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28th out of 122 books
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Finding George Orwell in Burma
by
Emma Larkin
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 Burmas underground teahouse intellectuals call simply the Prophet. In stirring prose, she provides a powerful reckoning with one of the worlds least free countries. Finding George ...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
March 6th 2006
by Penguin (Non-Classics)
(first published 2004)
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Emma Larkin - a pseudonym for an American journalist living in Bangkok who hypothesizes that George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 were set in Burma (and not the Soviet Union). After all Burmese Days his first book, and his last novella (untitled) which he wrote upon his death bed, were both set in Burma. He lived there for 5 years as an Imperial policeman and of course, also wrote the beautiful short story Shooting an Eleplant. I'm a big Orwell fan. I was so excited to read this book and she doe...more
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Finding George Orwell in Burma takes a unique approach to both travel and foreign reporting. First, the travels through the country follow George Orwell's stations when he was an imperial police officer in the country (experiences that led to his first novel, Burmese Days). But Orwell serves as a focus in another way. The author tries to take us inside the rampant government paranoia and repressiveness, comparing the country's current state directly to Orwell's 1984. I read the book roughl...more
I have visited Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). I had some misgivings about visiting the military totalitarian state at first. It is sort of a mini version of North Korea, but with less power. But this book helped changed my mind since I am equally interested in George Orwell, one of my favorite writers, and I particularly enjoyed his colonial novel Burmese Days. Thus, I was naturally inclined to read Emma Larkin’s book Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell In A Burmese Tea Shop. It didn’t d...more
If you have an interest in either Burma (now Myanmar) or George Orwell, you would find this to be a quick read. Emma Larkin's central argument is that Burma has become a living example of the totalitarian rule depicted in Orwell's 1984: the torture of political dissents; the omnipotent rule of the "Big Brother"-like junta; the highly effective intelligence network based on informants; the ability of the government to cower and destroy the individual. Orwell spent time as a colonial pol...more
Larkin has written an absorbing travelogue of her year in Burma visiting the towns where Orwell lived during his time in the colonial British police. She makes a compelling argument for reading three Orwell novels as a trilogy about Burma: Burmese Days about the colonial period, Animal Farm about the period when the junta first took control, and Nineteen Eighty-Four, which can be read as Orwell’s foretelling of the present state of affairs in Burma. I’m glad I read the book AFTER my trip to B...more
When I first started researching Burma, I tried to start with Burma: The Curse of Independence (see my bookshelf for another review) but couldn't get into it at first because it was so mind-boggling to keep track of the many peoples, languages, and organization acronyms that co-exist with Burma's borders. I needed a toe-hold on the country first. Larkin's book gave me the overview on the history and the current situation in Burma which allowed me to make sense of Burma: The Curse of Independence...more
From 1922 to 1927, young George Orwell (aka Eric Blair) lived in Burma, where he was employed by the Indian Imperial Police. He spent those years at the police training school in Mandalay and then policing remote villages in the Burmese interior and administering the police bureaucracy in a few of the larger coastal cities. Finding George Orwell is a travelogue structured around the premise that Orwell’s experience of British colonial rule in Burma inspired him to write about social injustice a...more
This was a Christmas present Drew gave to me two years ago...and I finally got a chance to pick it up. I'm glad! I really have a creepy fascination about George Orwell (I especially love 1984 and Animal Farm), so the premise of this book was great for me. While writing as essentially a travel journal, the author connects Orwell's time in Burma in the 1920s as a colonial policeman for the British government to his writing about totalitarian rule. I didn't realize it but Burma (even today) has...more
There are two things George Orwell and Burma (now Myanmar) have in common. First, Orwell actually spent five years stationed in Burma before his writing career. Second, the present military regime bears a striking resemblance to the societies Orwell describes in his works, "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty Four". The tyrannical and closed country of Myanmar is exposed through this travelogue that is interestingly and topically adorned with underground interviews and beautifu...more
In Burma, the intellectuals refer to Orwell as "the prophet."
It turns out that Orwell (nee Eric Blair) served for five years in the Indian Imperial Police in the 1920s, where he learned to hate imperialism. His book Burmese Days reflects his experiences there and of course Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm foretold a time of Big Brother, the Thought Police, and double-think.
Larkin (nom de plum for an American journalist born and raised in Asia) follows Orwel...more
It turns out that Orwell (nee Eric Blair) served for five years in the Indian Imperial Police in the 1920s, where he learned to hate imperialism. His book Burmese Days reflects his experiences there and of course Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm foretold a time of Big Brother, the Thought Police, and double-think.
Larkin (nom de plum for an American journalist born and raised in Asia) follows Orwel...more
I read this for my book group, and I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to it. But this book was fascinating. I didn't know anything about Burma's cultural or political history. And I didn't know about George Orwell's ties to that country.
