finding george orwell in burma by emma larkin

And then there is the place of Orwell's work in Burma today: Larkin found it a commonplace observation in Burma that Orwell did not write one book about the country but three-the other two being Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both his first novel, Burmese Days, and the novel he left unfinished upon his death were set in Burma.

The connection between George Orwell and Burma is not simply metaphorical, of course Orwell's mother was born in Burma, and he was shaped by his experiences there as a young man working for the British Imperial Police. Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, she has come to know all too well the many ways this police state can be described as 'Orwellian.' The life of the mind exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. You can read the full review of Emma Larkin’s Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in A Burmese Teashop at SpikeMagazine.A brave and revelatory reconnaissance of modern Burma using the life and work of George Orwell as its compass. Whilst everyday life is undeniable misery in Myanmar, the people who Larkin describes are still full of life, some how finding the will to live and live fully despite their most restrictive of circumstances and to try and make tiny but vital movements towards making their country become free again.”

One thing that endeared me to the Burmans straight away was their love of reading, as described by Larkin: unsurprising due to the lack of real information which they receive, but also a national pastime and passion that has led numerous people to preserve secret libraries of books that have otherwise been banned by the authorities. “Secret Histories, like Anna Funder’s Stasiland which describes life in the totalitarian communist state of East Germany, provides a personal perspective of a truly appalling regime that lets the reader begin to understand what it is like to live day to day under such an oppressive government. This is a review I wrote originally for my books website. Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell In A Burmese Tea Shop – Emma Larkin Ostensibly an attempt to retrace the physical origins of George Orwell’s novel Burmese Days, Secret Histories is actually a superbly concise and deeply scary history lesson in the fate of pre and post-colonial Myanmar.

Finding george orwell in burma by emma larkin