Tekkatho Phone Naing ( my, တက္ကသိုလ် ဘုန်းနိုင်, 16 January 1930 – 2002) was a famous Burmese writer, primarily known for lovelorn stories that were most popular in the 1950s to 1970s. His "sad" stories still represent some of the best popular Burmese story writing in the postwar era.

Overview

Tekkatho Phone Naing was the pen name of Khin Maung Tint (), a lifelong university professor and later Chancellor of University of Moulmein. He received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

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from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. During the 1988 popular uprising against the government of Burma, he called for restraint and true

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

. The military junta forced him to retire from his position as Rector of the Institute of Education,

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

. He died in 2002 at the age of 72.

Literary career

Khin Maung Tint began writing in the 1950s under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Tekatho Phone Naing. As with many writers of that day, he took on the title Tekkatho which means university, signifying him as a university graduate. Most Tekkatho Phone Naing novels are love stories between a man and a woman of different social station and wealth that typically end in separation and sorrow. It would be unfair to call his stories tearjerkers however. The unhappy ending is not the only thing that makes his stories different from workaday Burmese love stories. His stories explore social issues—always ignored by escapist stories—to wrenching details. His notable works include: * ''Thu Kyun Ma Khan Byi'' (Never Shall We Be Enslaved) (1959). It deals with and is based on aspects of the palace intrigues and the resistance – mainly feeble and ineffective- that was offered to the invading British troops just before the fall of Mandalay (and the entire Burmese kingdom) to the British in November 1885. * ''Thangègyin Lo Bè Set Ywei Khaw Myi Khaing'' (Will Continue to Call You as a Friend, Khaing) * ''Da Byi Thu Ma Shwe Htar'' (Miss Htar the Foreigner) *Maung Bawa Nya A Lar Kwal (Maung's Life like night) He was also an accomplished poet.

References

* http://www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol07no1/1.shtml {{DEFAULTSORT:Phone Naing, Tekkatho Burmese writers 1930 births 2002 deaths