George Orwell in Burma
May 22nd 2006 02:24
Secret Histories, by Emma Larkin. Australian edition cover.
Basically, it's travel literature meets critical analysis. Sounds fun, right? Well, despite it's premise sounding more like the acorn of a PHD paper, it actually reads quite well. Larkin spent some time travelling through Burma (that's Myanmar to the politically-correct), armed with her trusty knowledge of all things George Orwell. She attempts to show how Orwell's formative days stationed as a soldier in Burma influenced his writing, and how much Burma itself has come to resemble an Orwellian-nightmare of 1984 or Animal Farm-ish proportions.
At times it reads like a backpacker's adventure... it never really feels like Larkin is in all that much danger, despite her assurances that Burma is ruled with an all-oppressing iron fist. I'm not suggesting she should've put herself in more danger but too much time is spent sitting around sipping cups of tea for it to seem the 'Orwellian-nightmare' she'd have us believe it to be. That said, the Burmese government appears to have done some pretty frightful things in recent times.
This appears to be an alternate edition. I haven't seen this around, so chances are it's an international version.
Larkin uses three of Orwell's novels to demonstrate the influence that ran between Orwell and Burma... 'Animal Farm', '1984' and 'Burmese Days'. Having not read 'Burmese Days', I can't help but feel I probably missed out on a bit here. Sure, she quotes when neccessary and everything is explained properly, but I probably would've gotten more out of this book if I'd been all read up before I read it. Oh well.
This is worth reading if... a) you're a fan of George Orwell, b) you like travel literature with an interesting slant, or c) you know nothing about Burma and the shockingly idiotic government that current presides over it.
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