Burmese DaysHonest and evocative, George Orwells first novel is an examination of the debasing effect of empire on occupied and occupier. Burmese Days focuses on a handful of Englishmen who meet at the European Club to drink whisky and to alleviate the acute and unspoken loneliness of life in 1920s Burmawhere Orwell himself served as an imperial policemanduring the waning days of British imperialism. One of the men, James Flory, a timber merchant, has grown soft,