The Corruption Of The Body: John Burdett
Sean O'Leary

John Burdett is the hugely successful author of Bangkok 8, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts and The Godfather of Kathmandu. I admit fully to loving these books and that interviewing him was a thrill for me and that the whole process was totally pain free because of his easy going nature.

John Burdett grew up in London as an only child and at the age of 11 he wrote an essay, that he tells me was a long as a book. He then told everyone that he was going to be a writer but it took 'a tad longer' that he expected it would. He attended Warwick University to study English and American literature, which he says, left him unemployable until he retrained as a barrister. The law was never an overriding love and he read it chiefly because he needed a career and was able to get a grant.

He did come to respect the law and 'the brains at the top' but there wasn't enough creativity, soul, or poetry to sustain him. He practiced law for fourteen years and says that, 'it is fascinating as the underlying foundation of just about everything in modern life. It is, like it or not, a modern man's true religion: a way of life.' He first went to Thailand in 1984 on R & R from Hong Kong and instantly fell in love with it. And now to the 'Bangkok novels'.

Question 1

At the beginning of Bangkok 8 there is an author's note, which asks for understanding from the Royal Thai Police. You're letting them know no offence was intended in the writing of the book. Were you worried about how Bangkok 8 would be received by the wider Thai population?

I wasn't worried about ordinary Thai's at all, since they almost never read English and would not pay attention, to a farang anyway. You have to remember I had no idea how well the books would sell, if anyone would be interested at all, and I loved living in Thailand, so I wasn't scared of losing my visa and worried about police retribution. (The authors of Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja, claimed they were subject to death threats by the police). Looking a bit "wet" seemed a small price to pay for the added security

Sonchai Jitpleecheep (the Thai policeman, hero of the books). Did you wholly create him or is he bits and pieces of people who you've met?

He's the distillation of observations—I have no idea where my "I" ends and his begins. I think it's better that way.

And what of FBI Agent, Kimberley Jones, pure invention or put together from people you know?

I've spent a lot of time with Americans, male and female.

Kimberley loosens up quite a bit. Is that something you notice with all Western tourists or do some never get over the culture shock?

You have to have a heart a Botox not to be loosened up by the Thai's—their whole attitude to life is lighter, more human, less materialistic—I don't mean they're saints, I mean they have not yet been stressed out of their brains by the ethos of greed.

You have a good crack at Aussie tourists. Beer guts and banana benders and so on, is that a love-hate thing or just good fun?

You might want to punch me for saying this, but so many Australians in SE Asia (as opposed to Europe) look and behave like the stereotype I could not resist. The scene you refer to was inspired by an Aussie on Khan San Road in white walking shorts, long socks, sandals, short-sleeve shirt, slouch hat—who drank about three pints of beer in less than an hour and declared he was going across the road to buy 'some smokes'. I couldn't resist, sorry. (No comment from me, I've seen worse on my own two small visits to Thailand).

Were you planning the follow ups to Bangkok 8 all the time or did you wait and see how it was received before writing the next three novels?

I never plan anything, not even Bangkok 8. Every book is a meditation, the end of which I never know until I get there. (I asked John Burdett in later questions about whether he did character charts or planned his novels thoroughly. He gave a no comment and I already had my answer here.)

Sonchai's relationship with his mother (a prostitute) seems highly unusual. Once again, fiction or based on observation?

Unusual? Have you any idea how unusual the Western perfect childhood is? Dysfunctional families are as common in Thailand as in South London or the Bronx, and the results can be shocking. Frankly, Sonchai's childhood is not that unusual, although his mother is portrayed as a particularly successful whore. Most of the bargirls have children who have to make the best of it.

You tell the tale of the poor coming to Bangkok to work in the sex industry as sometimes the only choice. Does this sadden you?

No, it saddens me that the global value system would rather have girls sell their bodies in big cities than participate in the rice harvest, but considering the grinding poverty that the present economic system has left subsistence farmers in, I am actually pleased these girls have at least found one way out. It's not the most dignified of professions, and may be it should be, after all it's the oldest and it is the way a huge percentage of mothers pay for the rearing of their kids, worldwide. I'm afraid Western moralists of all colours simply do not understand Third World countries (and in the West too, as a supposed profession).

There seems to be this Buddhist view in the books, that because their sacrificing their lives to become prostitutes to help their parents and other siblings that they will have a better life, 'next time around'. Is this me reading too much into your work or is it a widely held belief?

It is very widely held, but not in such narrow terms. Anything you say or do can alter the future by altering your karma—it's not just prostitution, a young man may feel the same way about joining the army, becoming a monk for three months or simply paying homage to his parents—you don't pick one kind of behaviour, it's holistic, connected, all the way back to the big bang.

Have your farang attitudes to sex changed since you wrote and researched these books or were they always in line with the Thai attitude?

