TALES OF EAST INDIAN LIFE AND CHARACTER--IDEAL TRAINING OF THE
GENIUS THAT HAS PRODUCED SOME OF THE BEST LITERARY WORK OF OUR
DAY.
Rudyard Kipling cannot be classified with any writer of his own age or
of any literary age in the past. His tremendous strength, his visual
faculty, even his mannerisms, are his own. He has written too much for
his own fame, but although the next century will discard nine-tenths
of his work, it will hold fast to the other tenth as among the best
short stories and poems that our age produced. Kipling is essentially
a short-story writer; not one of his longer novels has any real plot
or the power to hold the reader's interest to the end. _Kim_, the best
of his long works, is merely a series of panoramic views of Indian
life and character, which could be split up into a dozen short stories
and sketches.
[Illustration: RUDYARD KIPLING A STRIKING LIKENESS OF THE AUTHOR
IN A CHARACTERISTIC POSE]
But in the domain of the short story Kipling is easily the first great
creative artist of his time. No one approaches him in vivid
descriptive power, in keen character portraiture, in the faculty of
making a strange and alien life as real to us as the life we have
always known. And in some of his more recent work, as in the story of
the two young Romans in _Puck of Pook's Hill_, Kipling reaches rare
heights in reproducing the romance of a bygone age. In these tales of
ancient Britain the poet in Kipling has full sway and his visual power
moves with a freedom that stamps clearly and deeply every image upon
the reader's mind.
The first ten years of Kipling's literary activity were given over to
a wonderful reproduction of East Indian life as seen through
sympathetic English eyes. Yet the sympathy that is revealed in
Kipling's best sketches of native life in India is never tinged with
sentiment. The native is always drawn in his relations to the
Englishman; always the traits of revenge or of gratitude or of
dog-like devotion are brought out. Kipling knows the East Indian
through and through, because in his childhood he had a rare
opportunity to watch the native. The barrier of reserve, which was
always maintained against the native Englishman, was let down in the
case of this precocious child, who was a far keener observer than most
adults. And these early impressions lend an extraordinary life and
vitality to the sketches and stories on which Kipling's fame will
ultimately rest.
The early years of Kipling were spent in an ideal way for the
development of the creative literary artist. Born at Bombay in
December, 1865, he absorbed Hindustanee from his native nurse, and he
saw the native as he really is, without the guard which is habitually
put up in the presence of the Briton, even though this alien may be
held in much esteem. The son of John Lockwood Kipling, professor of
architectural sculpture in the British School of Art at Bombay, and of
a sister of Edward Burne-Jones, it was not strange that this boy
should have developed strong powers of imagination or that his mind
should have sought relief in literary expression.
The school days of Kipling were spent at Westward Ho, in Devon, where,
though he failed to distinguish himself in his studies, he established
a reputation as a clever writer of verse and prose. He also enjoyed
in these formative years the friendship and counsel of Burne-Jones,
and he had the use of several fine private libraries. His wide reading
probably injured his school standing, but it was of enormous benefit
to him in his future literary work. At seventeen young Kipling
returned to India, where he secured a position on the CIVIL AND
MILITARY GAZETTE of Lahore, where his father was principal of a large
school of arts.
The Anglo-Indian newspaper is not a model, but it afforded a splendid
field for the development of Kipling's abilities. He was not only a
reporter of the ordinary occurrences of his station, but he was
constantly called upon to write short sketches and poems to fill
certain corners in the paper, that varied in size according to the
number and length of the advertisements. Some of the best of his short
sketches and bits of verse were written hurriedly on the composing
stone to satisfy such needs. These sketches and poems he published
himself and sent them to subscribers in all parts of India, but though
their cleverness was recognized by Anglo-Indians, they did not appeal
to the general public. After five years' work at Lahore, Kipling was
transferred to the ALLAHABAD PIONEER, one of the most important of the
Anglo-Indian journals. For the weekly edition of this paper he wrote
many verses and sketches and also served as special correspondent in
various parts of India.
It was in 1889 that the PIONEER sent him on a tour of the world and he
wrote the series of letters afterwards reprinted under the title _From
Sea to Sea_. Kipling, like Stevenson, had to have a story to tell to
bring out all his powers; hence these letters are not among his best
work.
Vividly do I recall Kipling's visit to San Francisco. He came into the
CHRONICLE office and was keenly interested in the fine collections
which made this newspaper's library before the fire the most valuable
on this Coast, if not in the country. He was also much impressed with
the many devices for securing speed in typesetting and other
mechanical work. The only feature of his swarthy face that impressed
one was his brilliant black eyes, which behind his large glasses,
seemed to note every detail. He talked very well, but although he made
friends among local newspapermen, he was unsuccessful in selling any
of his stories to the editors of the Sunday supplements. He soon
went to New York, but there also he failed to dispose of his stories.
