Amitav Ghosh, Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma

John Thieme (University of East Anglia)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.1.03: Indian Writing and Culture: Post-colonial, 1947-present.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1998

Places

India (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay Collection
- Guidebooks / Travel writing

Resources

Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma (1998) is made up of three parts: the two longish travel-essays of the book's title and a shorter Cambodian piece, “Stories in Stones”. Ghosh's capacity to find patterns in apparently unconnected events is at its best in “Dancing in Cambodia”, which links the 1906 visit of Cambodia's King Sisowath, his entourage, and a troupe of Cambodian classical dancers, to France, with the recent history of the country decimated by the Khmer Rouge Revolution. Ghosh interviews a number of figures who provide living testimony to the interconnectedness of these two narratives. They include a famous dancer, Chea Samy, who has first-hand knowledge of King Sisowath and his daughter Princess Soumphady …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

967 words

Citation: Thieme, John. "Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 March 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5763, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Save this article