They have changed utterly in that I tend to see sex as a bit of a joke, the way Thais do—no one, man or woman, whom I've met here seriously thinks that having the hots for someone is anything but cheap lust. One common euphemism for having sex is "taking a shower," it's as unimportant as that. If you want to convince a Thai girl that you love her, forget about pleasing her in bed—take care of her mother, though, she's yours for life.

The fact that Sonchai is a half-caste allows him to be, in my view, a selective Buddhist. For example this quote from Bangkok 8, I think sums it up,

'My Colleagues look away when I enter the station. Every man has been ordained as a monk for at least three months of his life, meaning that every man has seriously contemplated the inevitability of his own death, the corruption of the body, the worms, the disintegration, the meaningless of everything except the Way of the Buddha. We do not look on death the way you do farang. My closest colleagues grasp my arm and one or two embrace me. No-one says sorry. Would you be sorry about a sunset? No-one doubts that I have sworn to avenge Pichai's death. There are limits to Buddhism when honour is at stake.'

I really enjoy this aspect of his character, it allows us to take Buddhism an all religion a little less seriously

I agree except that it's not meant to be an attitude or peculiar to Sonchai—Thais, indeed Asians in general, tend to be quite sophisticated about their religions—it is a mistake to assume that because they are religious they have the same black-and-white attitude as a bible puncher from Virginia. Don't forget, Thai mercenaries are known to be amongst the most ruthless in the world—parallel to the Buddhism there is a warrior culture alive and well.

Colonel Vikorn (Sonchai's corrupt superior in the police force): I'm afraid I can't dismiss him as a 'lovable rogue' as I think you want the reader to do. I think he's a very dangerous person. What are your thoughts on that?

He is typical of a certain kind of man who had to struggle for brute survival and became a professor in the school of hard knocks. You can find them all over the place, in politics, business, sport—if you see life as Darwinian then sooner or later you are going to contemplate the annihilation of another in order to enhance your own evolution. I believe 90% of Wall Street feels that way, although they would never admit it at Senate enquiries. It's the Vikorn's on Wall St who got us into the present economic mess, so the character is never far away—a part of the modern landscape in fact.

What sort of research did you do initially and is it an ongoing process?

The research consists of living in SE Asia for twenty-five years, learning Thai, talking to Thais, reading, learning—it's not planned, but it creates a kind of volcano which eventually erupts in a new book.

Are Sonchai's attitudes to sex a mirror of Thai society in general?

They are a mirror of the sub-culture in which he was brought up. Prostitution in Thailand is so vast it forms a kind of alternative economy—Sonchai was brought up in that economy. (Sonchai's mother is a prostitute and runs a 'club' together with Colonel Vikorn).

At one point in Bangkok Haunts, Sonchai is filling in Vikorn on an article in the New York Times about porn and Vikorn says,

"Amazing. Farang are even more two-faced than the Royal Thai Police. You mean those mealy-mouthed little Western journalists, who get their knickers in a twist about our brothels, spend most of their time in five-star hotel rooms paying too watch people fuck for money?"

Is this partly your attitude towards the whole sex industry in Thailand and the West's view of it?

By the way that's also a very funny couple of pages.

Yes, that definitely sounds like me. I see no moral difference at all between watching people have sex on video and hiring flesh—indeed, I would suggest the latter is psychologically healthier since it at least involves participating in an activity with another human being. I believe there is quite a lot of research to that effect undertaken by psychologists, especially those specializing in criminology and urban alienation.

Are you still considered a farang by the locals or have you received, 'honorary Thai' status?

Oh you don't become Thai, or any other kind of Asian, simply in one lifetime. You have to live here as a farang then get reborn in the womb of a Thai—Asia is all about essence, rights and logic play no part.

Do you have someone who you trust to read your work before you submit it to an editor or do you indeed have full trust in your editor?

I do trust my editor more or less completely, but he's quite formidable so I usually try the MS out on my agent first. I would only use professionals to read an MS, others are simply not familiar with the way novels evolve.

I'm re-reading Bangkok Haunts at present and looking forward to that crazy, wild, mad ending (again). Tell me it wasn't all imagination?

As I recall it was rather dark and occult—certainly not a personal fantasy, something with much more gravitas.

Are you a transient person or have you settled?

I am a nomad rather than a transient. There is no comparison between the two. A nomad travels between places he knows well. Often he stays for months or years, but he is a nomad to the marrow of his bones. At the moment I nomad between Thailand and France with frequent visits to the US and Morocco—that's my nomad circuit. If I could do it by camel train I would.

Lastly, would you ever kill off Sonchai?

At the time of writing, no.

I asked John Burdett his thoughts about others writing about this region of the world (including the infamous Harry Nicolaides) and about other crime fiction or other writers that he reads and their influence on him but he gave me a simple. 'No comment' to these questions and that's his privilege.

Sean O'leary is a writer from Melbourne, Australia. His short fiction, non-fiction and interviews have been published in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. His short story collection, MY TOWN, is available at www.ginninderrapress.com . He blogs a lot of rubbish at www.shortstorywonders.blogspot.com .