Dies a Birmania (1934)

This is another of those discoveries thanks to the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. I have read Orwell's better known works (1984 and Animal Farm) but I didn't even know about this book until the 1001 list came out. I also didn't know that Orwell spent a number of years in Burma (before the name was changed to Myanmar) as a military policeman. That sojourn had a life-changing effect on Eric Blair (George Orwell is a pseudonym for Blair).

The central figure of this book is John Flory, a middle-aged Englishman who has spent most of his adult years as a timber merchant in Burma. Flory has a prominent birthmark on his face about which he is very self-conscious. He has never returned to England and now he is more Burman than English, a fact that does not endear him to the other members of the British Raj stationed in the small town of Kyauktada. The few English inhabitants gather daily and nightly in the English club where there is copious alcohol if not ice to cool the drinks. The weather is hot and dry at the opening of the book and everyone's nerves are frayed. The situation is exacerbated by a dictum from on high that there should be at least one native allowed into the club membership. Flory is good friends with the Indian doctor, Veraswami, and would not mind if he was allowed in the club but most of the other members are strident racists. Trouble is brewing. Into this boiling mixture comes the beautiful Elizabeth Lackersteen, the orphaned niece of the alcoholic manager of a timber firm. Flory is instantly smitten and, as the only bachelor on hand, has a good chance of wooing Elizabeth. In reality, Flory is much too good for Elizabeth who is shallow and rather stupid. After a day when Flory takes Elizabeth out on a shooting expedition and they bag a leopard it looks like Flory will propose and Elizabeth will accept. An earthquake and the imminent arrival of an Honourable with the military police interrupt. From then on it is downhill for Flory.

Many years ago I stumbled across the novels and short stories of W. Somerset Maugham which were set amongst the British stations in the East. This book reminded me a lot of Maugham and, according to the introduction by David Eimer, it is highly likely that Orwell was influenced by Maugham's writing which would have been readily available in Burma when Orwell was stationed there. The British Empire, like most colonial regimes, pillaged the land and resources of Burma and treated the native inhabitants with bigotry and oppression. It seems that the current deplorable state of the Rohingya people in Myanmar even has roots in the British rule of the country. ( )

Orwell's first novel - good in parts. The plot is well constructed, the characters sharply drawn, but lacking depth, and set against the backdrop of Burma during the colonial era. I struggled with the appalling bigotry of most of the lead characters, and with the inevitable doom of the lead character, who alone shows respect or sympathy to the land and its people, but who is destined for a bad ending.
Glad I read it, but I can't see myself going back to it any time time soon. ( )

Before starting this book I had read 3 others by George Orwell and enjoyed all of them. I'm fairly sure this was a recent purchase as the book was in a stack of relatively recent books. I've drifted away a little from the TBR jar and gone back to picking the next read on a whim and it felt like the right time to give this one a go.

The edition I read included a forward by some intellectual which I skipped over as I often do. It also contains a sketch of the location which was done by Orwell at some point. I found the addition of this to be a bit pointless as it is a really basic sketch but I guess some readers will find it useful.

The story is based in the Burmese village of Kyautada and revolves around the club set up and patronised by the English people who have settled there and run the place as occupiers. This collection of people are a pretty unlikeable bunch who are vapid and very racist. I'm confident that this was how it was at the time as history has proved this to be the case. We also have the benefit of the fact that Orwell actually served in Burma as a policeman at the time the book was set. We have an antihero of sorts, John Flory who likes a lot of the locals and wants to try and help get Dr Veraswami membership of the club. The trouble is that he won't stand up in front of the other members of the club to vouch for him because he is too scared. He is a positive character in regards to his attitude towards race and the locals. Despite this I found him unlikeable because he had no backbone and is isn't all good. He has kept a hooker or sorts on retainers for a while and that comes back to bite him in the ass.

Although the people are pretty horrible I really enjoyed the book because I find Orwell's writing to be descriptive without being over the top. He was clearly a very forward thinking and interesting man in his time. I really want to read Down and Out in London and Paris soon so I will have to keep an eye out for it on my book hunting jaunts. ( )

An unsparing, cynical view of British colonialism in Burma forms Orwell's first novel. It has been many years since I first read this but after reading Emma Larkin's Finding George Orwell in Burma I was prompted to re-read it. The picture of Flory and his disgust for colonialism, his compatriots, and even his own love/hate feelings for Burma, suggests Flory was to some extent a self portrait. I have enjoyed all of Orwell's writing since I first encountered the essay Shooting an Elephant when I was a teenager. As a political writer, he is outstanding.

Burma continued to endure strife after the country gained independence in 1948. The renaming of Burma to Myanmar in a military takeover is still contested. Like Emma Larkin, and even Aung San Suu Kyi, I will continue to use the older name, Burma. ( )

E' passato quasi un secolo (1934) da quanto Eric Arthur Blair ha scritto questo libro. Impressiona osservare l'attualità dei temi temi politici (razzismo, ingiustizia sociale, ipocrisia borghese) che si intrecciano a quelli sentimentali. In una Birmania colonizzata dagli inglesi all'inizio del XX secolo, il protagonista Flory si contraddistingue per il rispetto verso le popolazioni indigene non corrisposta dagli altri membri del circolo dei coloni: questo atteggiamento benevolo è pagato a caro prezzo ed arriva a costargli l'appellativo di bolscevico. Flory, l'opposto dell'eroe perfetto che si sente brutto e diverso a causa dell'angioma esteso che porta sul volto, cadrà vittima di se stesso e delle sue frustrazioni a causa di un amore non corrisposto. Un libro dei vinti, senza vincitori. ( )