Novel · A way to begin
សូផាត
Not translated into English
Rim Kin · 1941
Synopsis
Suon, a civil servant in Sisophon, has an affair with Soya, an orphan raised by the people of his village, who becomes pregnant. Concerned for his career and for the marriage his mother has arranged for him, he goes back to Phnom Penh, leaving her a valuable ring and the hope of being sent for. Their son Sophat, raised at the pagoda, sets out at the age of twelve to look for his father in the capital, where he takes the side of Narin, a rich boy harassed by bullies; taken in by his family, he grows up with him and falls in love with Man Yan, who lives under the same roof.
Context
Written in 1938, the novel was published in Saigon, by the printer Man-sanh, printing there being cheaper than in Cambodia, and its two thousand copies sold out in six months. Steeped in Buddhist morality, it takes up many proverbs of Krom Ngoy and shows the weight of the code of conduct for women. A narrative by Kim Hak had been printed as early as 1939, but it is this one that is regarded as the first great success of the Khmer novel; it was adapted for the screen in 1964 and chosen in 1972 for the Khmer reader of Yale University.
Who it is for
For those who want to read the founding novel of Khmer prose, a simple and linear tale mixing love, chance and Buddhist morality.
Prizes and reception
On the school curriculum from 1955 to 1975, it was translated into French by Gérard Groussin in 1994, but never into English.