Not Out of Hate — 1991 ·

A Novel of Burma

By Ma Ma Lay
Edited by William Frederick

Translated by Margaret Aung-Thwin

“Altogether this book is much more than the mere translation of a representative work: it reveals a too well hidden culture, its refinement and its depth.”

Denise Bernot — Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

Not Out of Hate is the first Burmese novel to be translated into English and published outside of Myanmar. It offers unusual insights into the social history of the late colonial period. Set in pre-World War II Burmese society, the story centers on the relationship and marriage of seventeen-year-old Way Way with U Saw Han, a much older Burmese agent for a British trading company. The subtle but deep misunderstandings they experience mirror the cultural confrontation of Eastern and Western values in modern society, still evident in Burmese life today. The work is also a poignant and pointed commentary on a young woman's struggle against a suffocating love.