Burma Sahib
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
'This novel is one of his finest in a long and redoubtable oeuvre' William Boyd, New York Times
From renowned author Paul Theroux comes a fascinating, atmospheric novel inspired by George Orwell's years in Burma
There is a short period in everyone's life when his character is fixed forever . . . ' George Orwell
Eric Blair stood out amongst his fellow police trainees in 1920s Burma. Nineteen years old, unusually tall, a diffident loner fresh from Eton, after five years spent in the narrow colonial world of the Raj – a decaying system steeped in overt racism and petty class-conflict – he would emerge as the George Orwell we know.
Drawing on all his powers of observation and imagination, Paul Theroux brings Orwell's Burma years to radiant life, tracing the development of the young man's consciousness as he confronts the social, racial and class politics and the reality of Burma beyond. Through one writer, we come to understand another - and see how what Orwell called 'five boring years within the sound of bugles' were in fact the years that made him.
One of John Irving’s best books of the 21st century
‘Thoroughly enjoyable . . . [Theroux’s] approach is like that of a skilful, subtle barrister who patiently lays out his evidence, gradually ensnaring the reader’ Times Literary Supplement
'Always a terrific teller of tales and conjurer of exotic locales' Sunday Times
'The most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation' Jonathan Raban
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The stellar latest from Theroux (The Bad Angel Brothers) frames an insightful portrait of a young George Orwell (1903–1950) within a scathing depiction of British colonialism. The novel opens with an epigraph from Orwell's Burmese Days: "There is a short period in everyone's life when his character is fixed forever." What follows is Theroux's ambitious dramatization of that process for Eric Blair (Orwell's real name), who, having graduated from Eton, sails to Burma to become a policeman. There, Blair quickly becomes disenchanted with the shockingly foul attitudes of the British Raj. Though he attempts to toe the line, he soon realizes he will never live up to the brutal standards of his fellow officers ("What had not occurred to him then was that orders might be given out of spite, to humiliate and break your spirit"). He seeks solace in books and in the company of his dog, chickens, and ducks, as well as his "keeps," Burmese servants who share his bed at a couple of his posts, and the forward-thinking wife of a British timber merchant. But as often as not, Blair bungles his police work, exasperating his racist superiors. Eventually, he comes to recognize that the writer inside him wasn't the aloof officer he presented as a facade but rather "that other man who'd... hated every moment of his colonial captivity." With piercing prose, Theroux lays bare the fraudulent and fiercely despotic nature of the British Empire. This brims with intelligence and vigor.
