''Khit San Sarpay'' ( my, ခေတ်စမ်းစာပေ, ; lit. "Testing the Age Literature") was a literary movement that emerged in the 1930s

British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, and is considered the first modern literary movement in the history of

Burmese literature The literature of Burma (or Myanmar) spans over a millennium. Burmese literature was historically influenced by Indian and Thai cultures, as seen in many works, such as the '' Ramayana''. The Burmese language, unlike other Southeast Asian lan ...

.Win Pe : 104-105 The movement was heavily influenced by modern English literature, and started by young Burmese writers, many of whom were educated in Christian missionary schools. It emerged from the literary contests held by the

Burma Education Extension Association The Burma Education Extension Association ( my, မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ပညာ ပြန့်ပွားရေး အသင်း) was a Rangoon (Yangon)-based educational organization founded by JS Furnivall to promote "the ...

. Many short stories in the modern prose appeared in the association's ''

Ganda Lawka ''Ganda Lawka'' ( my, ဂန္တလောက, , lit. "World of Books") was a Burmese language monthly magazine published by the Burma Education Extension Association. The magazine was a sister publication of '' The World of Books'', the English ...

'' Magazine as well as other periodicals. Three collections—''Khit-San Ponbyin-mya Volume 1'' ("Experimental Tales", 1934), ''Khit-San Kabya-mya'' ("Experimental Poems", 1934), and ''Khit-San Ponbyin-mya Volume 2'' (1938), which were edited and selected by came to represent the emerging literary style.Herbert 2004: 155, 157 Some of the leading writers of the movement included

Theippan Maung Wa Theippan Maung Wa ( my, သိပ္ပံမောင်ဝ ; 5 June 1899 – 6 June 1942) was a Burmese writer, and one of the pioneers of the '' Hkit San'' literary movement. The movement searched for a new style and content in Burmese lit ...

, Zawgyi,

Min Thu Wun Thiri Pyanchi Min Thu Wun ( my, မင်းသုဝဏ်; 10 February 1909 – 15 August 2004) was a Burmese poet, writer and scholar who helped launch a new age literary movement called Khit-San (Testing the Times) in Burma. He is the fat ...

, Maung Htin,

Nwe Soe Myo Min ( my, မျိုးမင်း, ; 7 April 1910 – 21 September 1995) was a Burmese academic, journalist and writer, who wrote under the pen names of Nwe Soe (, ), U Myo Min and Myint Win. He was one of the founders of the '' Khit-San ...

, Maung Thuta, Toe Aung, and E Maung.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last=Win Pe , first=U , title=Chewing Over the West: Occidental Narratives in Non-western Readings , chapter=Burmese Theatre and Literature under Western Influence , editor=Doris Jedamski , isbn=9789042027831, year=2009 Burmese literature