SOURCE: “The Past is Now,” in Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 61, No. 31, July 30, 1998, pp. 42–43.

In the following review, Tripathi offers a positive assessment of Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma, and stresses the importance of historical Asian literature written by post-colonial Asian writers.

In 1906, two years after succeeding his half-brother Norodom, King Sisowath of Cambodia went on an extensive visit to Marseilles, accompanied by the royal ballet troupe. France responded warmly to the charming dancers and the king's entourage. The dancers so enchanted sculptor Auguste Rodin that he travelled with them and drew evocative sketches of their fluid, graceful movements. Lamenting their inevitable departure, a moved Rodin said: “What an emptiness they left for me! I thought they had taken away the beauty of the world. I followed them to Marseilles; I would have followed them as far as Cairo.”

According to chroniclers of the day, one...