On the Face of the Waters: A Tale of the Mutiny

Steel, Flora Annie Webster, 1847-1929Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.6
Word count
975K words
Chapters
98

Tags

English Originals War and Military FictionHistorical Fiction Historical ReappraisalHuman Nature19th CenturyExotic CultureFemale Perspective

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.On the Face of the Waters: A Tale of the Mutiny by Flora Annie Webster SteelAuthor: Steel, Flora Annie Webster, 1847-1929,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 4, 2012

Editor's review

Flora Annie Webster Steel's novel is set against the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and belongs to the genre of historical narrative. Its value lies in presenting, in fictional form, the fate of individuals and the conflicts between groups within historical events, allowing readers to observe how a British author wrote about colonial India. The narrative bears clear marks of its era; its characterisation and historical interpretation reflect the perspective of the author's time, and it should be read with critical distance. As a free e-book on Project Gutenberg, it is easy to obtain and search, and is suitable as supplementary reading for those interested in modern Indian history, colonial literature, or historical fiction. It is recommended to read it alongside historical background material, taking care to distinguish fictional narrative from historical fact and to note the author's stance on events and characters.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. First learn the basic timeline of the Indian Rebellion, then enter the novel's narrative.
  2. While reading, mark evaluative language the author uses about characters and events, and maintain critical distance.
  3. Compare the novel's depictions with reliable historical sources, distinguishing literary imagination from historical record.
  4. After each section, summarise in a few sentences the focus of conflict and changes in the characters' positions.

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.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
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  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
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  63. 63
  64. 64
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  73. 73
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FAQ

Is this book a work of history or a novel? It is historical fiction, not a work of historiography. The work develops characters and plot against the background of the Indian Rebellion, and contains literary imagination and the author's era-specific stance. It should be read as a literary text, not as a basis for historical fact.
What historical background should I know before reading? It is advisable first to learn the basic timeline of the Indian Rebellion, the main parties to the conflict, and the colonial context. You need not master every detail, but knowing the general outline of events will help you understand the characters' situations and the narrative conflicts.
Will the author's colonial perspective affect my reading? It will. The work carries the colonial perspective of the author's era, and its presentation of events and characters may be tendentious. Read critically, treating the author's stance itself as an object of observation rather than directly accepting the narrative's judgments.
Is it suitable for classroom use? It can serve as supplementary material for colonial literature or historical fiction, but should be accompanied by historical sources and a guide. Teachers should alert students to the author's stance and the limitations of her era, and arrange comparative reading so that the novel's narrative is not treated as a single source of historical fact.

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About the author

Steel, Flora Annie Webster, 1847-1929 Author

Flora Annie Webster Steel (1847–1929) was a British writer best known for her works on India and for her retellings of folk tales. Her output ranged widely: she produced story collections for children such as Tales of the Punjab: Folklore of India and English Fairy Tales, as well as novels set against Indian society and history, including On the Face of the Waters: A Tale of the Mutiny, The Flower of Forgiveness, The Potter's Thumb, The Hosts of the Lord, In the Guardianship of God and In the Permanent Way. Her writing often draws on Indian folklore and on the realities of colonial life, with plain narration and a strong sense of place. Public information about her life is limited, but the twenty works held here show a lasting engagement with folk literature and with exotic settings, contributing to both children's literature and fiction about India.