John Burgess's 'A Woman of Angkor' sheds light on a little-known era
In his very first novel, John Burgess has pulled off something I would have considered impossible.
He鈥檚 given us a compelling picture of what life must have been like in 12th-century Angkor, the capital of a centuries-old kingdom that finally vanished. The reasons for Angkor鈥檚 collapse have remained a mystery until this day.
Burgess tells the story through the voice of a Khmer market woman named Sray, who rises to prominence because of her skills and her husband鈥檚 connections to the royal palace.
I should mention early on that John Burgess is a friend. I met him in the 1970s when I was covering the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia for 海角大神. John was based in Bangkok at the time. John and I both worked for The Washington Post in the 1980s.
I鈥檝e been to Cambodia many times. I鈥檝e visited the great temple of Angkor Wat perhaps six times since the mid-1960s and I鈥檝e read a good deal about Angkor.
But no book that I know of comes close to telling what life must have been like for ordinary Cambodians during what has been called the golden age of Khmer civilization.
From village to palace
Burgess鈥檚 heroine, Sray, quickly takes us from the gentle pace of life in a village on the outskirts of Angkor to the intimidating atmosphere inside the city鈥檚 royal palace, where Sray鈥檚 husband Nol becomes parasol master to a prince.
Sray finds herself in a palace riven by human failings and torn by rivalries. Brahmin priests, offering spiritual guidance, try desperately to keep the situation under control.
The kingdom is not at peace. The Siamese to the west and the Cham to the east challenge its control over a vast territory. And through Burgess鈥檚 skillful storytelling, we witness battles with the Siamese and an encounter with the Cham that could easily go wrong.
The cast includes an elderly king obsessed with orchids, an ambitious young new king, a usurper prince, an architect, a young builder of temples, a Chinese merchant, a kindly sergeant, a scheming concubine, and even a holy elephant.
The story of the gentle elephant Kumari, whom many people believe has spiritual powers and can tell fortunes, is touching in itself.
Through the voices of the builders of Angkor Wat, the author provides a plausible explanation for why the Hindu temple, the largest religious structure in the world, defies tradition and faces west.
The author also creates such believable scenes of love, war, ambition, and rivalry that you can clearly visualize what鈥檚 happening. The book is cinematic enough to make a movie.
Through her skills as a trader on behalf of the palace, Sray has access to the King, his court, and the priests who attend him. Her religious beliefs sustain her in questioning the King鈥檚 proclivity to choose war over peace.
On her return from a trading mission to China, for example, she tells the King that she hopes for peace with the 鈥減eople of the east,鈥� only to discover that the King is planning to attack the Chams.
鈥溾�y sending soldiers, do we not guarantee future wars?鈥� Sray asks the King. 鈥淭he families of those who die at our hands will not forget. Anger will live on their hearts, fuelled by evil spirits, and they will seek their vengeance, even if it is not right away.鈥�
Drawing from historic and contemporary sources
How did Burgess make each character come to life?
As Burgess himself explains in an afterword, Angkor was once a city of as many as a million people, but 鈥渆ven its most important personalities are phantoms known only in the barest outline.鈥�
But Burgess did his homework. For an earlier nonfiction book, he studied an 11th-century temple whose carved 340 lines of Sanskrit and ancient Khmer describe land purchases, the transfer of slaves, the settlement of the wilderness, and the upkeep of the temple.
He also studied reliefs at other temples that showed cooks, thieves, young lovers, market vendors, and fortune-tellers. And he got help from looking at life in today鈥檚 rural Cambodia, which in many ways hasn鈥檛 changed much since the days of ancient Angkor.
For example, a fear of witchcraft and sorcery still exist in today鈥檚 Cambodia just as it did in the ancient empire.
I鈥檓 writing this piece in large part because of the failure of any mainstream American publication, aside from the Library Journal, to publish a review of this excellent book.
Its publisher, Bangkok-based River Books, has a good reputation, though it is known best for its arts and culture books. This is the first novel that River Books has published.
But Bangkok-published novels are apparently tainted by the 鈥渟ex-pat鈥� literature genre, which may have discouraged reviews.
Meanwhile, The New York Times makes clear on its website that it doesn鈥檛 review books published abroad.
I鈥檝e worked in or traveled to more than 80 countries and have seen a number of wonders of the world. But if I had to make a list, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the temples of Bagan in Myanmar, and Borobodur in Indonesia would rank near or at the top of the list.
I鈥檇 also like to take this occasion to encourage anyone who has never been to Angkor to visit if you have a chance.
And if you go to Angkor, please take along a copy of "A Woman of Angkor." It will make the experience more vivid, fulfilling, and worthwhile.
Dan Southerland is a Monitor contributor.
