Khun Chang Khun Phaen - Translation

Translation

In 2010 the first complete translation into English has been done. Before that there was no full translation into any European language. Prem Chaya (Prince Prem Purachatra) began a précis version, The Story of Khun Chang Khun Phaen (1955, 1959), but completed only two of the three planned volumes. J. Kasem Sibunruang compiled an abridged version in French, with some commentary, as La femme, le heros et le vilain. Poeme populaire thai. Khun Chang, Khun Phen (1960). Klaus Wenk translated the famous chapter 24 by Sunthorn Phu word-for-word into German, in Studien zur Literatur der Thai: Texte und Interpretationen von und zu Sunthon Phu und seinem Kreis. Hamburg and Bangkok (1985).

There are very few studies on Khun Chang Khun Phaen in western languages. Prince Bidyalankarana (Krommuen Pitthayalongkon) wrote two articles on the poem in the Journal of Siam Society in 1926 and 1941 which explain the metrical form of the sepha and give a summary of the plot. E. H. S. Simmonds published an aritlce in Asia Major in 1963 which compares one episode in the standard text with a version he recorded in performance.

Khun Chang Khun Phaen has been completely translated into English by husband-and-wife team Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit in 2010.

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