The Voice of the Imperial in an Anti-Imperialist Tone: George Orwell’s Burmese Days

Başak AĞIN DÖNMEZ

doi:10.21049/ccs.2012.28..5

Cross-Cultural Studies

2012, 28(), pp.5-16
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2012.28..5
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature

Başak AĞIN DÖNMEZ ¹

¹Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

ABSTRACT

First published in 1934, George Orwell’s Burmese Days, which can be read as an example of both descriptive realism and fictional realism, is considered to be a colonial example of British literature because of its publication date. However, based on the personal experience of the author as an imperial officer in Burma, the novel has an anti-imperialist tone, which can also make it possible to read it through postcolonial eyes. As a result, the novel stands as an example of ambivalence since it has both the colonial and the postcolonial perspective; both the colonizer and the colonized are portrayed with their own flaws, adding to the impact of what can be called “Third Space.” This is why the voice of the imperial is heard in an anti-imperialist tone in Burmese Days, through which Orwell presents a critique of colonialism with a from-within approach.
KEYWORDS

colonialism, postcolonialism, (anti-)imperialism, George Orwell, Burmese Days
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