Commodore Junk

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 541K words
Chapters: 55

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Commodore Junk by George Manville FennAuthor: Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 15, 2010

Editor's review

George Manville Fenn was a prolific Victorian author of boys' adventure fiction, and Commodore Junk belongs to his sea-and-adventure series. The work has the typical air of old-style adventure fiction: the plot advances through journeys and mishaps, characterization tends toward types, and the language retains the flavor of its era. For readers studying English boys' adventure literature and maritime narrative, this book serves as supplementary material for understanding the genre's common motifs and narrative conventions. As a public-domain eBook, it is easy to obtain and search, making it a low-cost text for genre-fiction courses or reading groups. It need not be judged by the psychological depth of the modern novel; instead, attention should go to how it organizes suspense and moral instruction within an adventure framework. Readers should note the period prejudices that may appear in the book and read with a historicizing eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying Victorian boys' adventure fiction
Those interested in English novels of the sea and travel
Organizers who need a public-domain text for reading-group discussion
English-language readers hoping to broaden their genre reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer the psychological depth of modern literature
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient
Readers impatient with the pace of old-style adventure narrative

Reading tips

Skim the table of contents first to grasp how the adventure is divided into units, then read unit by unit.
Note recurring motifs such as travel, mishap, and ordeal to facilitate genre analysis.
Reading groups can build discussion questions around characterization by type and period values.
Read alongside similar sea-adventure novels to compare narrative conventions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book for adult or young readers?

Judging from Fenn's background and the literary classification in the source material, the book belongs to the boys' adventure tradition. Old-style juvenile reading also has genre-study value for adults, however; adjust your expectations to your purpose and do not measure it by modern young-adult fiction.

Can I understand this book without nautical knowledge?

Yes. The focus is on adventure plot and the characters' fortunes, and the nautical terms mostly serve the scene without affecting comprehension of the main line. Where ship-handling description is dense, skim it and follow the characters' actions and the turns of events; there is no need to look up every word.

Is this book suitable for intensive English reading?

It suits extensive reading or analysis of a genre text better than use as an intensive-reading model. Its language bears period features and its sentence patterns are old-fashioned, making intensive reading costly. For language study, choose a moderate-length chapter for close reading and grasp the plot of the rest by extensive reading.

Comments

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About the author

Fenn, George Manville, 1831-1909 Author

George Manville Fenn (1831–1909) was a British author whose biographical details remain limited in publicly available sources. The library holds 127 of his works, including The Little Skipper: A Son of a Sailor, The Silver Canyon: A Tale of the Western Plains, and Sappers and Miners: The Flood beneath the Sea. Most center on youthful growth and adventure, often set at sea, in mining districts, or on the western plains. He also wrote such biographical work as George Alfred Henty: The Story of an Active Life. His writing emphasizes plot momentum and the shaping of character in young readers, and is commonly classified as inspirational coming-of-age fiction, holding a place in the tradition of juvenile adventure novels.