Burmese Days

Burmese Days is George Orwell's first novel—a searing portrait of British colonialism in 1920s Burma that draws on his own five years as a policeman in the Imperial service. First published in 1934, it established the themes of oppression, moral corruption, and the loneliness of the outsider that would define his literary career.
John Flory is a timber merchant in the remote town of Kyauktada, Upper Burma. Scarred by a birthmark and burdened by a secret contempt for the racism and hypocrisy of his fellow Europeans, he lives in a state of perpetual dissimulation—outwardly conforming to colonial society while inwardly despising it. His only honest relationships are with his Burmese friend Dr. Veraswami and the natural beauty of the jungle.
When Elizabeth Lackersteen arrives from England, Flory sees a chance for redemption—someone to share his appreciation of Burma's culture and beauty. But Elizabeth proves to be as conventional and prejudiced as the colonial society she represents. Meanwhile, the villainous U Po Kyin, a corrupt Burmese magistrate, schemes to destroy Dr. Veraswami and, by extension, Flory himself.
Orwell portrays the British Club—with its drinking, its petty snobberies, and its casual racism—as a microcosm of empire's moral bankruptcy. Yet he is equally unsparing of those Burmese who collaborate in their own oppression. The novel builds inexorably toward a tragedy that seems almost inevitable from its opening pages.
This LibriHouse.com edition presents all twenty-five chapters of Orwell's powerful first novel.