In the U.S. we can't get Times texts online without subscription, so here's the Guardian/Observer review instead. There's another review at The Agonist.
In the Times review, Taylor calls Larkin's work "an odd hybrid of a book: half a companion guide to the twentysomething Orwell's time in the East; half a series of dispatches from a country in a state of internal siege..." The most informative part from Taylor (about Orwell, as opposed to the godawful state of present-day Burma) is this:
...the scent has gone somewhat cold. Much of the architecture of Orwell's time remains, however: the police-training school at Mandalay with its haunted room, whose legends Larkin investigates, and the gruesome prison at Insein, the population now swollen to four times its size in the 1920s. Any disappointment the reader may feel at the lack of fresh Orwell material is swiftly anaesthetised by the glosses of local Orwell-fanciers. From the textual sleuth who deduces that the elephant in Shooting an Elephant is a giant metaphor for Imperialism itself to the retired elephant hunter who criticises Orwell's inability to put the beast out of its misery -- apparently the trick is to aim for the point where the two eye-ear lines cross -- these are never less than fascinating: a sudden sulphurous whiff from a world in which a writer finds himself turned into a glowing personal presence in the lives of thousands of ordinary people....(Beats me what'd be "sulphurous" about that, but anyhow...)
He also says Larkin "takes a welcome look at" the notes Orwell wrote late in life for A Smoking-Room Story, about English passengers on a ship returning from Burma.
How A Smoking-Room Story was going to come out is one of these mysteries that could use a Time Lord's help. Per the notes, it appeared Orwell's protagonist was to be a kind of Lord Jim figure being sent home because of a shameful incident that was
already formed in Orwell's own mind, and probably the subject of the "story" in the title, but not yet set out in the notes themselves.
Posted by Martha Bridegam at August 23, 2004 10:10 AM
"Little is known about his experiences, and Larkin discovers practically nothing new."
This seems like a lost opportunity to me. Little is known about Orwell's specific experiences in Burma, but of course much is known about colonial life in Burma in the 1920s in a more general sense; I think a bit of time in the India Office archive in the British Library could produce a fine contextual work about Orwell's Burma. I was thinking about doing something like this myself at one point until I was distracted by other things.
Posted by: Alan Allport at August 23, 2004 05:29 PMFrom Steven Martin in Thailand, c/o M:
Hi Martha,
Thanks for notifying me of this -- and for providing the link to my article. I have heard that there is another book on this subject that was just, or is about to be, published. From what I hear about them, both books are more about modern-day Burma, and the authors merely use Orwell and his postings there as a trail of breadcrumbs to follow while describing the horrors of the black forest. I doubt either book will be of much interest to serious Orwell fans, as it seems the writing and research of the books were rushed -- both, I believe, were written after the publication of my article in Time.
By the way, if you are interested in getting an idea of the political tension in Burma during the period that Orwell was posted there, an excellent book is a memoir by Maurice Collis titled "Trials in Burma". Orwell gave this book a favorable review when it was published and,
interestingly, many of the incidents that happen in Burmese Days, from the earthquake to the uprising with millenarian overtones, actually happened not long after Orwell left the colony. While Collis describes these events as they happened in Rangoon and its environs, one cannot help experiencing a feeling of deja vu while reading his accounts.
Also, if you want to see some examples of British colonial architecture in Rangoon that date to Orwell's time there, here is a link to a short article I wrote on the subject. The webpage also has a feature where you can flip through a series of photos that I took of the buildings that are described in the text:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3578993.stm
Thanks again.
All best,
Steven
PS -- feel free to post this if you like. I would do it myself but I'm afraid I'll muck things up!
----------
M speaking now, adding my own supplement to Steven's note, about Maurice Collis, author of Trials in Burma from the Orwell Complete Works (footnote 4 to Item 2717 in Vol. XVII):
...Maurice Collis (1889-1973), historian, biographer, and novelist, served in Burma, 1912-36, on much the same basis as did Orwell, became in 1930 District Magistrate, Rangoon. After his retirement from the Indian Civil Service, he became, like Orwell, a writer, achieving considerable success. Trials in Burma, an autobiography, was reviewed by Orwell in The Listener, 9 March 1938 (see 429); Orwell also reviewed his account of Ma Saw, She Was A Queen, in the Manchester Evening News, 6 April 1944 (See 2449).
The italicized numbers in the above are references to other CW items.
Item 429, the review, begins:
This is an unpretentious book, but it brings out with unusual clearness the dilemma that faces every official in an empire like our own. Mr. Collis was District Magistrate of Rangoon in the troubled period round about 1930. He had to try cases which were a great deal in the public eye, and he soon discovered the practical impossibility of keeping to the letter of the law and pleasing European opinion at the same time. Finally, for having sentenced a British Army officer to three months' imprisonment for criminal negligence in driving a car, he was reprimanded and hurriedly transferred to another post. For the same offence a native would have been imprisoned as a matter of course.
The truth is that every British magistrate in India is in a false position when he has to try a case in which European and native interests clash. In theory he is administering an impartial system of justice; in practice he is part of a huge machine which exists to protect British interests, and he has often got to choose between sacrificing his integrity and damaging his career. Nevertheless, owing to the exceptionally high traditions of the Indian Civil Service, the law in India is administered far more fairly than might be expected -- and, incidentally, fair too fairly to please the business community...Posted by: Martha Bridegam at August 24, 2004 12:51 PM