Burmese Days

'...after all, natives were natives - interesting, no doubt, but finally ... an inferior people' Based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma, George Orwell's first novel is set during the end days of British colonialism, when Burma is ruled from Delhi as part of British India. In the fictional district of Kyauktada, based on Kathar, U Po Kyin, a corrupt Burmese magistrate, is planning to destroy the reputation of the Indian Dr Veraswami. The doctor's main protection is his friendship with John Flory who, as a European, has higher prestige. Dr Veraswami wants the privilege of becoming a member of the British club because he thinks that if his standing with the Europeans is good, U Po Kyin's intrigues against him will not prevail. U Po Kyin begins a campaign to persuade the Europeans that the doctor holds disloyal, anti-British opinions, and believes anonymous letters with false stories about the doctor 'will work wonders'.

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Burmese Days

Collects three early novels by the influential English author. Burmese days: In the hermetic world of 1930s colonial Burma, a corrupt Burmese politician uses the powers of his office to win membership in a British club. Keep the aspidistra flying: A poor young Londoner, who disdains conventional lifestyles and goals, works by day in a bookstore and writes by night in a cold rented room. Coming up for air: An insurance salesman's win of a small sum on the racetrack spurs memories of his childhood in a country village.

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Burmese Days

Captures the way of life of the white ruling class in Burma through the depiction of and Englishman, a girl newly arrived from England and a corrupt native politician.

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Burmese Days

Burmese Days is set in British Burma during the waning days of Empire, when Burma was ruled from Delhi as part of British India, it is "a portrait of the dark side of the British Raj." At the centre of the novel is John Flory, "the lone and lacking individual trapped within a bigger system that is undermining the better side of human nature." The novel describes "corruption and imperial bigotry" in a society where, "after all, natives were natives, interesting, no doubt, but finally...an inferior people". 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. A British edition, with altered names, appeared a year later. Nonetheless, Orwell's harsh portrayal of colonial society was felt by "some old Burma hands" to have "rather let the side down". In a letter from 1946, Orwell wrote, "I dare say it's unfair in some ways and inaccurate in some details, but much of it is simply reporting what I have seen".

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Burmese Days Collins Classics

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Burmese Days by George Orwell Book Analysis

Unlock the more straightforward side of Burmese Days with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Burmese Days by George Orwell, which is based on the writer’s own experiences as a member of the British Indian Imperial Police in the 1920s. It depicts a brutally divided society, in which racism is endemic and the natives are widely seen as inherently inferior to the white European colonisers. In this atmosphere, corruption and scheming flourish, leaving the novel’s protagonist, the timber merchant John Flory, deeply disillusioned and alienated. Burmese Days is Orwell’s earliest novel. Along with his influential later works, including 1984 and Animal Farm, it reflects an enduring preoccupation with social justice and the oppression of the powerless by world governments. Find out everything you need to know about Burmese Days in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

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Burmese Days

Burmese Days was first published in the United States, by Harper & Brothers, in October 1934. It was Orwell's second book to be published and his first novel. It draws on his experiences serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma (some preliminary sketches survive on Government of Burma paper). he resigned from the Burma Police in autumn 1927 'because he disliked putting people into prison for doing the same things which he should have done in their circusmtances'. Orwell was convinced that publication of his novel in England would be impeded by the India Office because of his exposure of the evils of colonialism - his title, so appropriate to a volume of conventional memoirs, is subtly ironic - but his difficulties proved quite different. Victor Gollancz, though keen to publish Burmese Days, feared action for defamation and libel. After modification, an English version was brought out in June 1935. Although at the time Orwell considered the changes required to be 'trifling', he later rejected the English edition as 'garbled'. However, as well as forced changes, it does include genuine authorial revisions, something which Orwell had forgotten.

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The Complete Novels of George Orwell

Contains the complete novels of George Orwell: Animal Farm, Burmese Days, A Clergyman's Daughter, Coming up for Air, Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Includes explanatory notes on the etymology of the language 'Newspeak'.

