Friday, March 04, 2016

Good news and "Finding George Orwell in Burma"

On Tuesday, I had my six week post-op appointment and the doctor granted me thirty degrees of movement in my left knee.  It has been two months since my accident and it feels great to be able to tie my shoe and to get behind the steering wheel of a car (even though I still have to twist a bit to make it).  On Wednesday, I started physical therapy and have light exercises at home.  The horror of PT has yet to hit as they are being very careful not to do anything that would damage the tendon while it is still healing.  But I’m coming along and that feels good.


Emma Larkin, Finding George Orwell in Burma (New York: Penguin Books, 2004), 294 pages, one small map.

I have been interested in Myanmar or Burma for some time.  In 2011, I was just 10 kilometers or so for the border in Thailand.  It was a time people were discouraged from traveling to the country as a way to economically discourage the military leaders and their harsh reign.  The country government is a weird blend of totalitarianism, socialism and Buddhism.  Burma was a former British colony and George Orwell began his career there as a colonial police officer.  It was there he began to despise colonialism and his first book, the novel Burmese Days was set within colonial Burma.  In the early 1940s, the Japanese moved into Burma.  At first, they were welcomed by the Burmese.  Some of those fighting the colonial regime had even been trained by the Japanese and returned with the Japanese army, but the native Burmese realized that the Japanese treatment of their country was worse than the British and soon, the Burmese soldiers began to fight against the Japanese.  After the war, Britain granted Burma its independence.  The nation, which has eight ethnic groups and 130 sub-groups, has been hard to govern, leading to civil war and an oppressive military government that stifles dissent.  Yet, the population is fairly literate, which leads student groups and others trying to bring change, which is brutally crushed by the government.  The all-present “MI” or military intelligence watches everyone (including Larkin as she traveled around the country).

Larkin visited the country having immersed herself in Orwell’s writings.  Interesting, Orwell’s novel Burmese Days is the only one approved for publication and sale in Burma.  The anti-colonial stance of the book fits the ruling regime’s politics.  Others like Animal Farm and 1984 are suppressed.  Of course, Orwell was writing these books in light of the totalitarian dictators such as Stalin.  Larkin, however, found these books as fitting descriptions of modern day Burma, with the ever-present thought police and the danger to those who are bold enough (or foolish enough) to question the actions of the generals who run the government.   Throughout the book, Larkin keeps referring to Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of a former leader of the country who fled, then returned and has lived for years under house arrest.  She appears as a strand of hope for the country.

Larkin follows Orwell’s path around the country, while visiting with many of the country’s writers and publishers.  One author laughs and says that you can write anything, you just can’t have it published.  (134) Almost all the authors she met have had a book banned by government censurers.   As for the nation’s readers, Larkin discovers they’ve developed a skill of reading between the lines.  If a particular politician or general suddenly disappears from print, people quickly conclude that they have fallen out of favor with those in power.  This “reading between the lines,” along with a desperation for hope, has led to some unique interpretations of stories.  The movie “Lion King” was described by one as the story of Burma.  Simba, the young lion who flees his home, is Aung San Suu Kyi.  Simba’s father, like Kyi’s, was murdered.  The evil lion that turns a beautiful kingdom into a wasteland, Scar, is Ne Win (the leader of the generals who overthrew Kyi’s father’s government in 1962).   (132)  She also tells of a dream from an ancient king of Northern India that was interpreted by the Buddha to refer to a future time when the rulers were wicked and greedy.  Paintings of this dream begin to pop up on pagodas around the country following the 1962 military overthrow as if the Ne Win regime was its fulfillment.

In addition to dealing with the literary and the political issues of the nation, Larkin’s book is also a travelogue as she describes the landscape of this mystical kingdom.  Mandalay, which has such an exotic sounding name, is hot and can be dusty and dry or wet.  Rangoon, is hot and humid and the delta towns that Orwell lived, was even worse.   It wasn’t the favorite location for a British citizen to work, but for Orwell, whose family had ties there, it was his first choice.  Contrasting to Mandalay and Rangoon, the foothill towns seem pleasant.  The British, including Orwell, would often take holidays there.  In addition the ethnic groups, Larkin encounters many who are of mixed races (Burmese and English).  Many of the mixed race people fled and those that didn’t now feel trapped.
This book left me grieving for this rich country that has been destroyed and whose people are also hopeless.   The book epilogue tells of Aung San Suu Kyi’s disappearance (thankfully, she survived).  Things are supposedly better in Burma today, but I wonder. 


