 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2015) |
 First omnibus edition (publ. Penguin, 1972) Cover art by Peter Bentley | |
Time for a Tiger The Enemy in the Blanket Beds in the East | |
| Author | Anthony Burgess |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Colonial novel |
| Publisher | Heinemann |
| Published | 1956 (Time for a Tiger) 1958 (The Enemy in the Blanket) 1959 (Beds in the East) |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
The Malayan Trilogy, also published as The Long Day Wanes: A Malayan Trilogy in the United States,[1] is a comic 'triptych' of novels by Anthony Burgess set amidst the decolonisation of Malaya.
It is a detailed fictional exploration of the effects of the Malayan Emergency and of Britain's final withdrawal from its Southeast Asian territories. The American title, decided on by Burgess himself,[2] is taken from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Ulysses: 'The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: | The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep | Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, | 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.' (ll. 55-57)[2][3]
The three volumes are:
- Time for a Tiger (1956)
- The Enemy in the Blanket (1958)
- Beds in the East (1959)
The trilogy tracks the fortunes of the history teacher Victor Crabbe, his professional difficulties, his marriage problems, and his attempt to do his duty in the war against the insurgents.
- ^ Brand, Quentin. "Unorientalized". Open Letters Monthly. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ a b Ingersoll, E. G.; Ingersoll, M. C. Conversations with Anthony Burgess. University of Mississippi Press. p. 89.
- ^ Tennyson, Alfred (1989). Ricks, Christopher (ed.). Tennyson: A Selected Edition. University of California Press. p. 144.