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Finding George Orwell in Burma | 
 enlarge | Author: Emma Larkin
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 314950
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0143037110
Dewey Decimal Number: 915
EAN: 9780143037118
ASIN: 0143037110
Publication Date: March 6, 2006
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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. BACKCOVER: A truer picture of authoritarianism than anyone has written since, perhaps, Orwell himself.
Mother Jones
Mournful, meditative, appealingly idiosyncratic . . . an exercise in literary detection but also a political travelogue.
The New York Times
Combining literary criticism with solid field reporting, [Larkin] captures the country at its best and, more often, its worst.
San Francisco Chronicle
[A] sobering, journalistic memoir . . . A disquieting profile of a country and its people.
Newsweek
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Finding Pleasure in Orwell June 20, 2005
Paul Bunyan (Minnesota)
33 out of 34 found this review helpful
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.
Brilliant July 10, 2005
Nick Dowling (Australia)
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
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.
 Orwell the Prophet: biographical footnotes August 6, 2008
H. Schneider (wechselhaft)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
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.
Orwell's Trilogy of Burma June 2, 2006
Andrew Desmond (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
I came to this book as a devotee of Orwell, surely one of the 20th century's most influential writers. How can anyone ignore the significance of "Animal Farm" and "1984"? To have not read these books is to have missed two great works. Orwell came to be the conscience of a century.
Emma Larkin, the pseudonym for an American journalist based in Bangkok and fluent in Burmese, has produced a wonderful travelogue and critique of modern day Burma. She has clearly travelled widely within the country and is familiar with its politics. She is also a friend of Burma who is heartbroken by the poverty that has been inflicted on the country by its military masters. Burma, at the end of World War II, had so much to offer but has since been stuck in a time warp while other neighbouring lands have forged ahead.
In his early life, Orwell spent five years in Burma as a policeman for the British colonial authorities. He subsequently wrote his novel, "Burmese Days". It is said by some that this was the first of a trilogy with "Animal Farm" and "1984" completing the work.
Larkin has succeeded in undertaking a modern travelogue that wraps around the earlier life of Orwell. He writing style is easy while her premise of loosely following Orwell's life is a clever literary technique. There are many devotees of Orwell. I would recommend this modern work to them all.
Inside today's Burma June 12, 2006
R. J. Marsella (California)
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
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