- Paperback: 460 pages
- Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks (Dec 1989)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0192822292
- ISBN-13: 978-0192822291
- Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 11.7 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 585,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
John Richard Jefferies (1848-87) was a renowned naturalist and author who was admired by Kenneth Grahame, Arthur Ransome and W.H.Auden among others and had a considerable influence on British children's literature. "Bevis" (written in 1882) was an extremely popular book about childhood, appreciated by adults and children alike. Based on the author's own childhood in Wiltshire, it depicted an ideal countryside in which Bevis and his friends enjoyed their adventures. The book was considered both an honest account of the amorality of boyhood and an accurate portrayal of outdoor living.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Don't be fooled by the twee cover! This is an excellent book, and while it dates back to 1882, that is quite in its favour. The class structure may grate a bit, but what the book really is about is mucking about as a kid, in a timeless way. Well, not quite timeless... you have to cope with one of the main characters calling his father 'the jolly Old Moke', but apart from that the language is quite modern. But for fun the lads play bezique, and when they build their own gun, they build a matchlock! Otherwise this is very much in the Swallows and Amazons vein, except that the few girls play a very minor role. But the descriptions... they can be wonderfully poetic, lyrical, dreamy... when poling the raft over a misty lake, or gazing up at the stars at night... Jefferies is a very good writer. And the practical bits? Well, if you wanted to build a matchlock, or a good raft, or if you wanted to learn how to heft a shotgun, this is it; hidden among the mucking about there is good advice. And among all the boys' own stuff it is also made clear that the lower classes (to which our two heroes, Bevis and Mark, emphatically do not belong) can have seriously tough lives.
I love this book. There is a version illustrated by E.H. Shepard (of Pooh fame) and that one comes very highly recommended. At almost 500 pages (mind you, the original version came out in three volumes!) this is a solid piece of work, and I think the author didn't want to end it; the last 30 pages are, for me, a bit of a fizz-out. For me those boys, who are part of me now, and in who part of me is, are still exploring New Formosa and Serendib, in the time when you could see the Aurora Borealis from southern England. Great stuff!
I love this book. There is a version illustrated by E.H. Shepard (of Pooh fame) and that one comes very highly recommended. At almost 500 pages (mind you, the original version came out in three volumes!) this is a solid piece of work, and I think the author didn't want to end it; the last 30 pages are, for me, a bit of a fizz-out. For me those boys, who are part of me now, and in who part of me is, are still exploring New Formosa and Serendib, in the time when you could see the Aurora Borealis from southern England. Great stuff!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Decades before the Boy Scout movement was founded and a half-century before "Swallows and Amazons" was penned, Richard Jefferies wrote "Bevis". The story doesn't really have a beginning, middle and end: it is more like three linked stories. In the first of these, Bevis (a boy of thirteen or fourteen, I would guess) and his friend Mark discover and explore the "New Sea" and its surroundings. In the next chapters, two gangs of boys reenact the Battle of Pharsalia with Bevis as Caesar. The final part of the book is about the adventures that Bevis and Mark have when they sail away to live on "New Formosa", as they have named the island in the middle of the lake.
Richard Jefferies had a beautiful way of writing and looking at nature and long passages of the book are dedicated to descriptions of the lake, the sky and the flora and fauna. I enjoyed these but expect that they could be a bit much for young readers today. In addition, the book is very much a product of its time and modern sensibilities may well be offended by the slaughter of wildlife, the hard time that the domestic animals have (the donkey and spaniel, Pan, get more than enough kicks and blows), the treatment of the poor local girl, Loo, as well as the occasional references to "slaves."
And yet, the book has a magic and joy that transcends these issues for me. The sheer exuberance, ingenuity, imagination and inventiveness of the two boys, coupled with their belief in themselves is wonderful to read. The banter between the two of them is fun and feels fresh after one hundred plus years.
In essence, this book captures that perfect state of being of the adolescent who is almost fully grown and believes in his omnipotence but is not dragged down by the dreary responsibilities of adulthood:
"It was living, not thinking. He lived it, never thinking, as the finches live their sunny life in the happy days of June. There was magic in everything, blades of grass and stars, the sun and the stones upon the ground."
Richard Jefferies had a beautiful way of writing and looking at nature and long passages of the book are dedicated to descriptions of the lake, the sky and the flora and fauna. I enjoyed these but expect that they could be a bit much for young readers today. In addition, the book is very much a product of its time and modern sensibilities may well be offended by the slaughter of wildlife, the hard time that the domestic animals have (the donkey and spaniel, Pan, get more than enough kicks and blows), the treatment of the poor local girl, Loo, as well as the occasional references to "slaves."
And yet, the book has a magic and joy that transcends these issues for me. The sheer exuberance, ingenuity, imagination and inventiveness of the two boys, coupled with their belief in themselves is wonderful to read. The banter between the two of them is fun and feels fresh after one hundred plus years.
In essence, this book captures that perfect state of being of the adolescent who is almost fully grown and believes in his omnipotence but is not dragged down by the dreary responsibilities of adulthood:
"It was living, not thinking. He lived it, never thinking, as the finches live their sunny life in the happy days of June. There was magic in everything, blades of grass and stars, the sun and the stones upon the ground."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Jeffries story has lost nothing with the passage of time. It shows the vast gap btween the Land owing family and the tennants and labourers. It also shows how much freedom our children have lost.
The printing of the book although faithful to the original has litterally hundres of printing errors. Chapter headings appear before the end of the previous section and punctuation has gone out of the window in many places. Its just bad type setting (Sorry computor typing).
Ken Baker
The printing of the book although faithful to the original has litterally hundres of printing errors. Chapter headings appear before the end of the previous section and punctuation has gone out of the window in many places. Its just bad type setting (Sorry computor typing).
Ken Baker
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