Book: Finding George Orwell in Burma

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Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:00:00 -0700

Finding George Orwell in Burma

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Finding George Orwell in Burma |

by Emma Larkin

 

BuzzFlash Recommendation (excerpt)

 

This is not a book of political theory or partisan shrieking. It is a

moving, compelling, somber account of how fiction has become political

fact. Orwell drew inspiration from British Colonial Burma, and now

Burma has become a state that embodies Orwell's vision in " 1984. "

 

" ...It has come to the stage [in Burma] where [the children] see a

thing which is not true and dare not say it is not true.' "

 

That is -- and we cannot help ourselves from making the analogy --

exactly what Karl Rove has tried to do with truth tellers in the

United States, PlameGate being an infamous example of such treason

against democracy. The right wing extremists who run the Republican

Party, the White House, Congress and most of the Federal Bench want to

impose their version of " truth " on the rest of us, a distinctly

Un-American thing to do. In fact, it is positively Orwellian.

 

But " Finding George Orwell " is not about Bush. It is a personal

journey through Burma, as the author tries to track the influences of

the country in the '20s on Orwell.

 

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Continuing with our ongoing offering of premiums that enlighten us as

to how close the Bushevik goals are to those of the ruling power in

George Orwell's " 1984 " -- particularly when it comes to the use of

fear, propaganda, thought control and torture -- we are proud to offer

" Finding George Orwell in Burma " by Emma Larkin.

 

Emma Larkin is a pseudonym, because the modern day Burma (now called

Myanmar) is a military dictatorship that is positively Orwellian. It's

a tragic irony, because as this book proves, Orwell drew many of his

ideas for his later writings, including " 1984, " from his experience as

an officer of the British Imperial Police Force in Burma during the

'20s. As a result of the brutal rule in a virtually sealed nation, the

author of " Finding George Orwell " would lose access to her sources

were she to reveal herself.

 

The Bush Administration, of course, only gives lip service to

supporting democracy in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, who was elected

leader of Burma in 1990 but not allowed to assume office by the

military -- and remains under house arrest -- is not a name you hear

on Bush's lips, even though she is a winner of the Nobel Prize and a

courageous fighter for freedom. The word democracy only is used as a

means by the Busheviks to secure oil assets from unfriendly

governments. Friendly brutal dictators are just fine with the Bush

White House.

 

But " Finding George Orwell " is not about Bush. It is a personal

journey through Burma, as the author tries to track the influences of

the country in the '20s on Orwell. All the while, she is also

recounting her visits and conversations with modern day residents of

Burma, who live in a distinctly Orwellian world.

 

Recommendation, Cont'd | " Finding George Orwell in Burma " | back to top

 

For instance, Larkin writes of a high school teacher who was dismissed

from his job for independent thinking. Larkin writes: " The grand plan,

if there is a plan at all, is to abolish the power of thinking,

believes Tha Win Kyi [the former teacher]. 'Children are not

encouraged to question their teachers, and when the teacher asks them

a question they dare not answer. It has come to the stage where they

see a thing which is not true and dare not say it is not true.' "

 

That is -- and we cannot help ourselves from making the analogy --

exactly what Karl Rove has tried to do with truth tellers in the

United States, PlameGate being an infamous example of such treason

against democracy. The right wing extremists who run the Republican

Party, the White House, Congress and most of the Federal Bench want to

impose their version of " truth " on the rest of us, a distinctly

Un-American thing to do. In fact, it is positively Orwellian.

 

" Finding George Orwell in Burma " has the personal style and touch

evidenced by the writer of the " Baghdad Burning " (Girl) blog. The

anonymous author of " Finding George Orwell in Burma, " however, is an

American who speaks Burmese and, therefore, an outsider looking into

the totalitarian state of what is now called Myanmar.

 

This is not a book of political theory or partisan shrieking. But

rather, it is a moving, compelling, somber account of how fiction has

become political fact. Orwell drew inspiration from British Colonial

Burma, and now Burma has become a state that embodies Orwell's vision

in " 1984. "

 

The use of fear, propaganda, thought control -- and torture. It sure

sounds familiar doesn't it? Because it could happen here -- and it is.

 

Description | " Finding George Orwell in Burma " | back to top

 

Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in

Burma, she's come to know all too well the many ways this brutal

police state can be described as " Orwellian. " The life of the mind

exists in a state of siege in Burma, and it long has. But Burma's

connection to George Orwell is not merely metaphorical; it is much

deeper and more real. Orwell's mother was born in Burma, at the height

of the British raj, and Orwell was fundamentally shaped by his

experiences in Burma as a young man working for the British Imperial

Police. When Orwell died, the novel-in-progress on his desk was set in

Burma. It is the place George Orwell's work holds in Burma today,

however, that most struck Emma Larkin. She was frequently told by

Burmese acquaintances that Orwell did not write one book about their

country--his first novel, Burmese Days--but in fact he wrote three,

the " trilogy " that included Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. When

Larkin quietly asked one Burmese intellectual if he knew the work of

George Orwell, he stared blankly for a moment and then said, " Ah, you

mean the prophet! "

 

In one of the most intrepid political travelogues in recent memory,

Emma Larkin tells of the year she spent traveling through Burma using

the life and work of George Orwell as her compass. Going from Mandalay

and Rangoon to poor delta backwaters and up to the old hill-station

towns in the mountains of Burma's far north, Larkin visits the places

where Orwell worked and lived, and the places his books live still.

She brings to vivid life a country and a people cut off from the rest

of the world, and from one another, by the ruling military junta and

its vast network of spies and informers. Using Orwell enables her to

show, effortlessly, the weight of the colonial experience on Burma

today, the ghosts of which are invisible and everywhere. More

important, she finds that the path she charts leads her to the people

who have found ways to somehow resist the soul-crushing effects of

life in this most cruel police state. And George Orwell's moral

clarity, hatred of injustice, and keen powers of observation serve as

the author's compass in another sense too: they are qualities she

shares and they suffuse her book--the keenest and finest reckoning

with life in this police state that has yet been written.

 

A brave and revelatory reconnaissance of modern Burma, one of the

world's grimmest and most shuttered police states, using as its

compass the life and work of George Orwell, the man many in Burma call

simply " the prophet "

 

Author | " Oil on Ice " | back to top

 

Emma Larkin is the pseudonym for an American journalist who was born

and raised in Asia, studied the Burmese language at the School of

Oriental and African Studies in London, and covers Asia widely in her

journalism from her base in Bangkok.

 

Other Reviews | " Oil on Ice " | back to top

 

" A many-faceted book, beautifully written... "

-- The Times Literary Supplement, UK

 

" Never less than fascinating. "

-- Sunday Times, London

 

" Fascinating...superb. "

-- The Observer

 

" A crucial expose of a scandalous regime. "

-- Kirkus Reviews, March 21, 2005

 

" ...a lucid and insightful illustration of truly Orwellian circumstances. "

-- Publishers Weekly, April 11, 2005

 

" ...a well-researched and fascinating look at the years the British

author lived in Burma... "

-- San Francisco Chronicle

 

Details | " Finding George Orwell in Burma " | back to top

 

# Hardcover: 304 pages

# Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (June 2, 2005)

# Language: English

# ISBN: 1594200521

# Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches

# Shipping Weight: 15.0 ounces.