“Noir reflects an attitude of what is ‘broken’ in political, social and economic life.” – Interview with Christopher G. Moore, editor of ‘Phnom Penh Noir’

Christopher G. Moore is a writer who, year in, year out, keeps surprising his readership with new quality books. He has written 24 novels, four non-fiction books, and edited (and contributed to) three anthologies of fiction and essays. With Missing in Rangoon, his famous Vincent Calvino private-eye series has 13 novels, making it one of the most established international series in crime fiction. Previous to Phnom Penh Noir, he edited and contributed to Bangkok Noir (Heaven Lake Press, 2011), a collection of short stories penned by both Western and Thai authors.

So, it was not a surprise at all when C.G. Moore announced the publication of a new noir anthology, this time centered around a Cambodian theme: Phnom Penh Noir (Heaven Lake Press, 2012). I “sat down” with Christopher and discussed for our readers the noir movement in Cambodia and Thailand, the legacy of the horrific Khmer Rouge regime and the future of Cambodian literature among others.

Voicu Mihnea Simandan: In the introduction to Phnom Penh Noir you portray a pretty bleak view of the world we live in. It seems that ‘noir’ is not just an artistic movement, but it is actually part of our every day life. How has this influenced your fiction?

Christopher G. Moore: Noir reflects an attitude of what is ‘broken’ in political, social and economic life. It brushes aside the idea that everything can be fixed and those in power have the best interest of the public at heart. The illusions carefully constructed by those in authority and their media partners unravel in noir. The process of this unraveling inside the personal lives and relationships is what gives noir literature, poetry and literature a new way of perceiving the manufactured reality of our age. Each age produces systems that assemble and distribute dream kits like blankets to refugees in war zones. In my fiction, the characters find the dreams kits, like lice-infested blankets, are an existential con, and in the high stake poker game of life, we are the ‘fish’ at the table vastly overestimating our odds of winning with a losing hand. In Faking it in Bangkok, I wrote a parable about the elephant and ant which examines the imbalance of power within the existing political framework.

VMS: The “post-Killing Fields” generation of Cambodians has joined the iGadget generation of the world, losing in the process part of their own national identity. What do the youth of Cambodia today know of the late 1970s Khmer Rouge era?

CGM: The current generation of Cambodians has no personal memory of the Khmer Rouge period. When I attended the war criminal tribunal trial of the surviving Khmer Rouge leadership, I talked to university students who had been sent to observe the proceeding. Most of them had little knowledge of the era. It wasn’t something they had discussed at home or school. I had the sense it was distant and remote to their lives. History is as easily forgotten as it is falsified. The Killing Fields was ancient history, remote and far removed from their daily lives. For the other journalists who remember that period, this was an astounding discovery—the school children and university students had little knowledge of what had happened to their parents’ generation in their own country. In reality, students in most places live in the “now” and history is something that doesn’t attract or hold their attention. That said, it is still something of a shock that such mass killings can be boxed and buried in memory where only a few people have access and learn from the past.

VMS: Last year you attended the trial of a Khmer Rouge leader in Phnom Penh. Will there ever be a way to punish the evil done?

CGM: International war crime trials are less about punishment than investigating the facts of what happened, who was making policy decisions, issuing orders, carrying out policies and orders. And often it’s also about bringing closure to the experience of horror. One goal is to establish through evidence the details of events, including the genocide. This is a worthy educational goal as a record of the past is preserved for future generations to learn from the mistakes, crimes, and how power corrupted by ideology can turn a regime into Murder Incorporated. Given the magnitude of the evil in this case it is difficult to conceive how punishing the three leaders of the Khmer Rouge can be seen as sufficient to remedy the damage inflicted on the country.

VMS: Phnom Penh Noir is not your first book about Cambodia. Zero Hour in Phnom Penh (2010 reprint), which features your most famous character, the Bangkok-based detective Vincent Calvino, looks at Cambodia of the volatile 1990s. Is there a market out there for novels set in places that are not so common to the worldwide audience?

CGM: In the past decade, crime fiction has drawn upon foreign locations from countries like North Korea, Tibet, Turkey, Argentina, Gaza, India, Russia and China. The Calvino series was one of the first to bring in the idea of a cultural detective as part of the equation. In the past, the detective or police officer (as was the author) worked within a familiar home based environment. Globalization has made readers curious about law enforcement, social justice, security and safety in other countries. A crime novel is a window into the darker side of a culture where there are abuses, corruption, unfairness and impunity.

The western author draws upon western archetypical characters like a private eye. The question is how that archetype must alter to work inside a non-Western culture in order to be credible. When I was in Burma last year researching for Missing in Rangoon, I discovered there were no such thing as private eyes in the country. I solved that by having an Astrologer expand his business by offering an investigation service to foreigners looking to do business in Burma.

VMS: Phnom Penh Noir brings together writers and artists from a very wide variety of backgrounds. On what criteria did you chose them?

