2 - The Beginnings of Modern Popular Burmese Literature, 1870–1940

Summary

It was with great pleasure and pride that I accepted Professor Otto Karow's invitation to come and read a paper at the Ostasiatisches Seminar, University of Frankfurt, for the second time in three years. My pleasure stemmed from the thought of being able to meet old friends, and of making new ones. My pride, however, has been tempered by the prospect of having to read this paper in the presence of scholars and students.

The title of this lecture was chosen by Professor Karow. This paper is in fact an abridged version of a fairly long unpublished article on “The Rise of Popular Literature in Burma”, and is a sequel to the first paper on “Burmese Poetry: Its Scope and Nature”, which I read here two years ago. In this lecture I shall confine myself chiefly to Burmese drama, fiction, essays, and poetry since these are usually described as literature as against technical and scientific works, and journalism.

Burmese literature, the earliest extant specimens of which, apart from inscriptions, date from the fifteenth century, originated under the auspices of Buddhism and the king. It was written by monks, or by laymen who had previously spent long years in the monastery, or occasionally by ladies of the court, and like most early literatures, it looked to the court for appreciation and patronage. Its distinguishing qualities were therefore purity of thought and courtly refinement of language. Its staple subject was accounts of some events from the life of the Buddha and the Buddha's Birth Stories. Add accounts of national events and the deeds of the king's ancestors in verse together with many shorter nature and love poems, and we have a conspectus of Burmese imaginative literature till the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Thailand was temporarily annexed in 1767 and the romances and plays which were brought thence to Burma gave an impetus to the writing of secular literature.