Thai Footprint is the blog of Bangkok-based Kevin Cummings (link here). He describes it as being about “People, Things, Literature, Music and Henry Miller too.” Kevin cites a quote from Henry as the inspiration for the blog: “Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” Quite right – these days I find myself forgetting things all the time. I remember Henry, though – he was one of the giants of the two decades or so following World War II, an apostle of freedom and self-liberation. He used to hang out a lot with Larry Durrell, the brother of Gerald – Gerald (as in the hilarious My Family and Other Animals) became famous before his older brother, then the Alexandria Quartet started appearing, all Gothic sex and purple prose, leaving unwary readers perplexed. “It’s a book by that nice Mr Durrell,” one old lady explained at the local library. “I expect it’s about animals.” Kevin says this about himself:
I have split the last fourteen years between Thailand and a small beach community in Northern California. I like to read. I like to creatively consume. Here I display a great deal about the artists, poets, novelists, musicians, photographers and the occasional muse who create in Thailand and SEA. Gop, the very cool and relaxed frog in the coconut shell was drawn by the very talented, cool and relaxed author / cartoonist, Colin Cotterill, to whom I am very grateful. I’m not a writer but my articles have been published in a few places. In the long run, John Maynard Keynes is going to be right.
The sections in the blog are:
The Henry Miller section is a collection of quotes from the great man. He was great, too – a little overlooked today, unfortunately. My advice is to start with Gerald Durrell’s three books about his boyhood on Corfu in the 30s, then read Lawrence Durrell’s Spirit of Place. Then read Henry. There are Interviews with, among others, Chris Minko of Khmer Krom, and artist/photographer Chris Coles. And there are book reviews – lots and lots of them, of which I especially recommend his review of Tim Hallinan’s Poke Rafferty series.
Kevin’s blog is a must-have for anyone seriously interested in Southeast Asia.
Philip J Coggan 