 Brunei had been a British protectorate since 1888, and was not to achieve independence until 1984.In the sultanate, Burgess sketched the novel that, when it was published in 1961, was to be entitled "Devil of a State" and, although it dealt with Brunei, for libel reasons the action had to be transposed to an imaginary East African territory similar to Zanzibar, named Dunia.In his autobiography "Little Wilson and Big God" (1987) Burgess wrote