“ราโชมอน” และ “จอนะธัน ลิวิงสตัน นางนวล” : วรรณกรรมแปล ที่ทรงพลังของ ม.ร.ว.คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช

Abstract

M.R. Kukrit Pramoj was a Thai philosopher who played an important role in many fields: as a banker, a journalist, a politician, and especially as a writer. M.R. Kukrit Pramoj’s writings are numerous and are recognized as successful in all genres of literature. As for translation works, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj has translated two literary works, Rashomon and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. This article aims to present the ideas and philosophy of life hidden in these two works of literature. This was a comfort that induced M.R. Kukrit Pramoj to translate both works into Thai.

The play Rashomon reflects the relationship between literature and social and cultural contexts. The samurai once enjoyed prestige, power, and privilege over other classes of society. But as Japan’s middle class began to grow, and gained more financial and social power, the samurai class began to decline and the dark side of the samurai gradually came to light. The samurai character in the story is cowardly and his fighting skills are very poor. Instead, he likes to show his bravado, dominance, and is only interested in maintaining a social image. This story also reflects the duality that is the mainstay of character formation throughout the story. The samurai’s wife has a beautiful and fragile appearance, which represents the weakness and purity of a noble woman. Actually, she is just a cook’s daughter, without the qualities of a good wife. Tajomaru is a thief in name, for he is cowardly and unskilled in fighting. The woodcutter, although a liar, a thief, is kind and merciful. Furthermore, reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull gives encouragement to develop one’s own potential and to do charitable work for the world. Jonathan Seagull, the protagonist, discovers the true meaning of living, allowing him to experience a new atmosphere and new experiences. Realizing the power of the mind allows the character to experience joy and can free the mind from some narrow boundaries. Also, this work provides lessons in distraction for attaining full concentration on the main goal, as well as the concept of gurubhava endowed with benevolence, humility, charity, and, most importantly, the lesson teaching that the greatest guru is the guru within each person.