How ‘The Quiet American’ Continues to Colonize Vietnam
Neither bombs nor bumbling Americans broke the will of the Vietnamese. Something far more insidious and far-reaching, however, may have.
Opium Traces
Life in the Interzone in Old Shanghai
The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai and Flowers of Shanghai capture a William S. Borroughs-like Interzone in Old Shanghai.
Still Living Dangerously After All These Years
As autocratic leaders slowly take over the First World, popular representations of a Third World coup take on renewed significance.
On the Robot Zombies of Angkor Wat in John Burdett’s ‘The Bangkok Asset’
The sixth novel in John Burdett's Bangkok detective series is a dispiriting, dismaying mess. Is there still hope for recovery or is the series in a death spiral?
The Absolution of Paul Theroux’s ‘Saint Jack’ in a World Lacking Irony
The narrative of Paul Theroux's (and later Peter Bogdanovich's) Saint Jack offers a palliative to the high-priced hedonism taking place in an American-owned compound in Singapore.
Death Tripping Tibetan Style With Gaspar Noé’s ‘Enter the Void’
Reaching for the ultimate psychedelic experience, director Gaspar Noé found The Tibetan Book of the Dead, but did he know what he found when he crafted Enter the Void?
Why Does Paul Bowles’ 70-Year-Old Existential Masterpiece Continue to Test Our Limits?
The Sheltering Sky is itself a test of limits: its form is an exploration of how far one can go in novel writing.
It’s in the Blood: A Conversation with History Writer Tim Hannigan
Treading the lines between journalist and academic, travel writer and scholar, author Tim Hannigan talks about his latest book and his unorthodox approach to writing historical narratives.
On Evil Yogis and the Icy Silence of Yoga’s Post-Disintegration
David Gordon White's life-long research of South Asian religions reveals the dubious roots of the West's feel good contemporary yoga industry.
Yellow Fever and Yum-Yum Girls
Multiple versions of the classic story The World of Suzie Wong offer different takes on a social phenomenon, but can any of them escape the biases of their authors?
Champagne and Knuckle-Dusters, or, Modern Life in Singapore
Novelist and poet Catherine Lim, the most persistent critic of Singapore's government, talks candidly about her new memoir, the half-century anniversary of the city-state, and the death of founder Lee Kuan Yew.
Death in the Land of Smiles
A recent biopic about the last executioner in Thailand explores the extremes between killing and redemption.