Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Sky Song
: Cosmopolitanism and Authorial Identity in a Thai Writer’s YA Fiction

  • Nithina Preechathaveekid

Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Abstract

This dissertation is divided into two parts. The first part is an extract from a fantasy novel for young adults called The Song Sung towards the Sky, which comprises approximately three-quarters of the novel. The novel features interwoven first-person narratives of four adolescent protagonists who embark on their personal quests for the Sky Kingdom of Akasha, which is populated by winged beings based on the Thai-Hindu mythological race Kinnaras. The second part is a critical piece analysing the effects of postcolonialism, globalisation and cosmopolitanism on the identity of the author as a Thai YA fantasy writer who has been exposed to cosmopolitan concepts through consumption of globalised European-inspired fantasy media and potscolonial education in English literature.

The critical piece responds to the questions of what institute an authorial identity in the aforementioned creative work for the Chinese-Thai writer, who has experience in writing YA novels employing Westernised fantasy elements for the Thai readership. It explores the development of YA fantasy novels in Thailand as part of a postcolonial, globalised and cosmopolitan world and how these theoretical concepts are manifested in the protagonists of A Song Sung towards the Sky as a cosmopolitan YA fantasy novel.
Date of Award9 Dec 2025
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • University of Bristol
SponsorsMahidol University
SupervisorMimi Thebo (Supervisor) & Samantha Matthews (Supervisor)

Cite this

'