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10 narraciones maestras
De los relatos de este volumen de Rudyard Kipling (Bombay 1865-Londres 1936), Jorge Luis Borges ha dicho que son «lacónicas obras maestras». No es una opinión ni aislada ni azarosa, sino varias veces repetida, como si se tratara de algo largamente meditado que ha ido destilándose a lo largo de toda una vida de lecturas felices. 10 narraciones maestras revelan a otro Kipling, un Kipling laberíntico y secreto en sus argumentos, y también, como dijo George Moore, al «único autor inglés, después de Shakespeare, que escribía con todo el diccionario». «La Puerta de los Cien Pesares», «La casa de Suddhoo» y «Transgresión» fueron escritos en India, en 1885, por un joven de veinte años en un estilo sencillo y directo. Veinte años después, escribiría en tono muy distinto «Una guerra de sahibs» y «Ellos». Sus últimos relatos, «La casa de los Deseos», «Una madonna de las trincheras», «El ojo de Alá», «El jardinero» y «La iglesia que había en Antioquía», son ya ejecutados por un hombre de sesenta años con un dominio del lenguaje y una densidad argumental poco frecuentes. «No hay uno solo de estos cuentos», escribe Borges, «que no sea, a mi parecer, una nueva y suficiente obra maestra. Los primeros son ilusoriamente sencillos, los últimos, deliberadamente ambiguos y complejos. No son mejores, son distintos. En todos ellos, el autor, con sabia inocencia, narra la fábula como si no acabara de comprenderla y agrega comentarios convencionales para que el lector esté en desacuerdo».
184 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1999
About the author
Rudyard Kipling
7,880 books3,894 followersJoseph 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."
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."
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 1, 2015
No recomiendo a Kipling a todas las personas. No pasé de la página sesenta de Kim, recuerdo. Sus cuentos, sin embargo, resultan excelentes. Al menos en esta antología- de la cual se extraña El cuento más hermoso del mundo- son elucubraciones, en apariencia sencillas, donde un río de cosas corre por lo bajo. Cada uno de estos relatos iba siendo más intrincado que el anterior, más complejo, y diferente a los demás a medida que avanzaba el libro. 'Ellos' es el mejor, a pesar de su final: la prosa recuerda a los mejores pasajes de la descripción del palacio de Ardis en Ada, de Nabokov. Brillantes historias, en definitiva, que en una relectura me deslumbrarían más.
October 24, 2015
¿Que paso con un cristianismo naciente y un judaísmo radical comiendo bajo un mismo techo?
¿Cómo reaccionarían en una abadía de tiempos inquisitoriales al descubrir el microscopio?
Infidelidades con castigos más allá de un divorcio desfavorable, adictos al opio buscando verdades entre el "Humo Negro", visiones de la guerra, la posguerra o del dolor simple de la paz.
Lleno de aromas salados y arenosos, de prohibiciones, burkas, delicadisimos conflictos culturales. Leer a Rudyard Kipling siempre es viajar en el tiempo-espacio para presenciar lo exótico y lo lejano.
¿Quien se ha creído que es un hijo de Adán para cerrar, con su palabra, la puerta a la verdad?
¿Cómo reaccionarían en una abadía de tiempos inquisitoriales al descubrir el microscopio?
Infidelidades con castigos más allá de un divorcio desfavorable, adictos al opio buscando verdades entre el "Humo Negro", visiones de la guerra, la posguerra o del dolor simple de la paz.
Lleno de aromas salados y arenosos, de prohibiciones, burkas, delicadisimos conflictos culturales. Leer a Rudyard Kipling siempre es viajar en el tiempo-espacio para presenciar lo exótico y lo lejano.
¿Quien se ha creído que es un hijo de Adán para cerrar, con su palabra, la puerta a la verdad?
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews