E L James’s Fifty Shades of Grey — and its two sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed — was a commercial sensation which took the market by storm three years ago. Total sales of the series are estimated to have reached in excess of 90 million copies worldwide. Focusing on college graduate Anastasia and her erotic relationship with 27-year-old businessman Christian Grey, the trilogy has gained both fame and notoriety for its explicit descriptions of sado-masochistic sexual encounters between the two protagonists.
The three books were translated into Thai by Amarin Printing and Publishing and released simultaneously in mid-2013. But the Thai version hasn’t sparked the same level of interest and discussion among readers as the originals did. Nor have sales been as spectacular either. Ongaj Jiraon, an executive at Amarin who was involved in the editing work on the project, spoke to Life recently about the translation process and how the publisher decided on what sections of the controversial text to cut.
Is the translated version of the Fifty Shades trilogy selling well?
Not as well as many people had expected. But it is still performing better — three to four times better — than new publications in general. Perhaps [it’s because] we chopped out a great deal — indeed, a lot — of the erotic scenes. It would have been much easier if we’d simply translated and printed every word and every scene exactly as they were in the original version. But we thought long and hard about this. We also have a responsibility to readers and to Thai society. When you bring in something from another culture and environment, you do not necessarily have to consume it just as it is; it is possible to first adjust it to suit your own environment and context.
Did you discuss these changes with the author?
No. But we did discuss them with her agent.
The introduction to the book informs readers that the publisher has removed many of erotic and S&M scenes in order to adhere to Thai cultural values. Isn’t that a bit like making a film about World War II without showing any of the bombs and bloodshed?
There were heated debates about our decision. Indeed, I was the person who wrote the introduction. Some people have said we were disrespectful of the original version. One critic observed that readers would need to pab pieb [the act of sitting properly in the accepted traditional Thai fashion] in order to read the Thai version of Fifty Shades Of Grey. Did we respect the original version? Yes, we certainly did, but we also respect our own society and the traditional values of Thai culture.
If the original text does not sit well with the tenets of Thai culture, why did you not decide right from the start against bringing out a translation?
We did not decline to open ourselves up to something new. We decided to do the Thai translation because we [Amarin] want to support books that project the different ways that one can view the world. People do not read so much into what the characters [in a book] are doing or saying, but readers do get the message that there are indeed a variety of ways of perceiving life.
What was the most difficult aspect of doing the translation?
The editing alone took two to three months. We had several meetings and spent many hours poring over the manuscripts. A lot of paragraphs and scenes were removed right away during the first editorial reading; we simply could not let them go into print. Then, there are a lot of trimming and interlacing of paragraphs to restore a nice, smooth flow. But the most essential and challenging task was debating about which vocabulary to use, trying to find Thai words that could both convey the original meaning the British author intended and also display the beauty of the Thai language.
You might want to think about what Pramun Unhathup did with Jan Dara [a classic erotic novel and work of social satire written by Pramun under the pen name Utsana Phloengtham; it was published in serialised form in Thai-language newspapers in the mid-1960s]. That book is ultimately an erotic story, but the choice of words the author made lifted the story above the pornographic content and make it into a classic, with classy, tasteful prose.
Fifty Shades Of Grey stripped of most of its hot sex ... so what is left for readers to look forward to?
The Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy is exuberantly overloaded with racy S&M scenes and we were able to chop roughly a third of those scenes without destroying the gist of the story. Many of those erotic scenes were not particularly innovative and could indeed be regarded as almost ‘normal’ by modern-day standards. They may have created a sensation in Western culture, but they wouldn’t have done so in Japan. Many books available on the [domestic] market [including translations of Japanese titles] are full of erotic scenes that would make Mr Grey’s exploits pale in comparison.
But don’t get me wrong: all the essential erotic scenes from the original are still there. Readers will certainly know what is going on between the sheets. But if you were to remove all the sex from this book, you will still be left with a love story, a romance. The couple in this book find each other and help complete one another and emerge as better persons. It is all about one person being affected by his own past and upbringing. Mr Grey’s behaviour is a by-product of his childhood and his background and the relationship [with Anastasia] helps him to solve his personal problems and cure himself. So, the book is about how love can change and heal a person. I do not view this couple as being immoral. They are just exploring their sexual preferences and they have the right as adults to do so. If we were to speak in terms of real moral values, this couple do not cheat, nor do they betray each other. They are in fact a very nice couple indeed. What they do together between the sheets is totally up to them.
Were you satisfied with the outcome, with the public reception the translation received?
Money isn’t everything! Many copies of the Thai translation of Fifty Shades Of Grey remain unsold because of our decision to remove a lot of the sex scenes. But we are proud that we were able to release the Thai version of Fifty Shades Of Grey in this way.
