Rudyard Kipling

by John Leslie Palmer

Biography. From the ""Mr Kipling, in short, is a man of letters, and we shall realise, before we have done with him, that he is an extremely crafty and careful man of letters. Tales which seem to come out of the barrack-yard, out of the jungle or the deep sea, out of the dust and noise where men are working and building and fighting, come really out of the study of an expert craftsman using the tools of his craft with deliberate care."" According to ""Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) was an English author and poet. Born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai), he is best known for his works The Jungle Book (1894) and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi (1902), his novel, Kim (1901); his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), If— (1910); and his many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). He is regarded as a major ""innovator in the art of the short story""; his children's books are enduring classics of children's literature; and his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[2] The author Henry James said of ""Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known."" In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and to date he remains its youngest recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he declined.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2007

About the author

John Leslie Palmer was an English author. Under his own name, he wrote extensively about early English actors and about British literary figures. He also wrote fiction under the collaborative pseudonyms Francis Beeding, Christopher Haddon, David Pilgrim and John Somers.

(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Alethea Hammer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a biography when I downloaded it. However it is mostly just a comprehensive critique of Kipling's work. I would have found it more interesting if his opinions about Kipling weren't so close to my own. Unfortunately it felt dull to me because it gave me nothing to argue with. It is a very short book.