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Sixty-five
'He said I should know the road we had come if I would march surely forward.' So Japheth, a boy of 12, with 'sharp black eyes' that missed nothing, learned of the past from his grandpa Joe, and intended to witness and be a part of all he could of history in the making. Sixty-Five is an account of the revolt led by Deacon Paul Bogle in Morant Bay, Jamaica in October 1865. Japheth Murray lives through the revolt at the side of his grandfather - formerly a soldier with the West India Regiment, who persistently tries to give Deacon Bogle good military advice - and Japheth's father stays with Deacon Bogle till the last stand against the English soldiers up in the hills.
112 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 1980
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About the author
Victor Stafford Reid
12 books66 followersJamaican writer born in Kingston, Jamaica. He wrote with the intent of influencing the younger generations. He was awarded the silver (1950) and gold (1976) Musgrave Medals, the Order of Jamaica (1980), and the Norman Manley Award for Excellence in Literature in 1981. He was the author of several novels, three of which were aimed at children; one play production; and several short stories. Two of his most notable works are New Day - "the first West Indian novel to be written throughout in a dialect form", and The Leopard.
As a writer, Reid aimed to instill an awareness of legacy and tradition among the Jamaican people. His writings reflected many of the social and cultural hardships that pervade the time periods illustrated in his literary works. As literary critic Edward Baugh stated, "Reid’s writing shows a fondness for the rebel with a cause… he wanted people to learn about their heritage through his writing."
Reid was one of a handful of writers to emerge from the new literary and nationalist movement that seized Jamaican sentiment in the period of the late 1930s. From this "new art" surfaced many of Reid's literary contemporaries, including Roger Mais, George Campbell, M. G. Smith, and H. D. Carberry. A common objective among this new generation of writers was an inclination to "break away from Victorianism and to associate with the Jamaican independence movement."
Reid's emphasis on resistance and struggle is reaffirmed in a 1978 lecture he delivered at the Institute of Jamaica on the topic of the cultural revolution in Jamaica post-1938. In the address, Reid contended that the collective discontent of the working class majority was the public assertion of a "new brand of loyalty" that situated itself not only beyond, but more importantly, in direct resistance to imperial rule.
As a writer, Reid aimed to instill an awareness of legacy and tradition among the Jamaican people. His writings reflected many of the social and cultural hardships that pervade the time periods illustrated in his literary works. As literary critic Edward Baugh stated, "Reid’s writing shows a fondness for the rebel with a cause… he wanted people to learn about their heritage through his writing."
Reid was one of a handful of writers to emerge from the new literary and nationalist movement that seized Jamaican sentiment in the period of the late 1930s. From this "new art" surfaced many of Reid's literary contemporaries, including Roger Mais, George Campbell, M. G. Smith, and H. D. Carberry. A common objective among this new generation of writers was an inclination to "break away from Victorianism and to associate with the Jamaican independence movement."
Reid's emphasis on resistance and struggle is reaffirmed in a 1978 lecture he delivered at the Institute of Jamaica on the topic of the cultural revolution in Jamaica post-1938. In the address, Reid contended that the collective discontent of the working class majority was the public assertion of a "new brand of loyalty" that situated itself not only beyond, but more importantly, in direct resistance to imperial rule.
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