Per quanto mi riguarda, riassumere il contenuto di questo libro è impossibile. E’ composto da tre romanzi scritti da Burgess tra il 1955 e il 1957 (se non confondo le date) ispirandosi alla sua esperienza di funzionario del governo britannico in Malaysia, al tramonto del colonialismo inglese. Il filo conduttore dei tre libri è Victor Crabbe, un inglese giunto in Malaysia come insegnante e successivamente diventato funzionario del ministero dell’istruzione nel periodo di transizione tra il governo britannico e quello malese.
Crabbe non è il solito inglese borioso del periodo coloniale: non si sente superiore alla popolazione autoctona, anzi ama quella terra ed è intenzionato a farsene assorbire, inconsciamente sperando di cancellare la sua storia passata che al contrario pare aspettarlo in oriente. In cuor suo egli vuole essere utile alla popolazione locale, vuole che nasca l’armonia tra le razze, vuole che la Malaysia possa diventare un vero stato indipendente e multiculturale.
Il melting pot di razze che abitano quei territori rappresenta, secondo me, il vero protagonista del libro. Crabbe è immerso in questa società caotica, rumorosa, contraddittoria e spesso assurda agli occhi degli occidentali. Una società in cui si professano tanti culti, ma in cui vige la legge islamica della quale i malesi stessi non hanno un’immagine chiara… La professano senza sapere chiaramente perché e soprattutto in un modo un po’ frivolo, barcamenandosi e spesso abbandonandosi ai vizi, per loro “esotici”, degli occidentali.
Una società in cui si parlano lingue diverse a seconda della “razza” di appartenenza e in cui spesso la gente non è in grado di comunicare con il prossimo: cinesi che parlano solo cinese, malesi che parlano malese, arabi che parlano arabo, tamil, sikh, indiani, inglesi, olandesi, francesi, australiani…
Una società permeata di pregiudizi razziali: non solo da parte degli inglesi conquistatori, ma ciascuna razza si sente in qualche modo superiore, migliore e legittima rispetto a un’altra.
E ancora una società ricca di culti, costumi, rituali in cui a comandare sono i sultani o i raja che fanno collezione di automobili straniere.
Il libro è pieno zeppo di nomi, personaggi, storie che si intrecciano inconsapevolmente tra di loro dando l’idea di un mondo caotico e, paradossalmente, limitato.

E’ un libro fantastico. Burgess ti da la sensazione di essere davvero in mezzo a quelle strade polverose, con la camicia impregnata di sudore, con le orecchie piene del frastuono delle voci… Lui c’è stato realmente e descrive tutto con una tal dovizia di particolari, con una precisione e una cura certosina, senza mai, però, annoiare, senza mai diventare un “documentario”. E’ fantastico.
L’unica pecca, secondo me, è un errore di traduzione nel titolo del primo romanzo. In inglese è Time for Tiger, tradotto L’ora della Tigre… Peccato che tutto il romanzo sia incentrato sulla birra e in particolar modo sulla Tiger (una birra)…

http://booksandsofa.blogspot.it/2007/...

I found the "Malayan Trilogy" to be the most interesting, and perhaps least "troubling" of the three Anthony Burgess novels I have read thus far (the other two being "Clockwork Orange" and "The Wanting Seed"). The novel deals primarily with historic Malaysian struggles with Communism, but it also addresses Islam, a religion that Burgess seriously "courted" while he was teaching and writing in Southeast Asia (Burgess became fluent in the Malay language). Burgess was once asked about the allure of Islam. He responded, "You believe in one God. You say your prayers five times a day. You have a tremendous amount of freedom, sexual freedom; you can have four wives." However, in this novel, the character lawyer Rupert Hardman converts to Islam by marriage, but quickly become disillusioned with the hypocrisy of some Muslims as noted, "They're hypocrites, using Islam to assert themselves and Lord it over people. They pretend to be the master race, but the real work is done by others, as we know." This is perhaps insightful into struggles within Islam today? I found this to be a very challenging book, on a very interesting region of the world.

I'd wager that most people have read only A Clockwork Orange of Burgess’s books and that would be a real shame as this is a terrific introduction to a time and a place, albeit one that increases in enjoyment if the reader has visited Malaysia and/or Singapore. Curiously, the many locals terms (explanation for which is provided in the glossary) provide a reason to decipher the text just as the Russian argot does in the more famous novel. It’s also a superb portrait of a multicultural society and the dog days of Empire – while the central character, Victor Crabbe is perhaps the exemplar of the well-meaning imperialist surrounded by bigots. I’d mark it down slightly if only because the first story is by far the strongest.

A must read for every expat in Malaysia. If the author lived today and wrote a blog, he could have used most of his observations for it.

Disappointing. A schoolteacher in Malaysia at the end of the British empire. As fading-days-of-the-Empire fiction genre goes, this hardly rates. Skip it. I expected more from Burgess.

Recommended by a friend.

Intellectual commentary. Absurdities. Empire. Malayan Trilogy. Sharp wit. Philosophical critique. Confusion. Malaya people. Ethnic tensions. Both the colonizers and the colonized. Critical. Sardonic humour. Burgess' critique. Nation's struggle. Exploitation of ideals. Replace. Oppression. Knight. Political players. Fighting for power. Critical thinking. Dynamics of power. Absurdity of nationalistic fervour. Colonial hierarchies. Cynical engagement. Important questions. Colonial systems. Post-colonial ideals.

A cynical and ultimately tragic story of the last breath of colonialism in Malaya. Told with graveyard humour by an accomplished storyteller.

Burgess’s autobiographical trilogy is a vastly comic and brutally realistic work that wryly and unflinchingly depicts the “dog days of empire,” as the blurb puts it perfectly. Opening with Time for a Tiger, we are introduced to teacher Victor Crabbe, a philandering rascal and unlikely antihero skirmishing with the school principal over his unorthodox educational techniques and weaving in and out of the disastrous lives of other teachers and colonials—appearing relatively sane in comparison. The most entertaining of the three, The Enemy in the Blanket, has some of the more memorable comic scenes, such as the Englishman who coverts to Islam and takes a Malayan wife and spends his time trying to escape her draconian clutches. Fantastic observational and anecdotal subplots abound throughout the work, with excellent character studies and a finesse for Malayan dialect. The final installment, Beds in the East, has more irritating and unlikely characters and absurd melodrama in place of comedy, but is a readable if disappointing end to what could have been a masterpiece, if it didn’t end so sketchily.

I enjoyed reading the book. It was like listening to an elderly family member telling story of his youth.

However, it is not something that I can relate to. Today's Malaysia is somewhat different than the old Malaya and anyone looking to understand Malaysia would probably ended up with a set of misleading assumptions.

I've commented that I wasn't too sure if the author was being silly or deliberately insulting in naming the places and characters in his stories- no self-respecting Muslim would name their kids 'anjing' (dog) but I concluded that it was the former.

A good book to read, as long as one remember not to believe everything that one reads.

Sad, funny, educational...reminds me of Orwell's Burmese Days...

Burgess does a good job on capturing the idiosyncrasies of a Malaya on the verge of independence. As a Malaysian I thoroughly enjoyed the read.