In 1934, in his first novel, George Orwell, who was then a British colonial policeman posted in Burma, wrote about a town in the North of the country that it had "not changed greatly between the days of Marco Polo and 1910". What would he think of today's Myanmar? Orwell had trouble releasing the book in the 30's because some fictitious characters of Burmese Days had so much resemblance with some real individuals. An example: the book's super-villain is a local magistrate, U Po Kyin, who supplements his meager salary by accepting bribes from all parties, practice which is referred to as taking "tea money". This is, of course, a fictitious character portrayed 80 years ago; and no analogy can be drawn to cases of corruption in recent political times. Still, the author would probably be astonished to learn that his book is now translated into Burmese and that it won a Government Award for literature in 2013. As they say: it's not the country it ought to be, but it's not the country it used to be...
Read Burmese Days online (courtesy from the The University of Adelaide Library).
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