ความเป็นชายในนวนิยายของ ’รงค์ วงษ์สวรรค์

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate the masculinity, both in form and presentation, of fifteen stories in ’Rong Wongsawan’s Novels from 1960 – 1992. According to the study, the masculinity present in the novel is dynamic, it is able to vary with historical time and social context. The period shown in the novel relates to the period of the transition of Thai society to modernity, under the concept of 'Development', supported by the US government. The development resulted in new infrastructures, transport systems and roads for the countryside. These changes have narrowed the strait between the 'rural' and 'urban', forcing male rural residents to migrate and turn into urban workers. As a result, these men have lost their identity by going through a crisis of masculinity. The method of negotiating and countering the crisis of masculinity was presented through by consumerism. From the study, the representation of masculinity shows the binary oppositions: the rural masculinity/the urban masculinity, macho man/beta man, hyper-masculinity/hypo-masculinity, or rural gangster/urban gangster. However, there are also some representations of masculinity that violate the normative masculinity in Thai society, such as pimps, Mang bars and male prostitutes. The transition to spatial modernity in the era. This 'Americanization' directly affects the transformation of masculinity through narratives. Although the masculinity that appears in the novels is not a perfect representation of masculinity by nature, it is a proof of the assumption that “Gender is a social construct”