Burmese Days by George Orwell

Based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma, George Orwell's first novel presents a devastating picture of British colonial rule. It describes corruption and imperial bigotry in a society where, 'after all, natives were natives - interesting, no doubt, but finally ... an inferior people'. When Flory, a white timber merchant, befriends Indian Dr Veraswami, he defies this orthodoxy. The doctor is in danger: U Po Kyin, a corrupt magistrate, is plotting his downfall. The only thing that can save him is membership of the all-white Club, and Flory can help. Flory's life is changed further by the arrival of beautiful Elizabeth Lackersteen from Paris, who offers an escape from loneliness and the 'lie' of colonial life.

As some of you will know, I have taken three months out to do some travelling. One of the many luxuries is reading whatever I want! I'm trying, though, to at least read some books that are geographically appropriate. After a brief stop in Kuala Lumpur, I am now in Myanmar, or Burma - hence my first read, Burmese Days by George Orwell.

Burmese Days is, as expected, brilliantly written. It is also incredibly interesting as it provides a genuine insight into what it might have been like in Burma under British rule as Orwell himself had been a police officer out there in the 1920s. For anyone who hadn't read Emma Larkin's intro, or indeed her book on the subject, you might assume the novel would be more sympathetic to the colonisers rather than the native people. I noticed from the copyright page that the novel was first published in the States, not the Uk, which surprised me so I did a brief google (made briefer by the precarious wifi..). The book had apparently caused an uproar in Britain for painting such a negative image of colonialism and so was not published until a year later.

It is extremely clear that Orwell bad become disillusioned by British colonialism in Myanmar but, saying that, the Burmese people do not come across brilliantly either. In fact, there is a distinct lack of likeable people in the whole novel. Flory, Orwells protagonist, is the closest you'll get to rooting for someone but even he is a little too wimpy and pathetic to be truly 'liked'. The women are grim, both the British and the Burmese, and the men are mostly painted as sex and money obsessed, bigoted and supercilious alcoholics.

Orwell focuses a lot on the contradictions, the love hate relationship between Flory and Burma and how he hates it but can't imagine wanting to live anywhere else. Orwells descriptions also ooze heat, the decadent, sweat inducing humidity in the forests and rural villages outside Rangoon. 

Despite it's distinctly negative and depresssing tone, it's been great reading something set where I am - you can really sense what it might have been like, whether it an exaggerated version or not. It reminded me a little of Hemingway's explorations of people and places in his short stories in particular. 

7.5/10