Larkin visited in early 2000 Travelling alone in times strictest military dictatorship the five places where Orwell lived in Burma. She manages, literary delicate and beautiful to read, to convey three images:
- The development of young, upper class Orwell to disillusioned sociocritical cynical journalists and writers. Credible is given that he has experienced in his five years in Burma anything that has marked him deeply and probably could only happen there. What is remains a mystery. That Burma was not a fulfillment but a pain for him is more than clear.
- The brutality of a military dictatorship, which has driven a rich country full of generally peaceful people to ruin. A country governed by the rule of fear and horror, in which, however, "the little man" in the tea rooms and in private life, the joy of life, hope and above all, the formation can not deny. It is read, written, discussed.
- The dazzling image of a country which with large rivers, rich mineral resources, golden pagodas and the decaying charm of colonial buildings is simply beautiful.
In short, a thoroughly satisfying Leseerelebnis.
Larkin also shows the three books Orwell Burmese Days / Animal Farm / 1984 again and again as Burma trilogy. That I would not share so. Yes, it fits to Burma. But I think it fits well with all the other countries that have freed themselves via a dictatorial government from the domination of the colonial powers, only to then fall into an intrinsic dictatorship. In the context of Orwell in Burma but the picture makes perfect sense.