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Burmese Days

Burmese Days is set in 1920s imperial Burma, in the fictional district of Kyauktada, based on Kathar (formerly spelled Katha), a town where Orwell served. It is a thinly-veiled tale from the waning days of British colonialism when Burma was ruled from Delhi as a part of British India–a portrait of the dark side of the British Raj. As the story opens, U Po Kyin, a corrupt Burmese magistrate, is planning to destroy the reputation of the Indian Dr Veraswami. The doctor's main protection is his friendship with John Flory who, as a pukka sahib (European white man), has higher prestige. Dr Veraswami wants the privilege of becoming a member of the British club because he thinks that if his standing with the Europeans is good, U Po Kyin's intrigues against him will not prevail. U Po Kyin begins a campaign to persuade the Europeans that the doctor holds disloyal, anti-British opinions, and believes anonymous letters with false stories about the doctor "will work wonders"...

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The Unsung Artistry of George Orwell

In a timely and radically new reappraisal of George Orwell's fiction, Loraine Saunders reads Orwell's novels as tales of successful emancipation rather than as chronicles of failure. Contending that Orwell's novels have been undervalued as works of art, she offers extensive textual analysis to reveal an author who is in far more control of his prose than has been appreciated. Persuasively demonstrating that Orwell's novels of the 1930s such as A Clergyman's Daughter and Keep the Aspidistra Flying are no less important as literature than Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, Saunders argues they have been victims of a critical tradition whose practitioners have misunderstood Orwell's narrative style, failed to appreciate Orwell's political stance, and were predisposed to find little merit in Orwell's novels. Saunders devotes significant attention to George Gissing's influence on Orwell, particularly with regard to his representations of women. She also examines Orwell's socialism in the context of the political climate of the 1930s, finding that Orwell, in his successful negotiation of the fine balance between art and propaganda, had much more in common with Charlie Chaplin than with writers like Stephen Spender or W. H. Auden. As a result of Saunders's detailed and accessible analysis, which illuminates how Orwell harmonized allegory with documentary, polyphonic voice with monophonic, and elegy with comedy, Orwell's contributions to the genre of political fiction are finally recognized.

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Burmese Days

Set in the days of the Empire, with the British ruling in Burma, Burmese Days describes both indigenous corruption and Imperial bigotry, when 'after all, natives were natives ? interesting, no doubt, but finally only a subject people, an inferior people with black faces'. Against the prevailing orthodoxy, Flory, a white timber merchant, befriends Dr Veraswami, a black enthusiast for Empire. The doctor needs help. U Po Kyin, sub-divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, is plotting his downfall. The only thing that can save him is European patronage: membership of the hitherto all-white Club. While Flory prevaricates, beautiful Elizabeth Lackersteen arrives in Upper Burma from Paris. At last, after years of 'solitary hell', romance and marriage appear to offer Flory an escape from the 'lie' of the 'pukka sahib pose'.

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Burmese Days Etc

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Burmese Days

Eric Arthur Blair (1903–1950), more commonly known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English journalist, essayist, critic, and novelist most famous for his novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (1949) and allegorical novella “Animal Farm” (1945). His work is characterised by an opposition to totalitarianism and biting social commentary, and remains influential in popular culture today. Many of his neologisms have forever entered the English language, including "Thought Police", "Big Brother", "Room 101", "doublethink", "thoughtcrime", and "Newspeak" to name but a few. Orwell's first novel, “Burmese Days” (1934) is set in British Burma during the last days of the British Empire at a time when the country was governed from Delhi. Illustrating the darker side of the British Raj, it examines the corruption and bigotry well-known to Orwell, who served as a police officer from 1922 to 1927 in the Indian Imperial Police force in Burma. Other notable works by this author include: “Keep the Aspidistra Flying” (1936) and “Coming Up for Air” (1939). Read & Co. Classics is proudly publishing this novel now in a new edition complete with the introductory essay "Why I Write".

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Burmese Days

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Burmese Days

"Burmese Days was first published in the United States, by Harper & Brothers, in October 1934. It was Orwell's second book to be published and his first novel. It draws on his experiences serving in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma (some preliminary sketches survive on Government of Burma paper). he resigned from the Burma Police in autumn 1927 'because he disliked putting people into prison for doing the same things which he should have done in their circusmtances'. Orwell was convinced that publication of his novel in England would be impeded by the India Office because of his exposure of the evils of colonialism - his title, so appropriate to a volume of conventional memoirs, is subtly ironic - but his difficulties proved quite different. Victor Gollancz, though keen to publish Burmese Days, feared action for defamation and libel. After modification, an English version was brought out in June 1935. Although at the time Orwell considered the changes required to be 'trifling', he later rejected the English edition as 'garbled'. However, as well as forced changes, it does include genuine authorial revisions, something which Orwell had forgotten."

