEW WITH KHOM KANGWAN [The interview was conducted at the Bangkok Special Prison and published in Reflection Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 10, April.]

What prompted you to do what you did?

To tell you the truth, my novel was rejected everywhere I sent it. Other aspiring writers may well have stopped writing altogether, but I was confident my novel was good enough to be published, so I tried to find a way to make myself known to the public.

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9 Please elaborate.

Take a look. How wide is the Thai book market and what standard do we use to judge the quality of a work? At first, four publishers told me my book was no good, but as soon as they heard people say it should get the award, they all came running to ask me for the right to reprint it. The publishing world has gone completely commercial. It got me thinking that, suppose you have a good work, say, of Pulitzer Prize calibre: if you can’t get it published, then your precious Pulitzer novel isn’t worth more than the paper it’s typed on.

What do you think of reading standards in Thailand?

To make the comparison easier, let’s talk about films. High-standard Thai films don’t make money as a rule, and because they don’t, nobody wants to produce this kind of film anymore. So, what we keep seeing is low-quality films, and there’s no way the standard of the viewers can be raised. It’s a vicious circle.

For readers, it’s the same. If they keep reading books because of the auTHE LAST DROP OF INK | WIN LYOWARIN

10 thor’s fame or because they are heavily promoted, it’ll be very difficult for them to improve their reading standard. Some of the bestsellers on the market now are full of misprints, yet lots of people read them. Do they do so because they like the author or because they like the story? This got me thinking that the art of presenting oneself is sometimes more important than what and how one writes. Therefore, I had to make myself well known first because, at least, it would make people read my novel. That is all I wanted.

What would you say if other writers did the same?

This way of thinking is very dangerous, because it’s as if you look down on the readers. It’s like slapping them in the face. In my case, I was really at the end of my tether.

Have you ever lost hope before?

Oh yes. I was certain there was no way I could succeed in writing and I’d better give it up. I thought this novel would be my last drop of ink. My feeling at the time was like that of a leading character in Martin Scorcese’s film, King of Comedy, which I saw a long WIN LYOWARIN | THE LAST DROP OF INK

11 time ago, when he explains that the ultimate ambition of all artists is to see their work acknowledged by other people. And when people come to admire your performance, you feel like a king, even if it’s only for one night.

That’s exactly how I felt. Deep down, I was confident in my own work. But the publishers didn’t like it, so I had to do something. I’m delighted the readers are enjoying this book – that’s good enough for me. But what’s blown the matter out of proportion is that I won the award.

Why did you decide to use Mr Weit’s name?

For three reasons: first, he is famous, he has a wide readership and his work is of a high caliber; second, critics like to review his books and I was interested to hear what they had to say; and third, he had to go abroad for several months of medical treatment, which made it difficult to find out that A Single Drop of Rain wasn’t written by him.

How did you do it?

Well, I managed to find out where he THE LAST DROP OF INK | WIN LYOWARIN

12 went for medical treatment. Then I forged a letter and sent it with my manuscript to Suesarn Publishing House, which publishes Mr Weit’s works. As soon as the book was out, it was a hit, and that’s when Mr Weit found out.

Weren’t you afraid of being sued?

I was, but I was also ready to face the music, as indeed I have. I only wanted the opportunity to have people read my book. That’s all that mattered to me.

Have you written a lot?

Quite a few short stories. As for novels, this is my first one. Right now, I’ve got offers from four or five publishers, but I haven’t got any plot yet.

Did you sign on with any of them?

Of course. I am very popular now.

Newspaper report 12th March The Mountain and the Stars, the latest novel of popular writer Khom Kangwan, has sold two hundred thousand copies since its launch two months ago, and is well on its way to out‐ sell his first four novels.

Since he won the Asia‐ write Award with A Sin‐ gle Drop of Rain two years ago, Khom Kang‐ wan has churned out two novels a year. All of them have been well received by the readers, even though critics con‐ sider them grossly infe‐ rior to his first novel.

As for The Mountain and the Stars, most critics agree that it is ‘absolute rubbish’, ‘de‐ void of any substance’.

The last drop of ink was published in Win Lyowa‐ rin’s 1994 collection of short stories A‐pheit Kamsuan (Grievous portents). This translation was first published in the April 1994 issue of the Bangkok monthly magazine Caravan.

WIN LYOWARIN | THE LAST DROP OF INK