Un Chapeau (hats off) for my novella Black Rice, from Peter Carey.
Dear Dr Kyi,
I was deeply affected by your powerful essay 'Black Rice' which is beautifully written and extremely effective in evoking the tragedy which has overwhelmed Burma in all the years since independence. In fifty short pages it is all there - the tragedy and the waste and the pity of it all.
I was born in a recently independent Rangoon (30 April 1948) in a state which which was known as the 14-mile government because the Karens were pressing so hard on Rangoon's back door. My mother had to take her own mattress into the Dufferin Hospital when she gave birth to me! So the arrangemnents you evoke in 'Black Rice' are very accurate.
What particularly affects me is that the story is built at the very physical level - and the emotions generated are experienced through the body. It is almost as though one is hearing the sounds amplified through blindfolds - the same blindfold that the non-Burman protagonist is forced to wear when his naval vessel is ambushed and he falls into the hands of the Karen rebels. He hears and feels through his feet the execution of his friend. This is what I would call the 'the brillig and slithy tove' style of writing pace Lewis Carroll. It is very visceral and only to be experienced through the body. Every day this story comes back to me in my memory and imagination. It works like a depth charge deep within one's being - very powerful and very true. A remarkable achievement.
Well done! Chapeau - as the French would say!
Again sorry to be so long in writing back but I didn't want to send something too quickly as I needed it to
mature.
Peter Carey – via email – 7-24-2013
Note: This Peter Carey is not the famous writer Peter Carey, but my fellow board member Dr. Peter Carey at Burma Advocates.
Showing posts with label novella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novella. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Kind words on my novella Black Rice - now available on Amazon.com
Congratulations! Nga Cheik (Black Rice) is good. I wonder what happened
next. One thing, I only know Ne Win was a post office clerk, didn't know
about his father. Great job Ma Ma Kyi May.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
New reviews - K.M.Kaung's novella Black Rice - on Kindle and Create Space - Amazon
My novella Black Rice set in 1947 Burma during a time of
racial strife is now available in print and Kindle editions on Amazon.com
I am also open to a reading and book signing, also
for my poetry chapbooks Pelted with Petals:
The Burmese Poems and Tibetan Tanka -
Print edition of Black Rice -
on Create Space
and Kindle
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Happy happy joy joy - new ISBN numbers ;)
Happy happy joy joy - as my friend Kanlaon would say - Just got ISBN numbers for my upcoming novella Black Rice - Wow!
Crochet motifs that I made from leftover wool + needle - given me by my neighbor - From scraps we build something.
Crochet motifs that I made from leftover wool + needle - given me by my neighbor - From scraps we build something.
Monday, January 28, 2013
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