Author
Benedict Anderson
Book Format
Paperback
Publisher
Seagull Books London Ltd
Published
September 2016
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£9.79
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The Fate of Rural Hell
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Author
Benedict Anderson
Book Format
Paperback
Publisher
Seagull Books London Ltd
Published
September 2016
£9.79
Save 25%
Available - Usually dispatched within 4 days
The Fate of Rural Hell
Today's Price £9.79
Add both to basket for £21.35 and save £3.64
In 1975, when political scientist Benedict Anderson reached Wat Phai Rong Wua, a massive temple complex in rural Thailand conceived by Buddhist monk Luang Phor Khom, he felt he had wandered into a demented Disneyland. One of the world's most bizarre tourist attractions, Wat Phai Rong Wua was designed as a cautionary museum of sorts; its gruesome statues depict violent and torturous scenes that showcase what hell may be like. Over the next few decades, Anderson, who is best known for his work, Imagined Communities, found himself transfixed by this unusual amalgamation of objects, returning several times to see attractions like the largest metal-cast Buddha figure in the world and the Palace of a Hundred Spires. The concrete statuaries and perverse art in Luang Phor's personal museum of hell included, \u201cside by side, an upright human skeleton in a glass cabinet and a life-size replica of Michelangelo's gigantic nude David, wearing fashionable red underpants from the top of which poked part of a swollen, un-Florentine penis,\u201d alongside dozens of statues of evildoers being ferociously punished in their afterlife.
In The Fate of Rural Hell, Anderson unravels the intrigue of this strange setting, endeavoring to discover what compels so many Thai visitors to travel to this popular spectacle and what order, if any, inspired its creation. At the same time, he notes in Wat Phai Rong Wua the unexpected effects of the gradual advance of capitalism into the far reaches of rural Asia. Both a one-of-a-kind travelogue and a penetrating look at the community that sustains it, The Fate of Rural Hell is sure to intrigue and inspire conversation as much as Wat Phai Rong Wua itself.
Author
Benedict Anderson
Book Format
Paperback
Publisher
Seagull Books London Ltd
Published
September 2016
Weight
170g
Page Count
104
Dimensions
145 x 196 x 8 mm
ISBN
9780857424020
ISBN-10
0857424025
Eden Code
4587001
More Information
Author/Creator: Benedict Anderson
ISBN: 9780857424020
Publisher: Seagull Books London Ltd
Release Date: September 2016
Weight: 170g
Dimensions: 145 x 196 x 8 mm
Eden Code: 4587001