The War of the Axe Or, Adventures in South Africa

Groves, J. PercyProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.5
Word count
248K words
Chapters
25

Tags

English Originals Foreign Literature Bush AdventureAdventure JourneyFighting Wild BeastsSouth African AdventureImperial AdventureComing of AgeGrowing UpExotic CultureColonial ContextAfrican Savanna

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.The War of the Axe; Or, Adventures in South Africa by J. Percy GrovesAuthor: Groves, J. Percy (John Percy),Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Oct 8, 2011

Editor's review

This is a boys' adventure novel set in southern Africa, built around the "War of the Axe" and combining exploration, conflict, and coming-of-age elements. Its appeal lies in the exotic setting and the momentum of the action: readers follow a young hero into unfamiliar natural and social environments and, as events unfold, see courage, judgment, and companionship put to the test. As a public-domain work of juvenile fiction, it also offers a sample of how early English adventure novels imagined colonial settings and the "civilized versus savage" divide; readers can enjoy the story while noting the era's imprint on its narrative perspective. Suitable as extracurricular reading for young readers or as a parent-child read-aloud adventure, and as a light introduction for readers interested in the adventure genre and colonial-era juvenile literature. Readers are encouraged to pay attention to the characters' choices and the narrative stance, not just the plot.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read chapter by chapter, and after each chapter summarize the events and the characters' situation in one or two sentences
  2. When you reach passages involving local people and conflict, note the narrator's word choices and stance
  3. During parent-child reading, discuss whether the protagonist's choices are reasonable and whether there were other options
  4. After finishing, look up the relevant history of southern Africa and compare it with the novel's imaginings and simplifications

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
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for? This is a boys' adventure novel, with a plot driven by action and exploration and a moderate level of language difficulty. Suitability depends on the child's English reading ability and tolerance for descriptions of conflict; parents are advised to look through some chapters first, then decide whether the child reads independently or together with them.
Is the "War of the Axe" in the title a real historical event? The novel sets its adventure narrative in southern Africa, but it is a literary work, not a history book; its plot and characters serve the needs of the story. Readers interested in the relevant history should consult reliable historical sources and should not treat the novel as a factual account.
What should readers keep in mind while reading? The book carries the colonial background and narrative perspective of its era, and its portrayal of local people and conflict may be simplified or biased. Readers are advised to enjoy the story while staying alert and critical, treating it as a text for understanding how early adventure novels were narrated rather than as a window onto southern Africa.

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About the author

Groves, J. Percy Author

J. Percy Groves is an English-language author about whom very little biographical information survives; his nationality, dates of birth and death, and educational background cannot be verified from publicly available sources. What can be confirmed is that one work by him is extant, namely The War of the Axe Or, Adventures in South Africa. Judging from the title and subtitle, it is an adventure novel set in southern Africa, centering on war and exploration and bearing the typical features of nineteenth-century British popular adventure fiction, which often takes colonial frontier conflicts, perilous journeys and the exploits of characters as its narrative core. Because public information is limited, his other writings, writing career and social activities are difficult to describe in detail. The value of this work for readers today lies chiefly in how it presents the themes and colonial narratives of the adventure fiction of its time, and it may serve as a sample for understanding the character of this kind of popular literature.