Larkin, Emma

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Larkin, Emma

[A pseudonym]

PERSONAL: Born in Asia. Education: Studied at School of Oriental and African Studies (London, England).

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Penguin Group, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014.

CAREER: Journalist.

WRITINGS:

Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in a Burmese Teashop (nonfiction), John Murray (London, England), 2004 published as Finding George Orwell in Burma, Penguin Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Emma Larkin is the pseudonym for an American journalist who was born in Asia and is intimately familiar with the language and culture of Burma. Long ruled as a part of the British Empire, Burma—now Myanmar"has more recently been controlled by repressive military regimes that routinely harass those who oppose or criticize them. Larkin's book Secret Histories: Finding George Orwell in a Burmese Teashop, was written under a pseudonym in order to protect the author and her associates, because it paints an unflattering picture of that country's political background. Published in the United States as Finding George Orwell in Burma, the book analyzes the Burmese experiences that so shaped the life and work of twentieth-century British futurist George Orwell.

Orwell was still known as Eric Blaire when, at the age of nineteen, he left England to join the Imperial Police Force in Burma. He worked there for five years during the 1920s, and during his tenure with the British forces he came to despise the colonial system for which he worked. At the end of that time, he left his government job to become a writer, with his first published book being the novel Burmese Days. Orwell's later books, the classic novels 1984 and Animal Farm, depict the evils of totalitarian government and are said to be based on his perceptions of Burma. Larkin uses Orwell's sojourn in Burma as a means of exploring the present-day situation in Myanmar 's military dictators.

Finding George Orwell in Burma was referred to as "splendid" by Malcolm Jones, who reviewed it for Newsweek. Library Journal reviewer Jo-Anne Mary Benson praised Larkin for her "detailed research and astute observations," which provide a greater understanding of Burma's brutal past and present. Benson also noted Larkin's skill in "seamlessly" interweaving Orwell's story with political commentary about Burma. Larkin's adept handling of her subjects was also noted by Lucian W. Pye, who in a Foreign Affairs review of Finding George Orwell in Burma credited her with "gracefully stepping back and forth between the writings of a great novelist and the history of a troubled country" and, in the process, proving herself to be "a master both in a great literary tradition and of reporting on a brutal tyranny." Robert Pearce, analyzing the book in History Today, found it to be both a "penetrating analysis" of a critical period in Orwell's development and "a deeply moving, and superbly readable, Orwellian account of modern Burma." Marc Herman, a contributor to Mother Jones, compared Larkin's writing to that of her subject's, calling Finding George Orwell in Burma "one of the most unusual travelogues to come out of Southeast Asia in some time, and a truer picture of authoritarianism than anyone has written since, perhaps, Orwell himself."