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Rudyard Kipling: A Life
By the time he was thirty, Rudyard Kipling was scaling the heights of literary fame with his Jungle Books and tales of India, but when he died in 1936, at seventy-one, he was widely ignored if not denigrated by the lions of literary fashion. By then he had lived long with contradiction. Both a devoted son and angry child, abandoned by his parents to guardians at the age of five; on the one hand a disciple of the aesthete Ruskin and on the other a philistine sahib; at once a gentle father and belligerent husband; a spokesman for empire but also the laureate of the common man-Kipling embodied an ambivalence he could not embrace. His status as an outsider set him at odds as much with the conflicting cultures of imperial India as with the coteries of literary London; yet he yearned to belong. Despite his fame, he was continually beset by self-doubt and driven by uncertain, oddly directed passions. A restless wanderer, he ultimately settled in Sussex, only to have his world tumble into ruins with the death of his son in World War I. In this absorbing reinterpretation of Kipling and his work, biographer Harry Ricketts brings his subject vibrantly alive in a world that both inspired and betrayed his imaginative genius.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
448 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2000
About the author
Harry Ricketts
33 books8 followersHarry Ricketts studied to Oxford and taught at universities in Hong Kong and the UK before moving to New Zealand in 1981. He is a professor in the English Programme at Victoria University of Wellington and also teaches creative non-fiction in the International Institute of Modern Letters. He has published over 30 books, including biographies, personal essays and collections of poems. He has also co-edited several anthologies of New Zealand poetry and a collection of new essays about World War I.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 23, 2022
Harry Rickett's' "Rudyard Kipling: A Life" brings the great author down to the level of the reader instead of explaining his greatness. This often happens with literary biographies which is why most of my undergraduate professors recommended against reading them.
I liked Ricketts' views on the "Jungle Books" (or the Mowgli stories) and the "Just So Stories". In Rickett's view the Mowgli tales address the issues of how a child finds a father to belong to and a community to be a member of. The "Just so Stories" appeal to children because they describe what never happened and thus allow the child the pleasure of seeing through tall-tales told by a adult.
I was less happy with Ricketts' comments on the adult stories that Kipling composed while in India of which the best collection may be the "Plain Tales from the Hills." I agree with his view that Kipling had a great deal of respect for Indians and regretted profoundly that the rules of colonial city placed severe limits on how far an Anglo-Indian could cross the boundary and enter into Indian civilization. I was distressed when Ricketts' showed in many of his tales on love and extra-marital dalliances, Kipling was essentially discussing his own romantic delusions and failures. I would have been happier not to know.
Ricketts is only moderately successful at explaining how Kipling who left India with mixed feelings about the British regime evolved into a rabid spokesperson for British imperialism. After leaving India, Kipling soon became dissatisfied with England his mother country. He wondered if he was perhaps meant to be an American. According to Rickett's what convinced Kipling that he was an Englishman was a four-year period (1892-1896) in which he lived in the United States. Rickett's may be right that living in America may have convinced Kipling that culturally he was an Englishman. It do not think however that it explains Kipling's wildly enthusiastic support of the British Empire.
In "Recessional" written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897 Kipling made a stunning profession of faith in British Imperialism. This was followed by the equally extravagant "White Man's Burden" published in 1899. During the Boer War (1899-1902), Kipling would be a loud and persistent spokesperson for the British cause. This position would be the start of a bitter feud that he would maintain for the rest of his life with the Liberal party and liberal British intellectuals. Kipling would go on to extol the British effort in WWI, to denounce Communism, to oppose Irish Home Rule, to make outrageous anti-Semitic comments in his poetry and to promote British re-armament in the years preceding WWII. As his views became more right-wing, he lost the respect of most of his fellow writers and literary critics.
Ricketts is right to deplore Kipling's praise of Britain's decision to invade two Afrikaner republics in South Africa, his anti-Semitism and his hostility towards Irish independence. However, history has also proven that Kipling's liberal intellectual enemies were wrong about Stalin's Russia and the need for Britain to re-arm in face of the threat posed by Hitler. Ricketts could well have defended Kipling more vigorously on these two issues.
Ricketts' biography is thorough and probably fair. However it disappoints in that it is better at exposing the flaws in Kipling's personality than it is explaining the nature of his achievement.
I liked Ricketts' views on the "Jungle Books" (or the Mowgli stories) and the "Just So Stories". In Rickett's view the Mowgli tales address the issues of how a child finds a father to belong to and a community to be a member of. The "Just so Stories" appeal to children because they describe what never happened and thus allow the child the pleasure of seeing through tall-tales told by a adult.
I was less happy with Ricketts' comments on the adult stories that Kipling composed while in India of which the best collection may be the "Plain Tales from the Hills." I agree with his view that Kipling had a great deal of respect for Indians and regretted profoundly that the rules of colonial city placed severe limits on how far an Anglo-Indian could cross the boundary and enter into Indian civilization. I was distressed when Ricketts' showed in many of his tales on love and extra-marital dalliances, Kipling was essentially discussing his own romantic delusions and failures. I would have been happier not to know.
