Married to the Demon King: Sri Daoruang and Her Demon Folk

by Sri Daoruang, Susan Fulop Kepner (Translator)

"This is a book about love and marriage in contemporary Thailand," declares the preface of this charming book. The volume is ingeniously built around six short stories called "Tales of the Demon Folk" by Sri Daoruang, one of Thailand's leading fiction writers. With striking creativity, Sri Daoruang has placed the familiar characters of the Ramakian, the Thai epic based on the Indian Ramayana, within the Bangkok of today. By re-envisioning their relationships and adventures, she portrays husband and wife relations in Thai society, cloaked in the comforting garments of myth and laced with the kind of humor readers appreciate most—ironic, sarcastic, earthy, and compassionate.

Translator Susan F. Kepner makes these tales available for the first time to English-language readers. She introduces the tales with a lively discussion of the writer and her context, retells the plotline of the classical Ramakian, and then presents the translated tales, in which the demon king, contrary to expectation, is a most gentle and endearing demon. Finally, she reveals the humor embedded in these tales of family life, and in Sida's, or Everywoman's, marriage to the demon king.

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Christine Hall]

The collection Married to the Demon King: Sri Daoruang and Her Demon Folk consists of six short stories originally composed in Thai by Sri Daoruang, the pen name of Wanna Sawatsri, one of Thailand’s leading fiction writers.

[Melanie Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me laugh out loud several times. Maybe because I'm newly wed to a Thai husband? Kepner provides a good synopsis of the Ramakian in the introduction. You are intrigued to know more about this reclusive author from Kepner's biographical sketch of Sri Daoruang. The book touches on universal themes of love, jealousy, laziness, hard times and humor.