Out of Myanmar

Hyperion has just published what it claims is the first novel ever from a writer living in Burma to be published in translation in America. "Smile as They Bow'' by Nu Nu Yi (translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Thi Thi Aye) has had a difficult journey through the censors, as this article last year in The Irrawaddy describes.

I read the slim novel in two nights. It's a fascinating story that centers on gay life in a country where homosexuality is illegal. The story is set during the weeklong Taungbyon Festival when thousands of villagers gather to celebrate primarily gay spirits. The villagers are looking for luck and good fortune and a whole economy of pickpockets and vendors springs up. At the center of the novel is Daisy Bond (yes, it's a reference to James Bond), an aging transvestite who's losing his grip on his handsome young assistant.

I don't know whether to blame the translators or not but I found the writing to be a disappointment. (The novel was shortlisted last year for the Man Asia Literary Prize.) What kept me going was the opportunity to look inside a repressive society. The percentage of books in other languages that are translated into English remains pitifully low. I hope that this book does well so publishers will be encouraged to do more with literature from other countries of which we know too little.