Ricketts is only moderately successful at explaining how Kipling who left India with mixed feelings about the British regime evolved into a rabid spokesperson for British imperialism. After leaving India, Kipling soon became dissatisfied with England his mother country. He wondered if he was perhaps meant to be an American. According to Rickett's what convinced Kipling that he was an Englishman was a four-year period (1892-1896) in which he lived in the United States. Rickett's may be right that living in America may have convinced Kipling that culturally he was an Englishman. It do not think however that it explains Kipling's wildly enthusiastic support of the British Empire.
In "Recessional" written for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897 Kipling made a stunning profession of faith in British Imperialism. This was followed by the equally extravagant "White Man's Burden" published in 1899. During the Boer War (1899-1902), Kipling would be a loud and persistent spokesperson for the British cause. This position would be the start of a bitter feud that he would maintain for the rest of his life with the Liberal party and liberal British intellectuals. Kipling would go on to extol the British effort in WWI, to denounce Communism, to oppose Irish Home Rule, to make outrageous anti-Semitic comments in his poetry and to promote British re-armament in the years preceding WWII. As his views became more right-wing, he lost the respect of most of his fellow writers and literary critics.
Ricketts is right to deplore Kipling's praise of Britain's decision to invade two Afrikaner republics in South Africa, his anti-Semitism and his hostility towards Irish independence. However, history has also proven that Kipling's liberal intellectual enemies were wrong about Stalin's Russia and the need for Britain to re-arm in face of the threat posed by Hitler. Ricketts could well have defended Kipling more vigorously on these two issues.
Ricketts' biography is thorough and probably fair. However it disappoints in that it is better at exposing the flaws in Kipling's personality than it is explaining the nature of his achievement.
June 7, 2020
My mother and I are Anglophiles and I can remember her reading Winnie the Pooh, Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verses, and Kipling's Just So Stories when I was young. It wasn't until more recent years that I learned of Kipling's complex cultural and political background. Many felt him a Victorian with a passion for Empire and an author using racial stereotypes regarding the Indians of his stories. Should we consider the time and culture in which he lived, or rue the fact that children who read these stories were negatively influenced? His later political leanings were also complex. Although an outspoken Anti-Semitic, he also disliked Germany and tried to warn against Hitler. His popularity with the public waned in his later years and was never strong among other writers. None attended his 1936 funeral at Westminster Abbey.
The book includes too many minor individuals and details about his life that don't add to our understanding of the man. The insertion of too many passages from Kipling's works throughout also don't add to the telling. I look forward to reading another Kipling biography as a comparison.
The book includes too many minor individuals and details about his life that don't add to our understanding of the man. The insertion of too many passages from Kipling's works throughout also don't add to the telling. I look forward to reading another Kipling biography as a comparison.
November 24, 2023
I decided I wanted to read more about Kipling after coming across a line from "If" in a novel about running. ("If you can fill each unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run...") "If" was one of the first poems I ever fell in love with and memorized, but I am aware that Kipling is viewed unfavorably now.
I'm cooking for our day-later Thanksgiving meal and listening to Neil Diamond's greatest hits, and it occurred to me that both Kipling and Diamond achieved great popularity but were scorned by those who consider themselves Real Artists. But oh boy, they sure knew how to write hits! :)
I appreciated learning more about Kipling's life. He was definitely a complicated individual (aren't we all?!). It was interesting to hear Ricketts connect aspects of Kipling's later work with modernist writings.
I'm cooking for our day-later Thanksgiving meal and listening to Neil Diamond's greatest hits, and it occurred to me that both Kipling and Diamond achieved great popularity but were scorned by those who consider themselves Real Artists. But oh boy, they sure knew how to write hits! :)
I appreciated learning more about Kipling's life. He was definitely a complicated individual (aren't we all?!). It was interesting to hear Ricketts connect aspects of Kipling's later work with modernist writings.
November 20, 2024
The least one can say about Kipling is that he was a complex man. Open-minded enough to be at ease evolving among Indian people regardless of their caste, religions, or social status he, nevertheless, loathed the idea of the Indian governing themselves, sneering them as a 'lesser breed' among others. A drum beat for the Empire and the staunchest of Conservatism, he was also a maverick able to praise the USA for their capitalistic entrepreneurship and culture, so at odd with Victorian England. A charming man whose dazzling personality would seduce the literary circles of London, he also had a very dark side indeed; he who was capable of the vilest hate towards the Orientals, the Irish, the Germans, even, the Jews. Was he an hypocrite too? He certainly was quick to denounce the abuse melted upon women by the Hindus, yet saw nothing wrong in denouncing feminism and women battling for equality in Britain. Should we talk, then, about Kiplings rather than a Kipling?
