Sang Chiwit (The Self-Made): Luang Wichit Wathakan’s Criticism against Literature for Life’s Sake

Abstract

Abstract

          This research aims to study Luang Wichit Wathakan’s Sang Chiwit (The Self-Made) a production of the political elite and development discourse. Although Sang Chiwit presents class issues and divisive society, it proposes sustainable solutions through embracing the development discourse and improvement of human resources with a keen awareness of individual capacity. All are to echo state’s policy during the Cold War period and to pursue Luang Wichit Wathakan’s ideology of the middle class since his early literary career. In this way, Sang Chiwit is the political elite’s cultural production. It is created for challenging the art for life’s sake movement under the Marxist influence since the 1950s.