Novel
Maung Yin Maung and Ma Me Ma
Maung Yin Maung Ma Me Ma
James Hla Kyaw · 1904
Synopsis
In mid-nineteenth-century Burma, Maung Yin Maung, the adopted son of a rich merchant, marries Ma Me Ma in an arranged match and gradually learns to love her. But a rival takes her from him, and a series of ordeals begins: in the guise of a beggar, then of a travelling magician, he seeks to clear his name. The plot transposes Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo to Burma, with its own characters and the beliefs of the country.
Context
Published in 1904 by the Friend of Burma Press, illustrated with twelve photographs, the book is regarded as the first Burmese prose novel, earlier narratives being in verse; it appeared in the same year as U Kyee's Maung Hmaing. Rather than a translation, it is a free adaptation that rereads Dumas in the light of Buddhism. A bestseller reprinted six times, it is on the Burmese baccalaureate syllabus; Tun Aung Chain translated it into English in 2014.
Who it is for
For reading the birth certificate of the Burmese novel, an adventure of ordeals and disguises that comes from Dumas.
Prizes and reception
The Sadaik site sees it as a founding experiment, worthy of the world's great books, despite a narrative sometimes reduced to a string of events.