- ISBN13: 9780143037118
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
In one of the most intrepid travelogues in recent memory, Emma Larkin tells of the year she spent traveling through Burma, using as a compass the life and work of George Orwell, whom many of Burma’s underground teahouse intellectuals call simply "the Prophet." In stirring prose, she provides a powerful reckoning with one of the world’s least free countries. Finding George Orwell in Burma is a brave and revelatory reconnaissance of modern Burma, one of the world’s grimmest and most shuttered police states, where the term "Orwellian" aptly describes the life endured by the country’s people.
Finding George Orwell in Burma
Tags: police states, remainder mark, Finding, World, George, Mark
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This is a wonderful book. The author, who obviously has extensive knowledge about (and affection for) both Orwell and Burma, traces Orwell’s life and experiences in the various outposts in Burma to which he was assigned as an imperial British policeman in the 1920s. It gracefully intermingles commentary on modern-day Burma, historical information about Orwell’s time and life there, and prophetic connections between Orwell’s themes in “1984″ and “Animal Farm” and the 40-year dictatorship in Burma (renamed by its tyrants “Myanmar”). Reading this book has caused me to go back and re-read, with much greater insight, “Burmese Days.” Among the very pleasing features of this book is that the author does not try to overstate her case or engage in excessive conjecture about Orwell’s experiences in Burma. Instead, she offers very thoughtful, subtle opinions on matters for which historical evidence is not there (apart from Orwell’s writings). Another joy is that the author’s politics (except for her revulsion at the brutal Burmese dictatorship) are not apparent, so Orwell is not used as a tool to promote some left or right ideology. Highly recommended, especially to Orwell fans and readers.
Rating: 5 / 5
While it’s hard to categorise this book, it could be filed under `must read’ for fans of Orwell and everyone interested in modern international politics. This book falls into to genres of literary biography, travel and modern politics, and `Emma Larkin’ succeeds brilliantly in all three.
As a literary biography she sheds new light onto Orwell as a person and the background to his books. In particular, I was fascinated by her informed speculation into how Orwell’s experiences in Burma contributed to his transformation from a privileged child of Empire into the champion of the lower classes who came to write `1984′.
As a travel book Larkin brings Burma to life. Her descriptions of the Burmese landscape and Burmese people are wonderful and suggest that she dearly loves the country despite its hideous government.
As a book on modern politics, Larkin is extremely successful in describing how a totalitarian dictatorship operates and the devastation such forms of government inflict upon their people. In particular, Larkin’s descriptions of how the Burmese regime has corrupted almost every aspect of civil society offers very valuable insights into how such regimes survive in the face of their brutality and incompetence. More subtly, the fact that Larkin had to write this book under a pseudonym and was unable to reveal any details about herself for fear of being identified and expelled from Burma brings to life the grim realities of living under a repressive regime.
All up, this is an impressive book which deserves a wide readership.
Rating: 5 / 5
I learned some new things about Orwell. Most importantly: did you know that O. wrote 3 books about Burma, not just 1 as I had thought, naively?
After ‘Burmese Days’, there was also ‘Animal Farm’ (how the pigs with the dogs overthrew the farmers to take power) and then ’1984′ (how the powers control the minds and the records). These are predictions on Burma! Who would doubt it?
Second: when O was on his death bed, dying from TB at a much too young age, he was working on another novel or story about Burma. That was really new to me.
This book by an American journalist written under a pseudonym works on 3 levels, like a layer cake.
There is the Orwell biography; and frankly speaking, that is a disappointing part, because when the author followed O’s traces in Burma, she didn’t really find much. That is mainly because she was travelling as a tourist and couldn’t do open research. Not her fault. What she injects is from other sources, like visits to London libraries and the Orwell archive. The visits to O’s Burma places serve more for background colour than for new insights.
Second layer: this is a travel book about the places where O lived in Burma. We get to look at Mandalay, the Delta, Rangoon, Moulmein, and Katha.The book delivers the travel account without much passion. Let’s put it this way: Larkin as a travel writer isn’t exactly sparkling. She may never make it to the top ten of the genre.
Third layer: maybe the most important part or level of the book is the description of the totalitarian routine of life in Burma. While even this lacks spark, it is certainly an important contribution to the international knowledge of a tough subject to be informed about. The descriptions of daily life are continuously set against a background of 1984 scenes.
In short: a book worth reading that somehow remains short of expectations.
Rating: 4 / 5
A remarkable inside look at life in a totalitarian state. The Burmese people that the author encounters reveal an inner strength of character forged in an atmosphere of oppression and constant observation reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984.
The author travels extensively through this country tracing the footsteps of George Orwell when he was stationed there as an imperial policeman. Along the way the not so subtle effects of a state where none of the freedoms we take for granted exist become more and more evident to the reader.
The author presents these people and their stories in a very objective fashion and doesn’t seek to sensationalize their struggles for political purpose. The effect of this style is actually very powerful because the reader gradually draws the only possible conclusion regarding the current regime in Burma.
This is a fine book that is part travelogue, part biography, but more than anything a testament to how people survive in a country where human rights and freedom are essentially non-existent.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’ve been savoring this book over many weeks, reading only bits at a time, not wanting it to end.
Emma Larkin (a “nom de plume”) has managed to focus on what must surely be a unique perspective when it comes to 21st century Burma. She ties the modern totalitarian regime with George Orwell’s classics, particularly “1984″ and “Animal Farm.” Her insight into the workings of the country and knowledge of the language have resulted in a fascinating tale of her travels through Burma, tracing the career of Orwell during his five-year stint as a British colonial policeman.
Having made numerous trips to Burma, Larkin has accumulated quite a following of contacts and friends, whose names have been changed to protect them from the very real danger of torture and imprisonment for talking to a foreign journalist. This collection of locals, however, gives the author a window into what must be the second most repressive nation on the planet (after North Korea). The reader is treated to tales of what is happening in that beautiful and tragic place, eyes opened to the situation for the average citizen. The military junta that rules Burma is responsible for unspeakable human rights violations and remains, justifiably, paranoid about its tenuous hold on power. Larkin relates the tenseness of the situation in an informative and enlightening way.
I particularly enjoyed her descriptions of the remnants of British colonialism and how Orwell and his colleagues must have lived. It’s a tale of a bygone era when Britain ruled a third of the world, “memsahibs” could thrash a servant for incompetence and a struggling civil servant feared for his life thanks to a high crime rate and the threat of vengenance from resentful colonial subjects. It’s touching, however, to learn of long-forgotten graveyards behind English churches, the tombstones broken and discarded or used as garden ornaments by Rangoon businessmen. The epitaphs ring hollow when one realizes that the Burmese government considers the markers nothing more than impediments to a planned parking lot or housing development.
Frequent quotes from Orwell’s work illustrate the similarities between his works of fiction and what has actually transpired today. It’s almost as if Orwell had predicted what would happen to the country where he spent part of his youth. His semi-autobiographical work based on his time in Burma, “Burmese Days,” is also put to good use, providing a feel for what it must have been like in the 1920s as a lonely cop in far-off outposts, isolated and alienated. For Orwell this not only applies to his status as a representative of the Raj but the fact that he was usually seen as an outsider and loner amongst his colleagues.
“Finding George Orwell in Burma” is simply brilliant. In fact, it’s made me want to go to the country more than ever and I’m in the process of planning a trip there next month. I wouldn’t dare try to take the book with me on the journey (it would probably be confiscated at the airport in Rangoon) but it’ll be in my heart as I travel around what promises to be a fascinating and beautiful place.
Rating: 5 / 5
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