The edition I read was from 2004, so the political events are frozen in that time (particularly the afterword).
The book has a lot of atmosphere. I could see the banyan trees and feel the humidity and smell the general decay that pe...more
The edition I read was from 2004, so the political events are frozen in that time (particularly the afterword).
The book has a lot of atmosphere. I could see the banyan trees and feel the humidity and smell the general decay that pe...more
An interesting book about Burma and George Orwell. Orwell, of course, is famous for two novels that could easily describe life in totalitarian Burma: 1984 and Animal Farm. He also wrote a memoir titled Burmese Days, and in fact served with the British colonial police in that country during the 1920s, and Emma Larkin makes the case that Orwell's Burmese experience influenced much of his later writing. The bulk of Larkin's story is about Burma itself, the Burma of today, whose citizens live und...more
This book is so good. It was always engaging, and I never wanted it to end. The author tracks George Orwell's life as it was when he was working in Burma, in the 1920's or so. There is a map in the front, so you can track both her and Orwell. I learned an incredible amount about Orwell that I could have never imagined before, and it gives wonderful insight onto his life and his other books besides 1984 and Animal Farm. Now I am eager to read his essays and other works. I was also amazed at the i...more
In this book, the author tells about the historical and political situation of Burma through the lens of George Orwell and his novels. It's an interesting premise, since Orwell spent a lot of time in Burma, but it just didn't really pan out. At the beginning I was really into the book, I even went to the library and checked out a few of Orwell's novels, planning to read them concurrently with this book. I quickly learned that I'm not all that interested in Orwell. I just got bored when readi...more
Orwell is one of my favorite authors, but I just could not enjoy this book. As a magazine article or short travelogue, it would have been interesting. Instead, it was an interminable journey through Burma where everything seemed the same. The author was tracked by military intelligence, could have few meaningful conversations, and hardly stumbled onto anything interesting about George Orwell.
Burma is, no doubt, a sad and depressing place in a terrible situation. But to base an entire book on th...more
Burma is, no doubt, a sad and depressing place in a terrible situation. But to base an entire book on th...more
I thought this was a very interesting book. I didn't really realize how oppressed the people of Burma are under their current Government. It was an eye-opener! I also enjoyed how the author related the Government of Burma to the works of George Orwell. The Burmese say that Orwell wrote not one novel about the country, but three: Burmese Days, Animal Farm and 1984. The first takes place during the British colonial days, while the latter two more closely reflect the situation there today. I have r...more
A remarkable insight into a land that remains under a thick shroud to most in the West. In this genre-bending work, Emma Larkin follows the path of a young George Orwell during his time as a colonial police officer in Burma. Gracefully combining a biography of Orwell and a commentary on the political climate of Burma with the engaging stories of her travels, Larkin successfully conveys the sense of hopeless struggle against totalitarianism that is as present in modern Burma as it was in the Orwe...more
The author, Emma Larkin (pseudonym,) has written an unusual travelogue of modern Myanmar. I picked it up, not because I’m a fan of George Orwell, but because I’m curious about a country – locked, for decades, by a military junta behind closed doors - that renames itself. I can’t pick out Burma on a map with accuracy, but I can quote Kipling’s romantic verse about its famous cities. Remove its familiar name cues and you can also change its story to the world! (a point brought out in the book.) T...more
This isn't just another travelogue. It's about Burma, but also about George Orwell's Burma. There's great insights into the culture and also gives you a hint of the national psyche under the military junta. Orwell's novels and essays weave in and out of the narrative. His pessimistic, cynical opinions on colonialism and socialism gone wrong are paralleled with the current climate in a country that has seen so much oppression. She has a really beautiful writing style that really makes the sce...more
I liked this book. It's been on my shelf for a while, and I thought it was about time I read it. I bought it for two reasons: (1) I liked the cover and (2) Joseph had just gone on an Orwell frenzy—he bought like every book Orwell wrote—so I thought this would be an interesting addition to the collection. I was right. It was really interesting insight into Orwell's life and writing and the situation in Burma. In the middle of reading the book I wondered what other people did after they finish. I ...more
This book is quite unique, and I found it compelling and fascinating. Emma Larkin is a pseudonym. She lives in Burma (Myanmar) and writes under an assumed name to avoid trouble with the authorities. Her premise is that George Orwell (also a pseudonym, used by Eric Blair) was deeply influenced by his stay in Burma as a young man in the British military. She is struck by the parallels between Burmese history and Orwell's writing in three specific books (Burmese Days, Animal Farm, and 1984). She do...more
Jacob Wren
added it
Emma Larkin writes:
Myo Kyi asked me if I had heard of the panopticon devised by the eighteenth-century British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The panopticon operates on the same principle as the ever present telescreen in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which allows people to be seen at all times. It is a prison designed to control a large number of prisoners with only a handful of guards. A central tower has visual access to every cell, and the prisoners can be viewed twenty-four ...more
Myo Kyi asked me if I had heard of the panopticon devised by the eighteenth-century British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. The panopticon operates on the same principle as the ever present telescreen in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which allows people to be seen at all times. It is a prison designed to control a large number of prisoners with only a handful of guards. A central tower has visual access to every cell, and the prisoners can be viewed twenty-four ...more
Larkin describes how his time in Burma influenced Orwell and contributed to his novels, most obviously Burmese Days but also Animal Farm and 1984. However, this is not her point. Rather, she reverses the equation to use Orwell's life and writings as an organizing principle for describing Burma/Myanmar. The pseudonymous journalist Larkin is essentially under cover as a tourist in order to evade detection by Burma's military government. The resulting book is part-literary criticism, part-travelogu...more
I absolutely loved this book.
