2004

 

In the Shadow of Angkor
Contemporary Writing from Cambodia

Series Editor Frank Stewart
Guest Editor Sharon May

Jungle Planet and Other New Stories

Series Editor Frank Stewart
Guest Editors Bruce Fulton, Eric Gamalinda,
Leigh Saffold, Arthur Sze, John Whalen-Bridge

Published twenty-five years after the defeat of the Khmer Rouge regime, In the Shadow of Angkor captures the resurgence of the Cambodian arts community and its efforts to restore a rich literary heritage. In many of the works, the artists defy the decimation of their brothers and sisters by the Khmer Rouge, as well as the attempt to erase Cambodia's memory of its history. The range of expression is impressive: the volume includes poetry, short story, film, rap lyrics, and essays, plus interviews with authors and a portfolio of photographs of Cambodia.

Guest editor: Sharon May researched the Khmer Rouge for the Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights. Her stories and photographs have appeared in Mānoa, International Quarterly, Alaska Quarterly Review, Other Voices, and the books Seeking Shelter: Cambodians in Thailand and The Saving Rain. She is completing a collection of short stories.

Artist: Richard Murai was born, raised, and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area and now teaches creative photography in Northern California. His fascination with sacred sites of the world has taken him to India, Peru, Turkey, Egypt, Russia, Asia, and Western Europe. The photographs in this issue are selections from a continuing project on Angkor Wat.

“In the Shadow of Angkor does a commendable service to Cambodia’s people, reminding the world of the strength of character that has enabled Cambodians to courageously bear witness to intolerable suffering—and now, aided by the renewal of the arts and literature, to begin a nationwide healing. Genocide is not the problem of the people to whom it happened; it is everyone’s problem. This wonderfully inspiring book will increase the reader’s awareness of the responsibility we all have in ending such recurring tragedies.”—Dith Pran, founder and president of The Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project and the compiler of Children of Cambodia’s Killing Fields: Memoirs by Survivors

“A beautiful tribute to the Cambodian spirit, this remarkable collection reveals the heartbreaking tragedy and the heart-healing hope that fall within the recent Cambodian experience.”—Carol Wagner, author of Soul Survivors: Stories of Women and Children in Cambodia and director of Friendship with Cambodia

Jungle Planet and Other New Stories features new works of fiction, biography, and drama, plus artwork. These selections span time and place: a young man encounters a palm reader on a San Francisco bus; an old woman recalls the Japanese Occupation of Malaysia; a group of Cheyenne Indians journey to the edge of the known world; and, in the title piece, a child enjoys exotic animals on cable television as the outside world disintegrates.

Among the writers are Lysley Tenorio, Bay Anapol, David Borofka, Eddie Chuculate, Dionisio Velasco, Mark Panek, Robert Barclay, Wayne Karlin, James D. Houston, and Andrew Lam from the U.S.; Huzir Sulaiman from Malaysia; Marcelino Freire from Brazil; Lakambini A. Sitoy from the Philippines; Kim Yongha from Korea; and Manjushree Thapa from Nepal. Translators include Claude Henry Potts and Dafna Zur.

Artwork from Carlos Almaraz, David Botello, Margaret García, Wayne Alaniz Healy, Adan Hernández, Ester Hernández, Leo Limón, John Valadez, Patssi Valdez, and George Yepes has been reproduced for this issue. Back-cover art: John Valadez, Pool Party. Front-cover art: Carlos Almarez, Sunset Crash.

 

232 pp., summer 2004 (16:1), $20
ISBN 978-0-8248-2849-3
Project Muse
JSTOR

216 pp., winter 2004 (16:2), $20
ISBN 978-0-8248-2906-3
Project Muse
JSTOR