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![]() 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 |
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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:
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.