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Burmese Days

Burmese Days is set in 1920s imperial Burma, in the fictional district of Kyauktada, based on Kathar (formerly spelled Katha), a town where Orwell served. Like the fictional town, it is the head of a branch railway line above Mandalay on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River. As the story opens, U Po Kyin, a corrupt Burmese magistrate, is planning to destroy the reputation of the Indian, Dr Veraswami. The doctor hopes for help from his friend John Flory who, as a pukka sahib (European white man), has higher prestige.

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Burmese Days George Orwell Large Print Edition

Burma was once the richest country in Asia. Now, it is the poorest country in Asia. We would like to know why Burma went from being the richest country in Asia to being the poorest country in Asia. Perhaps this book will help us learn why.

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Burmese Days

Burmese Days brings together stories from colonial life in a narrative sequence that concludes with several violent deaths. U Po Kyin, the rotund and ruthless native judicial officer for the district, is plotting to turn nationalist agitation in a local newspaper against his rivals in a way that, he hopes, will ingratiate him with the imperial authorities. British functionaries gather at their exclusive club to discuss, among other matters, rumors of unrest among the local population. Passing conversation reveals the fears and prejudices they hold: Mr. Macgregor grimly murmurs, "In my young days, when one's butler was disrespectful, one sent him along to the jail with a chit saying, 'Please give the bearer fifteen lashes.' . . . Those days are gone for ever, I am afraid." When they hear a proposal, which had originated with the Commissioner, that their club consider accepting native members, Mr. Ellis snarls brusquely, "I don't like niggers, to put it in one word." Mr. Westfield solemnly maintains that excessive legalism and bureaucratic routine impede the real work of the imperial government in maintaining order and respect for authority. "British Raj is finished if you ask me," he says. John Flory, who works for a timber company, has spent most of his adult life in the Raj; he has grown weary of colonial ways but cannot extricate himself from his situation in Burma. More than the other British residents, he mixes freely with the natives. He is on friendly terms with Dr. Veraswami, an Indian physician; he becomes distinctly uncomfortable when some...

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Animal Farm

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Complete Works of George Orwell Illustrated

Orwell believed that true prose should be “like a windowpane” and he, himself, strove to write clearly and precisely. His early works, not only those of a journalistic nature, are primarily autobiographical. He outlined what he considered the essence of prose in his essay “Shooting an Elephant” and further developed the ideas in his essay “Politics and the English Language”. In this work, Orwell argues that political dishonesty and inaccurate, slovenly language are inextricably linked. The Spanish civil war significantly influenced Orwell’s life. In 1936, Orwell arrived in Spain as a journalist. However, always true to his beliefs, upon his arrival in Barcelona he immediately joined a guerrilla group of Marxist workers (POUM). He fought on the Aragon and Teruel fronts and received a grave wound. The impressions wrought by his time in Spain did not fade throughout Orwell’s life. In his final pre-war novel, Coming Up for Air, he denounced the modern erosion of traditional values. Orwell criticized both English socialism and Stalinism. Orwell understood his duty as a writer to be the promotion of an ideal, liberal, socialism while defending against the totalitarian tendencies that threatened the times. His goals are clearly observed in the 1945 novel Animal Farm. This satire of the Russian Revolution and the crushed hopes that resulted is told as an allegory featuring farm animals who take over the management of the farm from the farmer for their betterment. Orwell published his final book, 1984, in 1949. It features a future dystopia in which Orwell intricately portrays a totalitarian society saturated with anger and fear. THE NOVELS BURMESE DAYS A CLERGYMAN’S DAUGHTER KEEP THE ASPIDISTRA FLYING COMING UP FOR AIR ANIMAL FARM NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR THE MEMOIRS DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER HOMAGE TO CATALONIA THE POETRY OF GEORGE ORWELL THE NON-FICTION BOOK REVIEWS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

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