CGM: The most important consideration was whether they could write at the professional level. The second consideration, equally important, was to include the voices of those living and working in Cambodia. Kosal Khiev, Bopha Phorn, Suong Mak, Christopher Minko and KROM, and Neil Williford in particular brought their intimate knowledge, experience and insights from living in that culture in writing powerful prose, poetry and lyrics. Having Roland Joffé, the director of The Killing Fields, write his first ever short-story was important for the book. Roland’s participation signaled that one of the most famous names in the West attached to the Khmer Rouge period saw Phnom Penh Noir as a chance to put this tragic history in perspective by examining the relationship among Khmers and foreigners in contemporary times. By looking at modern Cambodian society the shadow of the past is never far away and that is part of the spell these authors cast in their stories.

VMS: You dedicate the anthology to Christopher Minko, the Australian artist behind “KROM,” a Phnom Penh-based band. How does his work as a composer, songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist blend in the Cambodian noir scene?

CGM: Christopher Minko, through his music, is a leading force in the noir movement. He understands the dark side of life. His work in the NGO sector has given him a glimpse into lives shattered by poverty and misfortune. Christopher’s talent has been to gather the essence of the pain and suffering from such lives and turn these experience into the best kind of art that takes one deep into the human spirit. His contribution to the anthology is the lyrics he wrote for the KROM album, “Songs from the Noir.”

VMS: Korsal Khiev, Bopha Phorn, and Suong Mak, the three Cambodian writers featured in Phnom Penh Noir, show great promise. Where do you see the Cambodian literary scene in five to ten years?

CGM: Forecasting is a dangerous, risky business. Most forecasts turn out to be wildly inaccurate. It is impossible to predict with any accuracy where anyone’s career will be in two years. Having said that, my hope is that Kosal, Bopha and Suong will continue to develop as artists and writers. Persistence, determination, talent and luck have a way of blending together over time. It will be up to each of them as the commitment they are willing to make to further hone their skills and develop their voice. I feel confident, if they make writing their passion, something central to their life, that they have a good chance of becoming the voice for their generation of Cambodians.

VMS: Phnom Penh Noir’s cover photograph by Channa Siv is very similar to that of Ralph Tooten’s on Bangkok Noir. Is there a connection between the noir fiction one can write in Cambodia and that can be written about Thailand?

CGM: Noir is universal as a theme where external forces slowly close the vice that squeezes the choices people can make. The setting is important. The culture of the noir story draws on the history, values, and attitudes of a particular place and shows what drives these people in certain ways to try to find an escape from their destiny. It is the struggle of such characters against these cultural forces that makes for compelling personal stories. Ralph Tooten is a world-class photographer who has captured some of the most iconic imageries of noir. His noir photographs of Bangkok can be found in a German language books titled Bangkok Noir.

I discovered Channa Siv by chance. He had an exhibition of noir photographs, and found that his images were a powerful statement of the underbelly of life in Cambodia. For Phnom Penh Noir, I wanted to find a Khmer photographer who knew Phnom Penh well to capture an image that had the immediacy and the texture of light and shadows associated with noir.  In fact, we created for collectors a limited and signed edition poster using Channa Siv’s cover photograph.

VMS: The anthology has been received with a lot of “fanfare” and enthusiasm, especially in Cambodia. What has contributed to the great reviews and exposure it has received?

CGM: Phnom Penh Noir was the first literary work in English that brought together Khmer and Western authors and artists. The book created a sense of shared community. Readers have been drawn to experience what this community had to say. I am pleased to find that so many people have enjoyed the stories in the book. It was of enormous help to have Christopher Minko supporting the book launch, Rotary Club talk, and Meta House workshops. Also the Phnom Penh Post with Alan Parkhouse leading the way made certain that people knew about the book and the authors.  Roland Joffé, an incredibly creative and humble person, brought his star power to the book. As did John Burdett and James Grady, two extraordinarily talented writers. When you have such people joining together on a book, you are bound to attract attention.

VMS: Now that Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been “done,” I suppose Vietnam has a dark enough history to justify a Saigon Noir for 2014. Please comment.

CGM: I had given thought to Saigon Noir pretty early on, but after some exploration I found that the political complications in Vietnam make that book better left for a future date. Hong Kong Noir has been suggested as the next project but it is early days.

VMS: Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I’ll be following you future releases closely.

CGM: Your readers might also like The Orwell Brigade, an anthology of essays by a dozen well-known novelists, who in the tradition of George Orwell, have looked behind the global culture of propaganda, gossip, and entertainment to challenge authority. I edited the collection and my essay explores the historical context and the challenges faced by the Cambodian war crimes tribunal.

For more interviews with some of the authors in the anthology, book reviews, photos from the book launches in Phnom Penh and Bangkok, and signed books and posters, visit phnompenhnoir.com. The authors and publishers will contribute twenty percent of their royalties from Phnom Penh Noir to selected charity organizations in Cambodia.

Phnom Penh photography by Regin Reyno

Voicu Mihnea Simandan
Bangkok, Thailand
January 7, 2013