| A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants Contributor(s): Coffin, Jaed (Author) |
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ISBN: 0306815265 ISBN-13: 9780306815263 Publisher: Da Capo Press OUR PRICE: $18.99 Product Type: Paperback Published: January 2008 Annotation: A the age of 21, Collins, a half-Thai American, left college to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in his mother's native village of Panomsarakram. While addressing the notions of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging, Coffin chronicles his time at the temple that rainy season. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs - Religion | Buddhism - History - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - Asian & Asian American |
| Dewey: B |
| Lexile Measure: 910 |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5.5" W x 8.3" (0.55 lbs) 224 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Buddhist |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Six years ago at the age of twenty-one, Jaed Muncharoen Coffin, a half-Thai American man, left New England's privileged Middlebury College to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in his mother's native village of Panomsarakram--thus fulfilling a familial obligation. While addressing the notions of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants chronicles his time at the temple that rain season--receiving alms in the streets in saffron robes; bathing in the canals; learning to meditate in a mountaintop hut; and falling in love with Lek, a beautiful Thai woman who comes to represent the life he can have if he stays. Part armchair travel, part coming-of-age story, this debut work transcends the memoir genre and ushers in a brave new voice in American nonfiction. |