On the Orient

by Rudyard Kipling

Travel with Kipling through India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton (now Guangzhou), Japan, and Burma Rudyard Kipling spent many years abroad and his relationship with India is explored in several of his works, both fiction and non-fiction. After leaving school, Kipling was sent to Lahore to work at a local newspaper. He would go on, a few years later, to take up a post at the Pioneer in Allahabad. Kipling said that only a few hours after arriving in India "my English years fell away, nor ever, I think, came back in full strength." While working for the Pioneer Kipling wrote a series of sketches about life in India. In 1889, he became the  Pioneer 's roving correspondent; traveling to Burma, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canton, and Japan. This collection comprises essays from both his sketches of India and the rest of his travels, showcasing his observations, opinions, and itinerary. Although his writings might feature in some places outdated opinions and points of view, his eye for detail, character, and color, along with his masterful style, give these pieces a timeless feel and shed new light on the writings of a writer with which we thought we were familiar.

117 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1887

About the author

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist.

Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If— (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature; and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift".

Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 41, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize, and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.

Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author."

Kipling kept writing until the early 1930s, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. On the night of 12 January 1936, Kipling suffered a haemorrhage in his small intestine. He underwent surgery, but died less than a week later on 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Kipling's death had in fact previously been incorrectly announced in a magazine, to which he wrote, "I've just read that I am dead. Don't forget to delete me from your list of subscribers."

Reviews

[Smiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second Review:

4.5-star

I have still found reading this Kipling travels book as his reminiscences critically and sometime fondly reflected on his five destinations, that is, India, Burma, Penang, Hong Kong and Japan. His narration on India is a bit tedious to me due to its two parts covering the pages 5-57 while the parts on the other four are manageably enjoyable.

From my rereading his itinerary and reflections on Japan, Kipling, it seems to me, has outpoured his wit, admiration and humour as narrated in the following excerpts:

An Orient nation that can fill a cupboard tidily is a nation to bow down to. Upstairs I went by a staircase of grained wood and lacquer, into rooms of rarest device with circular windows that opened on nothing, and so were filled with bamboo tracery for the delight of the eye. The passage floored with dark wood shone like ice, and I was ashamed. (p. 103)
. . .
Here was colour, form, food, comfort, and beauty enough for half a year's contemplation. I would not be a Burman any more. I would be a Japanese -- always with O-Toyo -- in a cabinet workhouse on a camphor-scented hillside.
'Heigh-ho' said the Professor. 'There are worse places than this to live and die in. D'you know our steamer goes at four? Let's ask for the bill and get way.'
Now I have left my heart with O-Toyo under the pines. Perhaps I shall get it back at Kobe. (p. 105)

To continue . . .

First Review:

4.5-star

It's a pity I've never heard this title before by one of the great English authors, notably for instance, as the first English-language writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1907 at 41 the youngest ever (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard...). In fact, they were published between 1887-89 as selections taken from collected journalism entitled 'From Sea to Sea' (p. 2) covering his following ports of call and subtitles:

India
Of the beginning of things. Of the Taj and the Globetrotter. The young man from Manchester and certain moral reflections.

The temple of Mahadeo and the manners of such as see India. The man by the water-troughs and his knowledge. The voice of the city and what it said. Personalities and the hospital. The house beautiful of Jeypore and its builders.

Of the sordidness of the supreme government on the revenue side; and of the palace of Jeypore. A great king's pleasure house, and the work of the servants of state.

Touching the children of the sun and their city, and the hat-marked caste and their merits, and a good man's works in the wilderness.

Proves conclusively the existence of the dark tower visited by Childe Rolande, and of 'bogey' who frightens children.

A king's house and country. Further consideration of the hat-marked caste.


Of freedom and the necessity of using her. The motive and the scheme that will come to nothing. A disquisition upon the otherness of things and the torments of the damned.

Burma
The river of the lost footsteps and the golden mystery upon its banks. The iniquity of Jordan. Shows how a man may go to the Shway Dagon pagoda and see it not.

Penang
Showing how I came to Palmiste Island and the place of Paul and Virginia, and fell asleep in a garden. A disquisition on the folly of sightseeing.

Hong Kong
Shows how I arrived in China and saw entirely through the Great Wall and out upon the other side.

Some talk with a Taipan and a General; proves in what manner a see picnic may be a success.

Japan
Of Japan at ten hours' sight, containing a complete account of the manners and customs of its people, a history of its constitution, products, art, and civilization, and omitting a meal in a teahouse with O-toyo.

Explains in what manner I was taken to Venice in the rain, and climbed into a devil fort; a tin-pot exhibition, and a bath. Of the maiden and the boltless door, the cultivator and his fields, and the manufacture of ethnological theories at railroad speed. End with Kyoto.

However, probably, some Goodreads readers might not have heard or read his works before, reading his famous poem and its related backgrounds would be a good preamble by visiting this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If%E2%8... or https://web.archive.org/web/201702100...

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of short stories from Kipling and four others