Vorvong & Saurivong, A Cambodian Tale
by Jim Mizerski
Khmer folktale collected by Auguste Pavie in 1881 on the road from Kompong Som to Udong during an unplanned stay in a travelers lodge.
Type: paperback
Publisher: Jasmine Image Machine, Phnom Penh, 2018 / DatAsia, 2019
Edition: with all original 31 monochrome and 20 color illustrations
Published: 2018
Author: Auguste Pavie
Pages: 136
ISBN: 978-1-934431-22-1
Language : English
ADB Library Catalog ID: FOLK1/PAV
The story of two brothers, Vorvong and Saurivong, was read to the French explorer by a local learned villager, who had kept it on a palm leaf manuscript.‘Later, Pavie translated the tale into French, and published it in his collection of essays and travelogues, Mission Pavie Indo-Chine.
This version of Pavie’s text is a translation from French by Marie-Helene Arnaud, Joel Montague and Jim Mizerski, published in Phnom Penh with the original illustrations.
Tags: Khmer folktales, Buddha reincarnations, children's corner
About the Translator
Jim Mizerski
Jim Mizerski (d. 2020) was an American independent researcher, writer and translator who resided in Cambodia in the years 2000s, where he undertook historical research and humanitarian work, in particular with Friends International.
After working as a naval officer and an electrical engineer, Jim took a special interest in photography in 2001 — when he retired — which led him to publish Cambodia Captured: Angkor’s first photographers in 1860’s Colonial intrigues (Jasmine Image Machine, Phnom Penh, 2016), centering on the photorgaphic work of John Thomson and Emile Gsell in Angkor in the 1860s, and to coauthor with Joel Montague John Thomson : the early years — in search of the Orient (White Lotus, Bangkok, 2014).
He also authored the book Finale : the royal cremations of Norodom and Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia (Jasmine Image Machine, 2013). Noticing that too many reference works on the history of Cambodia remained available only in French, Jim Mizerski decided to translate from French into English Etienne Aymonier’s Notes sur le Cambodge (with Marie Helene Arnault and Joel Montague, DatAsia, 2016), Jules Brossard de Corbigny’s 1872 travelogue (2017), and Vorvong and Saurivong: a Cambodian tale (with Marie Helene Arnault and Joel Montague), DatAsia, 2019.