Atsiri Thammachot

Atsiri Thammachot (born 10 July 1947) is a writer in Thailand. He is the winner of the Southeast Asian Writers Award in 1981 for the short story "Khun-Thong you will return at dawn"

Life and career He was born in the Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan to a family that fished the waters of the Gulf of Thailand for a living. He attended school in Hua Hin until his father lost his fishing boat at sea, at which point the family mortgaged the house and land so that the father could purchase another one, which he then lost at sea soon after.

National Statistics Office census work After finishing up his secondary education in Bangkok, a biography of him in khɔ̀ɔp fáa thá-lee kwâaŋ notes that he worked for the National Statistics Office census in the provinces of Sakon Nakhon, Nakhon Phanom, and Phetchabun for two years. It is noted to be a time that allowed him to become informed of the problems facing communities in rural areas. Part of the reason for his going to work for the NSO were the difficult financial circumstances his family was confronting with respect to the fishery bringing in insufficient income.

As for the themes that motivate his creative works, Thammachot remarks that he aims to have people in Thai society understand the lives of one another, especially the ‘small lives’ that exist at the fringes of society in Thailand. He says further that if he is able to accomplish this, regardless of how much or little this goal is met, people will be able to establish love and understanding and will be able to help and assist one another.

Works Short stories In the collection of short stories bâan rim thá-lee a discussion following the texts by the Literary Analysis Group (klùm waan-ná-kaam phí-nít) provides outlines of the rhetorical character and central themes that emerge in Thammachoat’s work. Noting that his stories use language to generate a soft rhythm, the discussion points out that in almost all of Thammachot’s stories, the concept of pleasure and enjoyment (khwaam-rʉ̂ʉn-rom) as a guiding theme in the plot is absent. Recognizing that there are definite trends of sorrow, the Group also notes, however, that the central themes of his work do not concentrate on or suggest a loss of hope. Rather, concepts such as coming to an understanding of the realities of certain conditions, gaining new knowledge, and uncovering the beauty that hides in life’s small things (paraphrasing from Thai) appear in his work. The use of such ideas implies a sense of introducing a moral direction, which is aimed to educate the reader in some way.

Novels In comparison with his short stories, his novels are said to bear a lot of similarities in terms of main ideas; however, the novels contain significantly more description and attention to individual details. For example, plots concentrating on people who earn a livelihood from the sea tend to show up amid changing economic and environmental circumstances owing to forces beyond their control in both types of work.

Marcel Barang sums up Thammachot’s literary contributions as focusing on “the plight of the common man”