(1876–1945), Thai writer and publisher. Prince Bidyalankarana was a man of many talents, occupying high administrative offices, chiefly in financial affairs, while earning a reputation as one of the most accomplished writers of his day, both for his verse and his prose fiction. He was born in Bangkok, the son of Prince Wichaichan, last of the Second Kings. On completing his education at Suan Kulap School, he worked in the Ministry of Public Instruction and then in the Ministry of Finance before accompanying King Chulalongkorn on the king's first state visits to Europe. After a year studying at Cambridge in 1898, he returned to Bangkok and brought out a monthly magazine called Lak witthaya (Stealing Knowledge; 1901–1903), a landmark on the Thai literary landscape for bringing to Thai readers translations of Western fiction and providing Thai writers with an outlet to develop a new style of writing, albeit imitative of Western fiction. It was in the pages of Lak witthaya that the first translation of a Western novel, Marie Correlli's Vendetta, was serialized. Prince Bidyalankarana was well known as a writer, many of his works appearing under the pen-name "N.M.S." Best known is his Chotmai Changwang Ram (Letters of Deputy Ram), a series of seven letters written by a father to his son, which drew its inspiration from George Horace Lorimer's Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son. The father's letters offer advice on education, finance, career, friendship, love, marriage, and Buddhism to his son, who is at first studying in England and then returns to resettle in Thailand.
Further Reading
Senanan, Wibha. (1975) The Genesis of the Novel in Thailand. Bangkok, Thailand: Thai Wantana Panich.
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