June 6, 2022
Iconic author’s lost book back in print after 50 years
Taing Rinith / Khmer Times

Memay Pdey Bram (Widow of Five Husbands) was republished after an original copy was found by a publisher in France. KT/Pann Rachana

After being lost for nearly 50 years, a book of collected short stories by Cambodia’s iconic author Chute Kay, also known as “Cambodia’s Charles Dickens”, has been brought back to print.

Cambodian readers know Chute Kay for his masterpieces including Khmouch Preay Asokay (Ghouls, Ghosts, and Other Infernal Creatures), a 1973 best-selling collection of ghost stories published by Nokor Thom Publishing House, and later his memoirs such as A Young Boy in the French School, A Pagoda Kid During the French Time and A Sentimental Baby Buffalo, all of which were published in Cambodia by Sipar, an NGO that promotes reading in the country.

However, not many are familiar with Memay Pdey Bram (Widow of Five Husbands), although it was published in the same year as Khmouch Preay Asokay and also became a bestseller at that time. That was because most of the 4,000 original copies were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge era. Even Kay, who is now in his 80s and living in Paris, France, does not have a copy.

Recently, however, an original copy was found in France by Kampu-Mera Editions, a Cambodia-based publishing house, which contacted the author for permission to publish a second edition.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501088547/ ... -50-years/

* Note - CEO News has corrected the author's name from Chute Kay to Chuth Khay.

Kampu-Mera Editions reissuing Khay stories
Pann Rethea | Publication date 18 July 2022 | 19:50 ICT

A short story titled Widow of Five Husbands – which was written in 1973 by a talented author of Khmer literature who enjoyed some fame in the 1970’s and 1980’s – was recently reprinted by Kampu-Mera Editions, a publisher whose mission it is to preserve the works of Cambodian writers from past eras. Kampu-Mera

A short story titled Widow of Five Husbands – which was written in 1973 by a talented author of Khmer literature who enjoyed some fame in the 1970’s and 1980’s – was recently reprinted by Kampu-Mera Editions, a publisher whose one of its missions is to preserve the works of Cambodian writers from past eras.

The story was written by Chuth Khay, a teacher and a writer for the Nokor Thom newspaper who was also a civil servant from 1966 to 1980.

Khay was born on October 30, 1940 in Kampong Cham province. He attended primary and secondary school in his hometown. In 1966, he graduated from the Advanced School of Pedagogy and became a lecturer at Chhouk Secondary School in Kampot Province, according to his biography found online.

In addition to his work as a professor, he continued his studies at the Faculty of Law until graduating in 1968. In the same year, he moved to Santepheap High School in Kampong Speu province.

After the coup d’etat of General Lon Nol on March 18, 1970, Khay enlisted in the army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Later, in 1971, he moved on to work as the Chief of Administration in the Military Court.

Khay was appointed Acting Dean of the Faculty of Law and Economics for the 1973-1974 academic year and he lived in misery and hardship but escaped execution by hiding his identity during the Khmer Rouge regime of 1975-1979, and fortunately he survived their massacres.

He fled with his family to the Khao I Dang refugee camp in Thailand in 1979 and he was granted political asylum in France in 1980. Eventually he acquired French citizenship and changed his name to Khay Chance and he is now 81 years old, living near Paris.
Full article: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle ... ay-stories

More details here for those who may be interested in exploring other works by this writer. Most are in French or Khmer, but there is also at least one English translation, as well as some translations of his work into Japanese.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuth_Khay

Chuth Khay
Writer
Language Khmer and French
Nationality Cambodian and French naturalization
Notable works Ghouls, Ghosts, and Other Infernal Creatures

Chuth Khay / ខ្ជិត ខ្យៃ (ហៅ ជុតខៃ) is a Cambodian writer and translator. He was born in 1940 in Koh Somrong, Cambodia, an island on the Mekong about one hundred kilometers north of the capital. The youngest son, he was the only one in a family of ten children to attend a Western school.

Publications
Books (in Khmer)

ខ្មោចព្រាយអសុរកាយ (Ghouls, Ghosts, and Other Infernal Creatures, Phnom Penh, 1973; republished by SIPAR in 2018)
មេម៉ាយប្ដី ៥ (Widow of Five Husbands, Phnom Penh, 1973)
កូនក្របីមានមនោញ្ចេតនា (A Sentimental Baby Buffalo), SIPAR, Phnom Penh, 2010.
វិប្បដិសារី (Remorse), Angkor Publishing, 2008.
មេម៉ាយពីរបែប
ក្មេងសាលាបារាំង (A Young Boy in the French School), SIPAR, Phnom Penh, 2010.
ក្មេងវត្ត (A Pagoda Kid During the French Time), illustrated by Chan Vitharin, SIPAR, Phnom Penh, 2010.
៣២ឆ្នាំក្រោយមក (32 years later), Editions Angkor, Phnom Penh, 2018.

Translations (to Khmer)

ក្រុមបេរេបៃតង (The Green Berets by Robin Moore, Phnom Penh, Nokor Thom, ?)
បុត្រឆ្នើមនៃសង្គ្រាម (The Centurions by Jean Lartéguy, Phnom Penh, Nokor Thom, 1971)
ជញ្ជាំង (The Wall by Jean-Paul Sartre, Phnom Penh, Nokor Thom, 1971)
លោកឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូត (The Ambassador by Morris West, Phnom Penh, Nokor Thom, 1971)

Books (in French)

Comment j'ai menti aux Khmers Rouges, L'Harmattan, 2004, 309p.

Translations of his works
Un fantôme au coeur de Phnom-Penh, short story translated to French by Chuth Khay and Alain Daniel, Éditions du Serpent à Plumes, 27, Spring 1995, p. 11-14.
Goules, démons, et autres créatures infernales... translated from Khmer to French by Christophe Macquet, in Revue Europe, "Écrivains du Cambodge", 81e année, N° 889 / Mai 2003. See also Revue bilingue MEET, n°15, Porto Rico / Phnom Penh, 2011.
Ghouls, Ghosts, and Other Infernal Creatures, translated from Khmer to French by Christophe Macquet and from French to English by Daniela Hurezanu, In the Shadow of Angkor: Contemporary Writing From Cambodia, Manoa, University of Hawaii Press (2004).
かわいい水牛の子, A Sentimental Baby Buffalo; 寺の子ども, A Pagoda Kid During the French Time; フランス学校の子ども, A Young Boy in the French School. Translated into Japanese by Tomoko