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The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Vol. 33 No. 2 Apr.-Jun. 2008 118 ‡√◊Ë Õß —È π™ÿ ¥ ‡À¡◊ Õß·√à ¢ÕßÕ“®‘ πµå ªí ≠®æ√√§å ‡¡◊Ë Õ‡√◊Ë Õß —È π™ÿ ¥ ‡À¡◊ Õß·√à ¢Õß Õ“®‘ πµå æ‘ ¡æå √«¡‡≈à ¡‡ªì π©∫— ∫ ¡∫Ÿ √≥å ‡√◊Ë Õß√“«∑’Ë Õ“®‘ πµå °≈à “««à “À—Ë π‡ªì π ∑à Õπ Ê °Á ª–µ‘ ¥ª–µà Õ‡ªì π‡√◊Ë Õ߬“« ‡≈à “∂÷ ß™’ «‘ µ¢Õß»‘ ≈ªî π·Àà ß™“µ‘ §πÀπ÷Ë ß „π™à «ß∑’Ë ‡¢“∑”ß“π‡À¡◊ Õß·√à ‡√◊Ë Õß —È π ∑’Ë ∂— °∑Õµà Õ°— π‡™à ππ’È Õ“®°≈“¬‡ªì π çπ«π‘ ¬“¬™’ «‘ µ»‘ ≈ªî πé À√◊ Õ çk ü nstler- romané ˘ ‰¥â ˘ æ®π“πÿ °√¡»— æ∑å «√√≥°√√¡ Õ— ß°ƒ…-‰∑¬ ©∫— ∫√“™∫— ≥±‘ µ¬ ∂“π (°√ÿ ߇∑æœ : Àâ “ßÀÿâ π à «π®”°— ¥Õ√ÿ ≥°“√æ‘ ¡æå , ÚıÙı), π. ÚÛı. Abstract The Mines , a Series of Short Stories by Archin Panchaphan Chintana Damronglerd Associate Fellow of the Academy of Arts, The Royal lnstitute, Thailand. Drawing from his personal experience from working in an australian- owned mine in Pang Nga for 3 years and 11 months (1949-1953), Archin Panchaphan created a series of short stories, The Mines . There are total of 141 stories which stand as a narrative record of living and working conditions and the people he encountered. In the stories, miners had their living quarters up in the mountain which put them among many dangerous jungle animals. The author also talked about the miners fight against Mother Nature in different seasons - the heavy rain, the cold, the extreme heat, etc. These conditions make the atmosphere of the stories unique; however, the colorful components to the stories were human elements. He talked about the characteristics of miners - their gambling habits, their addictions to cheap tobacco and alcohol and their favorite meeting place, the Coffee House. Archin Panchaphan efficiently demonstrated that there was always hope on matter how tough a minerûs life could be. He showed that there was no use for despair and revenge for self-conceived social injustices. Unlike Germinal by Emile Zola, The Mines emphasized a glass-half-full attitude through a humorous narration. The author maintained the readersû interest in the series with twisted endings to most of his stories. Key words : Archin Panchaphan, short stories, The Mines