In love and war
At age 27, Alberta writer Karen Connelly visited Thailand and its border with Burma and fell in love—with the Burmese language, people, fight for democracy and, in particular, with a dashing, enigmatic revolutionary named Maung.
She was pulled deep into the subversive way of life—travelling far into the jungle to refugee camps and dissident hideouts, contracting malaria and becoming deeply entangled in Maung's life and politics. On a trip to Rangoon, she fled from a rally and was chased by riot police.
She wrote constantly in her scuffed notebook, took pictures and interviewed writers and former prisoners. The results: first, the award-winning 2005 novel The Lizard Cage and now, her extraordinary memoir of that period, Burmese Lessons: A Love Story
When you look at your 27-year-old self with the eyes of a 40-year-old, what do you think of her?
I'm in awe, but there's something awkward about looking back. I look at her with sympathy and compassion but also exasperation! I got myself into such disastrous or close to disastrous situations, I acted so passionately and so impetuously. I don't believe some of the things I did. You look back at your young self like a parent, thinking, Oh, my god, what were you doing, what were you thinking?
Once you were in that world of dissidents and exiles, you felt you had to go as far and as deep as you could.
It was irresistible. A lot of people, especially women, are really drawn into that situation on the border. Burmese culture is very welcoming in a profound way, and the political situation is so compelling - it really holds you. The book is about the choice I had to make about how held I was going to be. Those lessons have had an echoing effect on my life and understanding of the world and my work as a writer.
How do you recreate events from more than a dozen years ago with such vivid detail?
I had journals, faxes and lots of notes. The process is similar to fiction, because out of the material you have you recreate a reality for the page. I was remembering and also imagining what things felt like and how things were. So it is true, but it is also a re-imagining of reality.