Writing a biography of such a man could be frustrating. It doesn't have to be. Harry Ricketts, in fact, delivers in doing just so, by showing himself as sensible when it comes to the saddest and most tragic parts of Kipling's life (e.g. his abused childhood; the death of his children and the impact of that of his daughter especially) as bluntly honest in his appraisal of his political opinions, many having been nothing but repellent even by the standards of his days. As an achievement, this result is noteworthy enough. But that's not it.
This book is valuable not only for his human approach in trying to get to grip with a complicated persona, but, also, for using Kipling's life trajectory to try and illuminate some of his works. No matter how despicable he was as a person, Kipling remains, after all, one of the best short stories writers in English; a genius when it came to children literature; and, most importantly (at least to me personally!) a brilliant poet whose vernacular and sense of rhythm is still striking to this day, eons away from the pretentious aestheticism of some of his contemporaries. Rickett's reading of Kipling is, here, as noteworthy as his personal approach of the man.
Writing about Kipling is not easy. Here was an author so extreme in his views that assessing him has often led to no less extreme attitudes. Many critics have tended to emphasise his politics to better dismiss his work. Many admirers have tended to sweep his politics under the rug (when not excusing it away!) to better claim that one's work can be separated from one's politics. Harry Rickett, gracefully and thankfully, avoids both pitfalls. His is sensible enough to render the man sympathetic, yet brutally honest when the need for sympathy is frankly unwarranted. Being fair and well-balanced, after all, doesn't mean having to compromise.
Writing a biography of such a man could be frustrating. It doesn't have to be. Harry Ricketts, in fact, delivers in doing just so, by showing himself as sensible when it comes to the saddest and most tragic parts of Kipling's life (e.g. his abused childhood; the death of his children and the impact of that of his daughter especially) as bluntly honest in his appraisal of his political opinions, many having been nothing but repellent even by the standards of his days. As an achievement, this result is noteworthy enough. But that's not it.
This book is valuable not only for his human approach in trying to get to grip with a complicated persona, but, also, for using Kipling's life trajectory to try and illuminate some of his works. No matter how despicable he was as a person, Kipling remains, after all, one of the best short stories writers in English; a genius when it came to children literature; and, most importantly (at least to me personally!) a brilliant poet whose vernacular and sense of rhythm is still striking to this day, eons away from the pretentious aestheticism of some of his contemporaries. Rickett's reading of Kipling is, here, as noteworthy as his personal approach of the man.
Writing about Kipling is not easy. Here was an author so extreme in his views that assessing him has often led to no less extreme attitudes. Many critics have tended to emphasise his politics to better dismiss his work. Many admirers have tended to sweep his politics under the rug (when not excusing it away!) to better claim that one's work can be separated from one's politics. Harry Rickett, gracefully and thankfully, avoids both pitfalls. His is sensible enough to render the man sympathetic, yet brutally honest when the need for sympathy is frankly unwarranted. Being fair and well-balanced, after all, doesn't mean having to compromise.
March 17, 2020
Written as professors write, too much detail to drudge through. However the well researched details were worth the slow read. What a fascinating childhood of intellect, abandonment, raw talent and insight; I feel in love with Rud.
March 19, 2023
Expected it might be a slog or drudge in spots. It wasn't. The blurb from The New Yorker that is listed on the cover had it exactly correct:
"An irresistibly readable biography."
Well, ok, I might replace "irresistibly" with eminently. A subtle difference.
"An irresistibly readable biography."
Well, ok, I might replace "irresistibly" with eminently. A subtle difference.
October 26, 2017
I thought it was a fair recount of the author's life.
September 25, 2015
Excellent general biography. Covers his entire life, includes much of his poetry. Properly places him in his period without being overly judgmental, lets the subject speak for himself. The author also declines to create speculation about Kiplings life and writing, and its meaning. Rather Kiplings writing is reflected in the context of his upbringing. This is spot on, as Kipling, love him or hate him was a product of his experience and times, while creating much writing that was a precursor of modern form. After all Kipling believed it was up to the reader to take from each story meaning, so it is for the reader of this book.
May 21, 2010
So far, MUCH better than any of the other biographies of him I've found.
Read
June 2, 2013A full and detailed study of Kipling - as Ricketts is himself a poet this adds to his undrstanding I think
January 4, 2014
Good balanced life of Kipling. His creative genius has been downplayed in recent years.
August 2, 2014
A total snore. Correctly written and accurate in every detail it quotes passages without making them relevant to the Kipling revealed in his writing
September 29, 2014
Well-written and insightful. Kipling was a complicated man who wanted to believe in ideologies even while (for much of his life) he was too smart and experienced to do so. Worth reading.
January 24, 2016
Sad tale of a brilliant author who by the time he was 35 was the most celebrated author in the English language. Unfortunately, his fall from the peak was almost as fast as his rise to the top.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews