Shwe U Daung and the Burmese Sherlock Holmes: To be a modern Burmese citizen living in a nation-state, 1889 -1962

Abstract

After the fall of the last Burmese kingdom and the coming of British rule, how did the Burmese come to accept modern notions of the ‘nation-state’? This thesis investigates Burmese nationalist discourse from the perspective of a bilingual intellectual who was not part of mainstream elite politics, through the writing of a biography of Shwe U Daung. Shewe U Daung was a novelist, short story writer and translator, well-known as the creator of ‘San Shar the Detective’, a Burmese adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. He spent nearly half a century writing more than 160 episodes, encouraged by their popularity. In historical studies of Burmese nationalism, the dominant approach has used a secular paradigm focusing on political and economic analysis. After 1930, the Dobama Asiayone or the Thakin Party, influenced by socialism and communism, developed increasing political power. Their ideas eventually came to function as the country’s mainstream nationalist narrative and contributed to the formation of a grand narrative of today’s Myanmar. The role of religion and language have not been widely explored. However, to understand the nature of Burmese nationalism, it is important to examine the historical roles and inter-relationship of Buddhism and Burmese literature. The ‘San Shar the Detective’ stories began to appear in 1917 and were promoted by publishing organs linked to the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), which was at the forefront of the development of Burmese nationalism up until the mid-1930s. The establishment of the YMBA was inspired by the Theosophical Society and the development of Burmese literature was one of the YMBA’s objectives. In the Dobama-dominated grand narrative, the YMBA’s political and publishing heritage has been largely overlooked. In 1961, at seventy-two years of age, Shwe U Daung also published a comprehensive autobiography entitled Record of Life and Thoughts (Tathetta Hmattan hnint Ahtweakhawmya). This was written at a time when the writing of autobiography writing was still unusual among the Burmese. This thesis combines analysis of this autobiography with a study of Shwe U Daung’s creative writing to understand the development of his perception of the Burmese nation-state from his childhood up until the time he wrote his autobiography. I will show how episodes of the ‘San Shar’ stories reflected Shwe U Daung’s changing ideas on nationalism, as he moved from being a supporter of colonialism to one of independence. Crucial to his views on nationalism was the development of the concept of the ‘Burmese gentleman’ as the ideal Burmese citizen. In the period after 1947 he became a critical commentator on the government, in a way that was consistent with his understanding of how citizens should relate to the independent Burmese state. This research shows that the style of Burmese nationalism fostered by the YMBA was an important step in the acceptance of modernity in Burmese history and a transformational cultural movement that was deeply connected to two aspects of traditional Burmese identity: Buddhism and literature. It also shows the dynamism and flexibility in the way Burmese identity was accommodated with the idea of the nation-state. The thesis demonstrates that the long-lasting popularity of the ‘San Shar’ stories is evidence of the continuity of YMBA culture and the unique voice of Shwe U Daung as an expression of it. His ideal of the ‘Burmese gentleman’ reflects his long-term exploration of English literature and his commitment to a form of Buddhist practice focusing on individual effort. The San Shar stories represented a major arena for the expression of a modern Buddhist critical spirit in the search for an ideal nation-state. The fact that Shwe U Daung’s ideas continue to resonate with today’s readers is also an indication of the diverse layers that underlie the grand narrative of ‘Buddhist Burmese’ identity.