15 Facts About Burmese Days

1.

Burmese Days is the first novel by English writer George Orwell, published in 1934.

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2.

Burmese Days was first published "further afield, " in the United States, because of concerns that it might be potentially libelous; that the real provincial town of Katha had been described too realistically; and that some of its fictional characters were based too closely on identifiable people.

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3.

Burmese Days revised it in 1932 at Southwold while doing up the family home during the summer holidays.

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4.

Burmese Days is set in 1920s British Burma, in the fictional district of Kyauktada, based on Kathar, a town where Orwell served.

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5.

Burmese Days is immediately taken with her and they spend some time together, culminating in a highly successful shooting expedition.

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6.

Burmese Days's responds by telling him that unfortunately the feelings aren't mutual and leaves the house to go horse riding with Verrall.

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7.

Burmese Days dies of apoplexy before he can start building the first pagoda and his wife envisages him returning to life as a frog or rat.

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8.

Burmese Days takes place during a period of Burmese history when it was under British colonial rule, and Orwell intended the novel to serve as a critique of colonialism, both in the effects it had on the Burmese and the British.

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9.

Burmese Days frequently uses characters in the novel to illustrate larger arguments about colonial rule.

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10.

Burmese scholar Maung Htin Aung, in an article written about Burmese Days, claimed that the novel served as a "valuable historical document" due to the fact that it “recorded vividly the tensions that prevailed in Burma, and the mutual suspicion, despair and disgust that crept into Anglo-Burmese relations as the direct result of the Government of India Act leaving out Burma from the course of its reforms”.

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11.

Burmese Days is torn between his fascination with Burmese culture, which sees him attempt to befriend several Burmese, and his role as a colonial teak merchant .

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12.

Burmese Days defends the Burmese and sympathizes with various issues they face in the argument with Dr Veraswami, confirming his disillusion with colonialism which isolates him from the European community.

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13.

Theme of racism frequently appears in Burmese Days, being depicted in the interactions between the three primary ethnic groups in Burma- the Europeans, Indians and Burmese.

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14.

On its publication in Britain, Burmese Days earned a review in the New Statesman from Cyril Connolly as follows:.

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15.

Will you allow me to tell you how very much indeed I admire your novel Burmese Days: it seems to me an absolutely admirable statement of fact told as vividly and with as little bitterness as possible.

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