Beyond Words: An Interview with Soth Polin

Abstract

Soth Polin was born in 1943 in Kompong Cham. He came from a middle-class, intellectual family, and grew up speaking both French and Khmer. Throughout his youth, he immersed himself in the classical literature of Cambodia and, at the same time, the literature and philosophy of the West. His first novel, A Meaningless Life, was strongly influenced by Nietzsche, Freud, and Sartre, as well as by Buddhism. It was an enormous success. Numerous novels, short stories, and philosophical tales followed, among them TheAdventurer, Whatever You Order Me...I Will Do It, and The Death of Love.