Finding George Orwell in Burma Contributor(s): Larkin, Emma (Author) |
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ISBN: 0143037110 ISBN-13: 9780143037118 Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr OUR PRICE: $22.80 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2006 Annotation: In one of the most intrepid travelogues in recent memory, 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." |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Travel | Asia - Central - Travel | Asia - Southeast - Travel | Essays & Travelogues |
Dewey: 915.910 |
Physical Information: 0.55" H x 5.04" W x 7.76" (0.45 lbs) 304 pages |
Themes: - Cultural Region - Southeast Asian |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: A fascinating political travelogue that traces the life and work of George Orwell, author of 1984 and ANIMAL FARM, in Southeast Asia Over the years the American writer Emma Larkin has spent traveling in Burma, also known as Myanmar, 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
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