The authour uses the works and life of George Orwell to examine the history and present situation of Burma, now Myanmar. I am a huge far of George Orwell so I really enjoyed the authour's examination of his time in Burma in the 1920's. As well, I knew relatively little about Burma and this book opened a whole new world to me in this respect.
It is absolutely frightening how the situation in Burma mirror's Orwell's 1984. In Burma they call ...more
The authour uses the works and life of George Orwell to examine the history and present situation of Burma, now Myanmar. I am a huge far of George Orwell so I really enjoyed the authour's examination of his time in Burma in the 1920's. As well, I knew relatively little about Burma and this book opened a whole new world to me in this respect.
It is absolutely frightening how the situation in Burma mirror's Orwell's 1984. In Burma they call ...more
Written under a pseudonym by necessity, Finding George Orwell in Burma is the author's travelogue through present-day Burma, tracing the path George Orwell followed in his career as British military police in 1920's Burma. Under the pretense of studying British architecture the author travels through Mandalay, the Delta, Rangoon, Moulmein, and Katha (the setting in George Orwell's first novel Burmese Days), conversing with locals in tea shops and gently probing for inside information in secreti...more
Reading about Burma is a guilty pleasure for me. Descriptions of it, like my favorite scene in literature— Pip's first visit to Ms. Havisham's house—are always of a place where time has stopped, of decay and beauty touched with horror. I love to read about travelers exploring the remains of this place, yet realize that what for me is romantic and foreign is a cruel reality for millions of people oppressed by the country's military. This book indulged completely my appetite for the strange and...more
Andrew
rated it
Recommends it for:
The jackass who put up travel photos of Burma (captioned 'Myanmar') at the Apple Store
Shelves:
non-fiction
The premise of this book is two-fold: Firstly, that Orwell formed many of his attitudes about power and state control during his experience in the foreign service in Burma, and secondly, that Burma has grown into an oppressive surveillance-state much like that in 1984.
A lot of the travel-writing in the book is strangely understated. Larkin is constantly getting hassled by the military police but never expresses any unease or suspense. This left me less terrified by the boo...more
A lot of the travel-writing in the book is strangely understated. Larkin is constantly getting hassled by the military police but never expresses any unease or suspense. This left me less terrified by the boo...more
I read this book last summer, prior to the recent crackdown in Burma. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone seeking an intro to the current situation in Burma. It seems perfect for my mom who will be going to Burma (for work and with notable protest on her part) in April.
Mom-Just as I thought, the title of this book is slightly different in the US than here. Even the cover art is different.
Do not expect this to be an exhaustive exploration of Burma's his...more
Mom-Just as I thought, the title of this book is slightly different in the US than here. Even the cover art is different.
Do not expect this to be an exhaustive exploration of Burma's his...more
I recently took a few months off work, and did quite a bit of traveling, including Thailand and Laos, near Burma, just after the terrible violence against the monks and peaceful protesters there.
On my way out of town, I had grabbed a copy of 1984 to read, but I had no idea that George Orwell had a long history with Burma. My friends in Thailand, seeing my copy of 1984, told me about Orwell's history there, and loaned me a copy of this book to read.
The people of Burma con...more
On my way out of town, I had grabbed a copy of 1984 to read, but I had no idea that George Orwell had a long history with Burma. My friends in Thailand, seeing my copy of 1984, told me about Orwell's history there, and loaned me a copy of this book to read.
The people of Burma con...more
I finally finished reading Emma Larkin's book, Finding George Orwell in Burma. Although I haven't been to Burma, and don't know if I ever will with the current state of affairs, Larkin captured a familiar tropical atmosphere.
I have only read 1984 of all of Orwell's writing, so I was grateful that she did such a good job of quoting relevant passages for context. She also shared her fascinating research into Orwell's personal history in Burma. Sometimes I was confused whether the text...more
I have only read 1984 of all of Orwell's writing, so I was grateful that she did such a good job of quoting relevant passages for context. She also shared her fascinating research into Orwell's personal history in Burma. Sometimes I was confused whether the text...more
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