[Illustration: RUDYARD KIPLING FROM A CARTOON BY W. NICHOLSON]
Finally Kipling reached London in September, 1889, and after several
months of discouragement, he induced a large publishing house to bring
out _Plain Tales From the Hills_. It scored an immediate success. Like
Byron, the unknown young writer awoke to find himself famous; magazine
editors clamored for his stories at fancy prices and publishers
eagerly sought his work. It may be said to Kipling's credit that he
did not utilize this opportunity to make money out of his sudden
reputation. He doubtless worked over many old sketches, but he put his
best into whatever he gave the public. He married the sister of
Wolcott Balestier, a brilliant American who became very well known in
London as a publishers' agent, and after Balestier's death Kipling
moved to his wife's old home in Brattleboro, Vermont, where he built a
fine country house; but constant trouble with a younger brother of his
wife caused him to abandon this American home and go back to England,
where he set up his lares at Rottingdean, in Surrey. There he has
remained, averaging a book a year, until now he has over twenty-five
large volumes to his credit. In 1907 Kipling was given the Nobel prize
"for the best work of an idealist tendency."
In reading Kipling it is best to begin with some of the tales written
in his early life, for these he has never surpassed in vigor and
interest. Take, for instance, _Without Benefit of Clergy_, _The Man
Who Was_, _The Drums of the Fore and Aft_, _The Man Who Would Be King_
and _Beyond the Pale_. These stories all deal with Anglo-Indian life,
two with the British soldier and the other three with episodes in the
lives of British officials and adventurers.
_The Man Who Would Be King_, the finest of all Kipling's tales of
Anglo-Indian life and adventure, is the story of the fatal ambition of
Daniel Dravot, told by the man who accompanied him into the wildest
part of Afghanistan. Daniel made the natives believe that he was a god
and he could have ruled them as a king had he not foolishly become
enamored of a native beauty. This girl was prompted by a native
soothsayer to bite Dravot in order to decide whether he was a god or
merely human. The blood that she drew on his neck was ample proof of
his spurious claims and the two adventurers were chased for miles
through a wild country. When captured Daniel is forced to walk upon a
bridge, the ropes of which are then cut, and his body is hurled
hundreds of feet down upon the rocks. The story of the survivor, who
escaped after crucifixion, is one of the ghastliest tales in all
literature.
Other tales that Kipling has written of Indian life are scarcely
inferior to these in strange, uncanny power. One of the weirdest
relates the adventures of an army officer who fell into the place
where those who have been legally declared dead, but who have
recovered, pass their lives. As a picture of hell on earth it has
never been surpassed. Another of Kipling's Indian tales that is worth
reading is _William the Conqueror_, a love story that has a background
of grim work during the famine year.
One of Kipling's claims to fame is that he has drawn the British
soldier in India as he actually lives. His _Soldiers Three_--Mulvaney,
the Irishman, Ortheris, the cockney, and Learoyd, the Yorkshireman--are
so full of real human nature that they delight all men and many women.
Mulvaney is the finest creation of Kipling, and most of his stories
are brimful of Irish wit. Of late years Kipling has written some fine
imaginative stories, such as _The Brushwood Boy_, _They_ and _An
Habitation Enforced_. He has also revealed his genius in such tales of
the future as _With the Night Mail_, a remarkably graphic sketch of a
voyage across the Atlantic in a single night in a great aeroplane.
Another side of Kipling's genius is seen in his _Jungle Stories_, in
which all the wild animals are endowed with speech. Mowgli, the boy who
is suckled by a wolf, is a distinct creation, and his adventures are
full of interest. Compare these stories with the work of Thompson-Seton
and you get a good idea of the genius of Kipling in making real the
savage struggle for life in the Indian jungle.
Of Kipling's long novels _The Naulakha_ ranks first for interest of
plot, but _Kim_ is the best because of its series of wonderful
pictures of East Indian life and character. _Captains Courageous_ is a
story of Cape Cod fishing life, with an improbable plot but much good
description of the perils and hardships of the men who seek fortune on
the fishing banks.
As a poet Kipling appeals strongly to men who love the life of action
and adventure in all parts of the world. In his _Departmental
Ditties_ he has painted the life of the British soldier and the
civilian in India, and his _Danny Dever_, his _Mandalay_ and others
which sing themselves have passed into the memory of the great public
that seldom reads any verse unless it be the words of a popular song.
The range of his verse is very wide, whether it is the superb imagery
in _The Last Chantey_ or the impressive Calvanism of _McAndrew's
Hymn_. His _Recessional_, of course, is known to everyone. It is one
of the finest bits of verse printed in the last twenty years.
Kipling, in spite of his many volumes, is only forty-six years old,
and he may be counted on to do much more good work.
If he turns to historical fiction he may yet do for English history
what the author of _Waverley_ has done for the history of Scotland.
Certainly he has the finest creative imagination of his age; in
whatever domain it may work it is sure to produce literature that will
live.
_Bibliography_
_Short Notes of Both Standard and Other Editions, With Lives,
Sketches and Reminiscences._
_These bibliographical notes on the authors discussed in this volume
are brief because the space allotted to them was limited. They are
designed to mention the first complete editions--the standard
editions--as well as the lives of authors, estimates of their works
and sketches and personal reminiscences. A mass of good material on
the great writers of the Victorian age is buried in the bound volumes
of English and American reviews and magazines. The best guide to these
articles is Poole's "Index."_
_The most valuable single volumes to one who wishes to make a study of
eighteenth and nineteenth century English writers are: "A Study of
English Prose Writers" and "A Study of English and American Poets" by
J. Scott Clark. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Price, $2 net a
volume.) These two volumes will give any one who wishes to make a
study of the authors I have discussed the material for a mastery of
their works. Under full biographical sketches the author gives
estimates of the best critics, extracts from their works and a full
bibliography, including the best magazine articles._