Myo Min

In thisBurmese name,thegiven nameisMyo Min.There is no family name.

Thiri Pyanchi Wunna Kyawhtin Myo Min
Native name	မျိုးမင်း
Born	(1910-04-07)7 April 1910 Rangoon,British Burma
Died	21 September 1995(1995-09-21)(aged 85) Yangon,Myanmar
Pen name	Nwe Soe, U Myo Min, Myint Win
Occupation	Academic, writer, journalist
Nationality	Burmese
Alma mater	Rangoon University University of London
Genre	Khit-San Sarpay
Notable works	Ma-ubin,Sein-lan-thaw Taung-gon,Archway English Course
Notable awards	Thiri Pyanchi Wunna Kyawhtin
Spouse	Khin Thin Nwe
Children	Khin Swe Min, Min Thet Mon, Kyaw Myo, Min Khin Myo

Myo Min(Burmese:မျိုးမင်း,pronounced[mjómɪ́ɴ];7 April 1910 – 21 September 1995) was a Burmese academic, journalist and writer, who wrote under the pen names ofNwe Soe(နွယ်စိုး,[nwɛ̀só]),U Myo MinandMyint Win.He was one of the founders of theKhit-San Sarpaymovement, the first modern literary movement in the history ofBurmese literature.He was the longtime Professor of English atRangoon Universityand later atYangon Institute of Education.He also served in several academic and research organizations, including theBurma Historical Commission,theBurma Research Society,and theBurma Translation Society.For his services to the country, he was awarded the honorary titles ofWunna Kyawhtinin 1954 andThiri Pyanchiin 1961 by the government.

Brief

Myo Min was born on 7 April 1910 inRangoon(Yangon) to Saw Nu (စောနု) and her husband Po Min (ဘိုးမင်း), a senior civil servant in theBritish colonial administration.He was the youngest of four children. In his youth, his family constantly moved around theIrrawaddy delta,following the postings of the father, who would later retire as a Deputy Commissioner. Myo Min attended primary school inHlegu,Rangoon,Kyaiklat,MyaungmyaandMa-ubin.From 5th Standard onward, he attended Rangoon's eliteSt. John's High School,and passed the university entrance examination with honors in five subjects in 1926.He enrolled in Rangoon University, where he was a classmate ofU Thant,and graduated in 1931 with a BA in English with honors. He went on to read law at theUniversity of London,and received a BL in 1936. He returned to the university after the war and received an MA in 1947.

Myo Min started as an adjunct lecturer in English at Rangoon University in the late 1930s, and rose to be the Professor of English—the Department Chair—at the university in the early 1950s.After the University Education Act of 1964, which broke up Rangoon University into several independent universities and institutes, Prof Myo Min became the chair of the Department of English atYangon Institute of Education.As an extension of his academic career, he served in several prominent academic and research organizations. He was the secretary of theBernard Free Library,and a member of theBurma Education Extension Association,theBurma Historical Commission,theBurma Research Society,and theBurma Translation Society.He was a longtime editor of theJournal of the Burma Research Society.

He also served in the Office of the Prime Minister in the administration of Prime MinisterU Nu.For his services to the country, Prof Myo Min was awarded the honorary titles ofWunna Kyawhtinin 1954 andThiri Pyanchiin 1961 by the government.

He was married to Khin Thin Nwe (ခင်သင်းနွဲ့,[kʰɪ̀ɴθɪ́ɴnwɛ̰]), a lecturer and fellow academic, and they had four children, Khin Swe Min, Min Thet Mon, Kyaw Myo and Min Khin Myo. He died on 21 September 1995 in Yangon.

Literary career

Selected Works of Nwe Soe, a 2010 collection of his notable works

His literary career began while he was a student at Rangoon University. Starting in 1927, he began writing in the publications ofLungemya Kyipwayay Athin(လူငယ်များ ကြီးပွားရေး အသင်း,"Growth for Youth Association" ). He came of age at a time when Burmese literature was experiencing its first modern literary movement, calledKhit-San Sarpay(ခေတ်စမ်းစာပေ,lit. "Testing the Age Literature" ). The movement was heavily influenced by modern English literature, and started by young Burmese writers, many of whom like Myo Min were educated in Christian missionary schools.Starting in 1935, under the pen name of Nwe Soe, he wrote several short stories and articles, as well as a few poems, in magazines associated with theKhit-Sanmovement—Kyipwayay(ကြီးပွားရေး,"Growth" ) Magazine byLudu U HlaandGanda Lawka(ဂန္တလောက,"World of Books" ) Magazine byJS Furnivall.He later became an editor atGanda Lawka.

He wrote several articles and short stories in magazines. Some of the notable works are:

• Ma-ubin(KyipwayayMagazine, December 1935)
• Kutho Hset(Ganda LawkaMagazine, March 1936)
• Sein-lan-thaw Taung-gon(Ganda Lawka,September 1936)
• Naing-ngan-yay(Ganda Lawka,December 1937)
• A-chit Lay-ba(Ganda Lawka,(month?) 1937)
• Set-hmu Kariya(Ganda Lawka,August 1937)
• Anya-Gyaik(NgwetaryiMagazine, August 1960)
• Kan...Kan(Ngwetaryi,September 1960)
• Sedana Shin(Ngwetaryi,November 1963)

He also wrote books and articles under the nameU Myo Min:

• Archway English Course(1957)
• Learning English(1959)
• Old Burma(?)
• Burmese Entertainment(The Atlantic,February 1958)

Bibliography

• Allott, Anna (2004). "The Life and Work of an Outstanding Burmese Scholar".In Homage to U Pe Maung Tin.Vol. 9. Northern Illinois University.ISSN1094-799X.{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
• Bingham, June (1966).U Thant: The Search for Peace.Knopf.
• Butwell, Richard (1963).U Nu of Burma(2, illustrated, revised ed.). Stanford University Press.ISBN9780804701556.
• Burma Research Society (1968).Journal of the Burma Research Society.51(1). The Burma Research Society.{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title=(help)
• Nwe Soe (2010).Sein-lan-thaw Taung-gon: Selected works of Nwe Soe(in Burmese). Ya-Pyei Publishing.
• Swan Yi, Maung (December 2002)."'CHEWING THE WEST': The Development of Modern Burmese Literature Under the Influence of Western Literature "(PDF).Leiden University. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 11 April 2008.