BANGKOK -- In the opening pages of "The Fabulist" -- a dazzling English translation of an acclaimed novel by Thai author Uthis Haemamool -- an ornery old woman tells the story of her immortal spirit. Searing memories of her slumbering "underground, inside the world's womb, for billions of years" segue into vivid recollections of a paradisiacal, pre-modern earth.
"I could hear the rush of rising floodwaters, the echoes of the jungle, the sound of rocks splitting in two," she tells a group of young children. "I could hear wildlife searching for food, monkeys swinging from tree to tree, young deer skipping here and there."