A decade or so ago, I read Pascal Khoo Thwe’s memoir, From the Land of the Green Ghost: A Burmese Odyssey.  It tells the story of a young Burmese Catholic student who fled Burma and went on to earn a PhD from Oxford.  He was from a tribe that lived in the mountains, where opposition to the government was greatest.  Larkin did not get that far into the mountains and I’m sure travel there would still be dangerous.  I would recommend both books, however I think some familiarity with Orwell’s writings would help one appreciate Larkin’s take on Burma.   

25 comments:

  1. this is such great news! Hoping you'll be feeling even better soon!

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  2. Burma hasn't been on my radar but the two on the subject that you mentioned sound interesting. I'm going to have to add them to my list.

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  3. Great progress on your knee!

    Burma does sound like an interesting place to visit. I'd love to read Larkin's descriptions of the kingdom.

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  4. A wonderfully informative and well-composed review, Sage. Thank you!

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  5. It's interesting that Orwell's book is the only one approved for publication there. Nicely written review. Glad to hear you are on the mend and making progress towards being healed.

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  6. A fascinating read. I've also been close to Burma but never managed to reach the country.

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  7. Found a collections of Orwell's essays at my library once. I found it fascinating but even though I am a liberal some of his stuff was too far out in left field for me. My favorite book of his is still Animal Farm and that work is what has made me so cynical about political leaders.

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  8. Fascinating. Such a strange, sad national history. Graphic novel recommendation: The Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle.

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  9. Wonderful news, I'm so happy for you! May the next few weeks fly by and soon you'll be back good as new!

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  10. Glad you're on the mend.

    On the Burma thing. That sweep of the China border from the sea to Assam is peopled by nations that have more to connect each other than they have to do with the relative polities they belong. But these peoples have been the target of invasion for over 2000 years. You kinda have to admire that sort of moxy.

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  11. Glad you are starting to see a bit more normality on the leg front.

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  12. Glad to hear you're on the mend. Keep it up!

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  13. Great news on the knee front. Hope that healing and increased flexibility continue.

    I was in Burma (Mayanmar) last year. George Orwell is to Burma what Hemingway is to Cuba. Their books are for sale just about everywhere in those countries.

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  14. So glad to hear you're doing better and are able to move your knee a bit now.

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  15. This looks like an interesting read. That's wonderful about your knee and the PT. I love being mobile and doing what I normally do after healing from an injury.

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  16. Never once after 17 surgeries did I have PT--they tried that prior to the slice and dice--personally, your leg, you mind, you know your limits better than outsiders. Be Well and wise jeff.

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  17. So glad your healing is coming along well. This is giving you some good reading time, looks like.

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  18. Good news on the healing! Burma seems a world away!!

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  19. Glad your knee is recovering.

    This sounds like an interesting book.

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  20. I'd like to visit Burma someday. The book sounds like a fascinating read.

    Glad to hear you're regaining some mobility.

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  21. I'm happy to hear that you had a good appointment with your doctor. I have always been interested in Burma as well. The little bit that I know and have read make it seem like one of the few places that has retained it's culture.

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  22. I'm happy to hear you're on the mend. I find Orwell more and more irresistible. The more I read him the more i realise how relevant his writing still is.

    Greetings from London.

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  23. I'm happy to hear that you are healing. I've been to PT for many injuries and after surgeries. I fondly (NOT) remember walking into PT feeling pretty good, and limping out in pain. I guess that is part of the process. Thanks so much for the book review. It sounds very interesting and if I can get my hands on a copy (cheaply), I'm definitely going to give it a read.

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  24. Hi, I'm on of the A to Z Challenge minions, just stopping by to check in.

    All the best with your PT.

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