Kiplings America

"Kipling was just twenty-three years old when he reached San Francisco in May 1889; he immediately began recording the sights and sounds of boom-town America. For four months he toured the United States, publishing accounts of his journey in the Pioneer, a major newspaper in western India. A few years later, when he lived in Vermont, Kipling wrote several syndicated articles published in both England and the U.S. Then in 1899 he revised and abridged the Pioneer versions and published them in From Sea to Sea. The second series of syndicated articles he collected in Letters of Travel (1920). Most of these travel writings are now out of print. In Kipling's America, Professor D. H. Stewart brings all of these articles together and reproduces the original printed versions. Readers are provided with the opportunity to hear again Kipling at his cocky and often opinionated best. From Kipling's perspective, America unleashed the chaotic energy latent in human beings, and he was uncertain whether this energy inevitably would be productive or destructive." "That some of his impressions were one-dimensional is undeniable, but equally undeniable is his gift of language - his access to a ready lexicon often composed of what he termed a "perpetual Pentecost" to describe the "talking in tongues" heard in British Overseas Clubs throughout the Empire. This hodgepodge of European languages (counter-pointed with pidgin English, Chinese, Hindi, American) produced a symphony (or cacophony) of bountiful word play."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A New York Times Notable Book of 2019 A unique exploration of the life and work of Rudyard Kipling in Gilded Age America, from a celebrated scholar of American literature At the turn of the twentieth century, Rudyard Kipling towered over not just English literature but the entire literary world. At the height of his fame in 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming its youngest winner. His influence on major figures—including Freud and William James—was pervasive and profound. But in recent decades Kipling’s reputation has suffered a strange eclipse. Though his body of work still looms large, and his monumental poem “If—” is quoted and referenced by politicians, athletes, and ordinary readers alike, his unabashed imperialist views have come under increased scrutiny. In If, scholar Christopher Benfey brings this fascinating and complex writer to life and, for the first time, gives full attention to Kipling's intense engagement with the United States—a rarely discussed but critical piece of evidence in our understanding of this man and his enduring legacy. Benfey traces the writer’s deep involvement with America over one crucial decade, from 1889 to 1899, when he lived for four years in Brattleboro, Vermont, and sought deliberately to turn himself into a specifically American writer. It was his most prodigious and creative period, as well as his happiest, during which he wrote The Jungle Book and Captains Courageous. Had a family dispute not forced his departure, Kipling almost certainly would have stayed. Leaving was the hardest thing he ever had to do, Kipling said. “There are only two places in the world where I want to live,” he lamented, “Bombay and Brattleboro. And I can’t live in either.” In this fresh examination of Kipling, Benfey hangs a provocative “what if” over Kipling’s American years and maps the imprint Kipling left on his adopted country as well as the imprint the country left on him. If proves there is relevance and magnificence to be found in Kipling’s work.

On the morning of 28 July 1943, on a raid to Oschersleben, Germany, Kipling's Error III was ambushed through thick cloud cover by as many as 200 German fighters and witnessed another group's lead ship being hit in the bomb bay while carrying incendiary bombs that morning. It is mentioned that the explosion was so terrific that it caused the downing of the other two wing ships as well. These accounts and others are related here in the documented diaries of five crew members in vivid detail.

An overview of Kipling's work, his career and postcolonial views on his often controversial position on imperialism.

"Embark on a literary voyage spanning two decades with Rudyard Kipling in 'Letters of Travel (1892-1913).' This collection offers readers a captivating glimpse into the renowned author's observations and experiences as he travels across various continents. As Kipling traverses diverse landscapes and encounters different cultures, 'Letters of Travel' is more than a mere travelogue—it's a literary journey that reveals the keen insights and reflections of one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century. Join Kipling on this literary expedition where each letter unfolds a new chapter of discovery, making 'Letters of Travel (1892-1913)' an essential read for those captivated by tales of exploration and the nuanced perspectives of a masterful writer."

This book re-presents the poetry of Rudyard Kipling in the form of bold slogans, the better for us to reappraise the meaning and import of his words and his art. Each line or phrase is thrust at the reader in a manner that may be inspirational or controversial... it is for the modern consumer of this recontextualization to decide. They are words to provoke: to action. To inspire. To recite. To revile. To reconcile or reconsider the legacy and benefits of colonialism. Compiled and presented by sloganist Dick Robinson, three poems are included, complete and uncut: 'White Man's Burden', 'Fuzzy-Wuzzy' and 'If'.

Kipling visited Japan in 1889 and 1892. No other leading English literary figure of his day spent so long in that country or wrote so fully about it. Kipling's newspaper dispatches from Japan were described by the great Japanologist Basil Han Chamberlain as 'the most graphic even penned by a globetrotter'. These vivid pen-pictures, together with Kipling's other writings about Japan, are now collected by Sir Hugh Cortazzi and George Webb, carefully edited with an introduction and Notes. First published in 1988, this title is part of the Bloomsbury Academic Collections series.