Book Reviews

Since 1950 the American administration 'has supported any government in Bangkok at all and was rewarded with strong Thai friendship in all of its Cold War strategies, until 'the Indochina catastrophe gave the Thais some occasion to reassess their policies. Since 1923, when the Radya Pustaka training course in dalang-cra.it was first started in Surakarta, the previously largely oral tradition by which wayang kulit performing-techniques were handed down has gradually been converted into a largely written tradition. Out of this effort a Standard script of the wayang play Irawan Rabi evolved which, together with a quantity of additional teaching material, had to be memorized by the pupils of Radya Pustaka. Besides Radya Pustaka a number of other training courses for dalangs were set up over the years. Pink's merit lies in his reproduction, by transcribing a tape-recorded performance, of a 'live' text, unpolished by 'the man with the pen', but produced in a natural way by a dalang playing to his audience. Since thousands of dalangs regularly perform plays, each in his own individual style, and each time adjusted to the particular tastes of the audience, Pink had to make a choice: which dalang did he wish to record and which particular lakon?