The Village in the Jungle [Paperback]

Leonard Woolf (Author), Christopher Ondaatje (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 7, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0907871291 | ISBN-13: 978-0907871293

The classic novel of colonial Ceylon (Sri Lanka), first published in 1913 and written Virginia Woolf's husband.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'a superbly dispassionate observation and a great novel' Quentin Bell 'as relevant today as when it first appeared' E F C Ludowyk"

About the Author

Leonard Woolf was born in London in 1880. Educated at St. Paul's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1904 he joined the Civil Service in Ceylon returning to England in May 1911. With his wife, Virginia Woolf, he lived at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group, setting up the Hogarth Press with her in 1917. He wrote two novels, a number of works of non-fiction and a brilliant five-volume memoir. He died in 1969.

Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: Eland Books (June 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0907871291
• ISBN-13: 978-0907871293
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,340,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Village in the Jungle, November 23, 1999

By 

Alan Chi Kit Kwan (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Village in the Jungle (20th Century Classics) (Paperback)

The Village in the Jungle, a fictional novel by Leonard Woolf, associates a series of catastrophic stories with one another. The predominant figures are Silindu (a hunter) and his two daughters Punchi Menika and Hinnihami. This story itself is based upon several different significant themes, including fate, love and tragedy. Personally, I found the book an absolute delight to read, being both suspenseful and interesting. Although the book cover jacket will most likely lack appeal to many people, this is most definitely a situation where one should not "judge a book by its cover". The title, The Village in the Jungle is nothing short of appropriate to the theme and plot of the novel. The plot, in a nutshell, is about a man named Silindu, who lives in the jungle and resists fate at every turn. He is an excellent hunter with cunning eyes, hunched-up shoulders and a small dark face all pinched. His ability of traveling around the jungle exceeds those of the animals. The incredible descriptions Woolf utilizes in the story allows the reader to clearly picture Silindu and his quest. The climax of the story is about Silindu's journey, having caught an "eccentric" disease. He didn't allow his daughter Hinnihami to marry a man from Vederala in the first place. Thus it was said that the disease he has is actually an evil spell. No matter how much effort he tries to cure himself it won't happen unless he willingly lets his daughter marry the man. The plot itself is really exciting throughout the entire book, with a few parts that are fairly slower in pace. "Leafless trees, hot humid air, rigid branches, and spider leg stems" is a portion of Leonard's description of the Jungle. All of his descriptions are perfectly arranged throughout the story, in which it makes the readers fall into the fabricated jungle described in his plot. "The air is heavy with the heat beating up from the earth. There is a fear everywhere: in the silence and in the shrill calls and the wild cries, in the stir of the scattered leaves and the grating of branches, in the gloom, in the startled, slinking, and peering beasts." (Pg 6, Woolf) This is one of the best lines taken out of the novel, because it gives the reader a full picture of the setting in the story. I highly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a hero's novel, although copies are exceedingly rare to locate as there were initially only a limited amount of copies printed. Through this story we can evidently see Silindu's courage in facing problems in unfavorable circumstances. I personally believe he is a true hero, because he really did have the spirit in surviving and staying alive no matter what happened. Overall, this novel is definitely an extraordinary thrilling book for anyone, providing hours of entertainment for people of all ages.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unedited scan, August 29, 2010

By 

Mark Sheehan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

When the description says the book "may" include numerous typos, what it does not reveal is that the book DOES include at least twice, and often three times, on each full page of text a line break, the TITLE OF THE BOOK in capital letters, and the page number from the edition at the UC-Berkeley library from which it was scanned. I found these insertions so distracting that I immediately returned the book to Amazon and ordered a used copy of the out-of-print Oxford University Press edition from a different bookseller. I am deeply disappointed in Amazon for including such flawed produts among its offering.

1.0 out of 5 stars fraudulent copy of VILLAGE IN THE JUNGLE, June 21, 2011

By 

obey - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I have bought from amazon a copy of leonard Woolf VILLAGE IN THE JUNGLE. It was meant as a present to a friend but it turns out to be a scanned copy with little connection with the original. The return menu also does not seem to work. I am seriously concerned about this kind of reproduction that amounts to fraud.

Professor Gananath Obeyesekere

Princeton University

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