SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis consists of (a) translation into English of the second and enlarged edition of a Burmese play - the Konmara Pyazat - by U Pok Ni, published In Rangoon 1879; (b) an introduction dealing with the history of the Burmese drama, the style and literary merits of the popular plays of the period and the social conditions of British Burma as reflected in the plays; (c) annotation in which explanations of difficulties are given and illustrated by quotations from contemporary plays and other literary as well as technical works; and literary and other allusions traced; (d) Appendices and Bibliography. The plays, written in the '70s and '80s of last century, were the first form of popular literature which had been composed in Burma. But they were written in a style influenced by the language of poetry and by the traditional idiom of the stage. Though of such recent date, they present many obscurities to s modem reader. One of the objects of this thesis is to remove these obscurities by a closer examination of the meaning of words and their functions in the phrase than has hitherto been attempted. Another is to show that the popular drama has a serious claim on the attention of the present day reader in the vigour of its language and the interest of plot and character, against the prevalent opinion which refuses to give it any place in Burmese literature.