The English Governess at the Siamese Court (Annotated)
Enriched Edition. Being Recollections of Six Years in the Royal Palace at BangkokBy Anna Harriette Leonowens
Length10h 47m
About this audiobook
The English Governess at the Siamese Court is Anna Harriette Leonowens's vivid 1870 memoir of her years as tutor to the children and women of King Mongkut of Siam. Combining travel writing, court chronicle, moral reflection, and Victorian domestic narrative, it presents the palace as both dazzling and troubling, attentive to ceremony, hierarchy, slavery, education, and religious difference. Its prose is dramatic, reformist, and self-consciously civilized in the idiom of nineteenth-century imperial literature, though modern readers also recognize its partiality and contested claims. Leonowens herself was a complex figure: born in colonial India, widowed, and compelled to support her family through teaching, she arrived in Bangkok in 1862 to instruct the royal household in English. Her precarious position as a foreign woman, neither missionary nor diplomat, shaped her fascination with power, gender, and cultural encounter. Personal experience, economic necessity, and Victorian ideals of moral duty all informed her account. This book is recommended to readers interested in Southeast Asian history, women's life-writing, colonial-era travel literature, and the making of cross-cultural myth. Read critically, it remains a compelling document: not a transparent window onto Siam, but an influential narrative through which the West imagined it.
This enriched edition has been carefully crafted to add value to your reading experience.
- A succinct Introduction situates the work's timeless appeal and themes.
- The Synopsis outlines the central plot, highlighting key developments without spoiling critical twists.
- A detailed Historical Context immerses you in the era's events and influences that shaped the writing.
- A thorough Analysis dissects symbols, motifs, and character arcs to unearth underlying meanings.
- Reflection questions prompt you to engage personally with the work's messages, connecting them to modern life.
- Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance.
- Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★ 3.4 (622)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing
GenreBiography and Memoir
Length10 hrs 47 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 26, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Introduction
3Synopsis
4Historical Context
5PREFACE.
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6I. ON THE THRESHOLD.
7II. A SIAMESE PREMIER AT HOME.
8III. A SKETCH OF SIAMESE HISTORY.
9IV. HIS EXCELLENCY'S HAREM AND HELPMEET.
10V. THE TEMPLES OF THE SLEEPING AND THE EMERALD IDOLS.
11VI. THE KING AND THE GOVERNESS.
12VII. MARBLE HALLS AND FISH-STALLS.
13VIII. OUR HOME IN BANGKOK
14IX. OUR SCHOOL IN THE PALACE.
15X. MOONSHEE AND THE ANGEL GABRIEL.
16XI. THE WAYS OF THE PALACE.
17XII. SHADOWS AND WHISPERS OF THE HAREM.
18XIII. FÂ-YING, THE KING'S DARLING.
19XIV. AN OUTRAGE AND A WARNING.
20XV. THE CITY OF BANGKOK.
21XVI. THE WHITE ELEPHANT.
22XVII. THE CEREMONIES OF CORONATION.
23XVIII. THE QUEEN CONSORT.
24XIX. THE HEIR-APPARENT.—ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING.
25XX. AMUSEMENTS OF THE COURT.
26XXI. SIAMESE LITERATURE AND ART.
27XXII. BUDDHIST DOCTRINE, PRIESTS, AND WORSHIP.
28COMMON MAXIMS OF THE PRIESTS OF SIAM.
29XXIII. CREMATION.
30XXIV. CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS.
31XXV. THE SUBORDINATE KING
32XXVI. THE SUPREME KING: HIS CHARACTER AND ADMINISTRATION.
33XXVII. MY RETIREMENT FROM THE PALACE.
34XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF SIAM.
35XXIX. THE RUINS OF CAMBODIA.—AN EXCURSION TO THE NAGHKON WATT.
36XXX. THE LEGEND OF THE MAHA NAUGKON
37Analysis
38Reflection
39Memorable Quotes
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