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Cover of The Long Day Wanes

Historical Fiction · 1992 · PG-13

The Long Day Wanes

by Anthony Burgess

Colonial Malaya through the eyes of British expatriates — Burgess's Malayan Trilogy.

Set in postwar Malaya at the time when people and governments alike are bemused and dazzled by the turmoil of independence, this three-part novel is rich in hilarious comedy and razor-sharp in observation. The protagonist of the work is Victor Crabbe, a teacher in a multiracial school in a squalid village, who moves upward in position as he and his wife maintain a steady decadent progress backward. A sweetly satiric look at the twilight days of colonialism.

For14+GenreHistorical FictionLength534 pagesRead time~14.5 hours

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Some

Colonial violence; period conflict

Language

Barely any

Mild language

Sexual Content

Some

Affairs; adult sexual content

Substance Use

Some

Heavy drinking; the colonial expatriate life

Emotional Intensity

Some

Themes of empire's decline, cultural collision, and the lost Englishman abroad

What this book is about

Burgess's Malayan Trilogy (Time for a Tiger, The Enemy in the Blanket, Beds in the East), published 1956-59, follows British schoolteacher Victor Crabbe and other expatriates in pre-independence Malaya. Features adultery, cultural clash, violence, and Burgess's rich linguistic comedy. For adults.

Notes for sensitive readers

Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.

Adultery

Colonial violence

Heavy drinking

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