George Chigas translation of Tum Teav into English

George Chigas, the man featured in the story above, translated Tum Teav into English, he also provided an analysis of this Cambodian literary classic. A short synopsis of the his work is provided below. The hard copy of the book is available for purchase through DC-Cam, however the PDF electronic version of this work is available free online by clicking here (left click the link to read online, right click the link to save the file to your computer).

Tum Teav: A Translation and Analysis of a Cambodian Literary Classic
by George Chigas
2005
Pice: USD23
252 pages in English

Tum Teav is the tragic love story of a talented novice monk named Tum and a beautiful adolescent girl named Teav. Well known throughout Cambodia since at least the middle of the 19th century, the story has been told in oral, historical, literary, theatre, and film versions. This monograph contains the author’s translation of the Venerable Botumthera Som’s version. It also examines the controversy over the poem’s authorship and its interpretation by literary scholars and performers in terms of Buddhism and traditional codes of conduct, abuse of power, and notions of justice.