A man of his times, out of place!

Burma Sahib: A Novel by Paul Theroux   

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Insecure, bullied ex-Etonian, Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) becomes a policeman in Burma. Blair is a tall, gangly chap who finds people and relationships a burden. His inner world is far richer. Blair is withdrawn. His passion is books. That list is certainly edgy. Huxley, Lawrence for a starters. Inside he’s a rebel, an agitator. However he’s nineteen years old and en route to Burma as a training policeman with the Imperial Forces.

“ [Blair’s] detachment remained, the hovering, watchful self, seeing the young man in the jacket and tie on deck, like a character in a story, knowing what the young man was hesitant to admit: that he was uncertain; that he really didn’t have a clue; that he was to be a policeman.”

Blair’s life in Burma will be very different to the life he dreams of. A puzzle he has to somehow push through. An outsider trying to find his way in.

Burma has a strong culture dating down through the centuries, rich in food, in color and movement. Paradise with more than a sting in its tail. A culture disdained by its imperial masters. Welcome to the British Raj.

He’ll confront jingoism, culture wars, attitudes to mixed races, women, and troubling juxtapositions about life and viewpoints. He is introduced to pleasures of the flesh, he finds love only to realize its limitations. He canes prisoners and sees himself back at Eton being bullied. He hates his actions. He feels unclean. His conscience is troubled. However his survival is reckoned on sticking with the status quo—the Sahibs.

That means hiding the fact that he has two half caste uncles, and cousins. Relatives he wants to hide for reasons of his own acceptance, as much as for their protection from insular snobbery and disdain.

Burma, part of Britain’s far flung empire, a place the British cling to and impose their rule of law on.

The story of this troubled, non conformist, who conforms in the worst possible way, is broken open in the worst way possible. Blair finally escapes to a different and we can only hope more satisfying future. 

Last we see Blair, he is immersing himself in sociological investigations in the north of England. He writes under his other persona, George. The name he gave his writing self in Burma.

An intriguing novel that immerses the reader in the Imperial Police Force and has the main character pondering questions. Yet those questions are silenced, submerged by tradition and rules, unwritten and written. Judgement to the letter of the law with very little scope for compassion.  Blair becomes part of the very system he condemns. A proper Burma Sahib, on the outside. Inside he’s a tortured, conflicted soul.

Eric Blair is a character not soon forgotten. George Orwell didn’t. This fictionalised tale of Orwell’s early years is thought provoking and brilliant!

A Mariner Books ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change