Caron Eastgate James (now Dann) is a journalist, novelist and researcher who lived in Thailand for four years in the 1990s, where she worked as a teacher and journalist, then researched and wrote her novel and, later, used that research as a starting point for her PhD thesis. She was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1962, but now resides in Melbourne, Australia. Caron is the author of The Occidentals (Asia Books, 1999) and Imagining Siam: A Travellers’ Literary Guide to Thailand (Monash Asia Institute, 2008). In this interview she talks about her books, the literary scene in Thailand, and her passion for writing.
VMS: How was The Occidentals received in Thailand? How about abroad?
CEJ: I think it was received well in Thailand, since it sold out of its print run! It was on Bangkok English-language best seller lists when it came out in 1999. Quite a few people told me they really liked it. I don’t know if many Thais have read it – I’m not sure it would interest Thais so much, though I do know some Thais living overseas have read it. It’s difficult writing about people from a different culture and I don’t pretend to be able to have any insight into the Thai culture. So what I did with the Thai characters, is I tried to forget about culture and think of them as any other person. Anyone who, like Kesri, had been treated so badly, would probably react the same way. I was appalled when I read that many Western men in this era would come to Thailand, stay a few years or even 20 years, and at the end of their time there, would abandon their Thai partner, even if they had children together, and retire back to their own country. Also, many local women who became the mistresses or “second wives” of married white men were treated poorly.
I saw Edward as a weak character, his wife Charlotte as the eternal victim, and his mistress Kesri as strong and resilient, yet flawed almost beyond redemption because of her terrible experiences. Her daughter, Anchalee, will become a type of heroine though and will become more in touch with her Thai side in the second book.
The novel has been published only in South-East Asia and in Germany, but it is amazing today, with books available online, how it has been read by people in many different countries.
Last year, I had some interest from some film producers in Los Angeles to take out a movie option on the book. I even met them when I happened to be in LA last November. Unfortunately, the idea to option the book has been shelved at the moment, because of the economic crisis, but perhaps there will be hope for a future film. I always thought it would make a good movie.
VMS: The Occidentals was also translated into German, Das Erbe Der Schwestern…
CEJ: I can speak German! I learned it for a year at school and for two years at university, including Middle High German literature. However, my German these days is very rusty and not nearly good enough to be a translator. I was incredibly lucky to have a great translator, Ursula Bischoff. She also translates the works of Alexander McCall Smith (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency), a writer whose novels I greatly admire. I have been told by native speakers that the German expression in Das Erbe Der Schwestern is excellent.
The German hardback was published by Nymphenburger in 2003 and it sold at least 3000 copies. They then on-sold it to a paperback publisher, Knaur, and that edition came out in 2005 and sold 18,000 copies, which they were very pleased about.
Getting my book published in German was a bit of a fluke. It happened when I was lucky enough to get a very good agent. I would never have thought of it, but she approached me through my Thai publisher. It nearly didn’t happen – they forgot to pass on the message to me until months later! Anyway, I then contacted the German agent and we made an agreement for her to represent me. I didn’t think anything would come of it. One day, I got an email from her to say she had been to the Frankfurt Book Fair and sold my book to Nymphenburger! It also came out in an audio version in 2007. So I ended up getting royalties for about eight years altogether. Unfortunately, due to the economic crisis causing a downturn in business, my agent has this year decided to close her agency and go back to book editing.
VMS: The English edition has long been out of print. I bought my copy from a second-hand book sale. Are there any chances of a second edition? Would there be anything you would like to change?
CEJ: The English edition has been out of print for maybe a year or two. I would love it to be reprinted. Unfortunately, Asia Books no longer publishes novels. Regarding making changes, I’m not really into being a revisionist writer. However, I would correct the odd typographical and punctuation error and there is one mistake (a character’s name) I would also correct – I won’t tell you where it is! Actually, the copyright has now reverted to me and I am thinking of making The Occidentals available online as an e-book, possibly through Amazon’s Kindle. This means, however, that I would have to retype it, as the original discs no longer exist (and probably couldn’t be read by computers now, anyway).
VMS: On the last page of The Occidentals you make two promises. One of them, completing your PhD, has already been honoured. How about your intention to write two more novels in the Siamese saga series to complete a trilogy?
CEJ: I’m writing as we speak! I have started the second book. It had the working title The Wild, Wild East, but I think I’m going to call it The Golden House, after the women’s health clinic started by young Kesri at the end of the first book. The sequel opens in 1909 when Joe, now a King’s Counsel, and his new wife, Victoria, a “lady doctor” arrive in Bangkok. It also follows the story of the part-Maori grand-daughter of the missionary, Joseph. He always thought the illegitimate daughter he had with a Maori princess in New Zealand had died – but it turns out, he was lied to and she went on to have her own daughter, who has discovered her heritage. Now she is leaving her home in Central Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, and travelling to Siam to find her grandfather, not realising he is dead.
