A Civilized Woman

Boonlua Debhayasuwan was born into a noble Siamese family in 1911 and not only witnessed but participated in the great events of her century. Boonlua became one of the first Thai women to earn a university degree. As an official in the Ministry of Education, she worked to improve and represent Thailand at education conferences. Her essays on literature became the foundation of modern Thai literary criticism and her novels are now recognized as unique social histories of the times in which she lived.

Susan Fulop Kepner is a writer, translator, and former professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. In Her Father's House
2. From the Palace to the Nuns
3. Return and Revolution
4. The Years of Opportunity
5. Culture Wars
6. Life at Mid-Century
7. An Independent Woman
8. The Uses of Fiction
9. Another Kind of Revolution
10. A Civilized Woman

Appendix 1. A Chronology of Boonlua's Life
Appendix 2. Kings of the Chakri Dynasty
Appendix 3. Thai Royal Titles and Royally Conferred Titles
Appendix 4. Prime Ministers of Thailand, 1932-1982
Notes
Bibliography