‘Gonhtoo’ U Thein Naing, renowned teacher and writer, dies at 90
DISTINGUISHED Myanmar literary figure Gonhtoo U Thein Naing passed away at 5:55 am on 25 November at his home in Min Nanda Housing Estate, Ayeyawun Road, Thakayta Township, Yangon Region, according to Gonhtoo U Aung Khine.
“My greatest benefactor in life, the eminent Myanmar writer Gonhtoo U Thein Naing, passed away at 5:55 this morning,” said Gonhtoo U Aung Khine.
He was born in Sinkyun Village, Monywa Township, Sagaing Region, to U Dhana, a distinguished Myanmar traditional medicine practitioner, and Daw Aye Sein, a primary school headmistress. In 1955, he became the only student in the entire country to pass the university entrance examination, with distinction in Myanmar, from Monywa No 2 State High School. During his middle and high school years, he won more than twenty first prizes in literary competitions. In 1956, he received the Chairperson of the Myanmar Writers’ Association U Thein Pe Myint’s ‘Sasomaung’ Silver Shield in the Literary Day competition.
From the age of seventeen, he wrote short stories, articles, and poems for newspapers and journals. He served once as Secretary and twice as Chairperson of the Mandalay University Writers’ Association. Having achieved distinction in Myanmar throughout his school years, he went on to win eleven first prizes in literary competitions while at Mandalay University.
He also served as Executive Member and later as Vice-Chairperson of the Upper Myanmar Writers’ Association. He won the country’s highest literary award, the National Arts Literature Third Prize, for History of Myanmar Drama in 1963, and the National Literary Award for Myanmar Marionette Theatre in 1965. In 1968, he compiled and published A Treatise on Myanmar Literature, which is prescribed as a textbook at some foreign universities offering Myanmar literature. From 1968 onwards, he founded and ran the “Setana Myanmar Language Institute” in Mandalay.
He presented papers such as The Role of Ashin Maha Ratthasara in Myanmar Literature, Characters from Myanmar Peasant Novels, Modern Burmese Prose Writing, and A Study of the Works of Sayagyi Mya Myo Lwin at Literary Day seminars organized by the Upper Myanmar Writers’ Association at Dhamma Beikman in Mandalay in 1965, 1966, and 1967. His paper The Evolution of Myanmar Puppetry was presented at the Sarpay Beikman in 1987.
Gonhtoo U Thein Naing lectured for many years as a Myanmar language instructor and departmental head at Mandalay University for the Elderly and Monywa University, and as a Myanmar language teacher at Mandalay Medical University and Mandalay Agricultural University.
According to his family, his remains will be cremated at Yayway Cemetery in North Okkalapa Township at 3 pm on 27 November.
Gonhtoo U Thein Naing, husband of the late Gonhtoo Yadana Daw Kyi Kyi Tin, is survived by five children, twelve grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. He was 90 years old at the time of his passing. — Htun Htun/KNN
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