Rudyard Kipling - Hardcover

Lycett, Andrew

3.66

35 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297819070 ISBN 13: 9780297819073

Publisher: W&N, 1999

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Paragon of English virtues or racist imperialist? Andrew Lycett (acclaimed biographer of Ian Fleming) has returned to primary sources to tell the intricate story of a misunderstood genius who became Britain�s most famous and highest earning author. Among the many new sources, Lycett has discovered previously unpublished letters that illuminate Kipling�s crucial years in India, his first girlfriend (the model for Mrs Hauksbee of Plain Tales from the Hills), his parents� decision to send him back to England to boarding school; and in his adult life his use of opium, his frustrating times in London and the brief peace he found in America before the devastating loss of both his young daughter and, in the First World War, his son.
Lycett also uncovers the extraordinary story of Kipling�s great love for Flo Garrard, daughter of the crown jeweller and unravels the complicated yet enthralling saga of the American family, the Balestiers and of Carrie Balestier who became Kipling�s wife.
This biography is full of new material on Kipling�s financial dealings with Lord Beaverbrook, his friendships with T.E. Lawrence, the painter Edward Burne-Jones and the Conservative politician and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin who was his cousin.
Lycett places Kipling in an historical and social context with the skills that lead Selina Hastings in the Sunday Telegraph to write of his Ian Fleming: `Superb ... This is an exemplary biography, beautifully written, fast-paced and extremely perceptive.'

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

Rudyard Kipling continues to divide critics. On the one hand he remains (according to Daniel Karlin's Oxford Authors edition of his short stories and poems) one of the three finest short-story writers in English and a poet of genius. On the other hand he was an imperial apologist tinged with racism and militarism. Photographs in Andrew Lycett's excellent new biography show just how much he looked like Alf Garnett in later life, with opinions to match. Lycett manages to present both these sides of this flawed individual without giving way to facile judgement: his Kipling is a man, rather than a cypher. Lycett takes us step-by-step through Kipling's life, commenting unpretentiously on the writing as he goes, which is exactly what is wanted in a biography. There are occasional rhetorical flourishes, particularly at the beginning of chapters (for instance, the first sentence: "Rudyard Kipling kicked and shoved his way into the world. That would have been typical. Or else, he wilfully held himself back from life"). But, in general, Lycett avoids novelistic tricks and instead writes clearly and solidly. The strongest chapters are towards the end, with an appalled Kipling faced with the death of his much loved son in World War I (he "died in agony, with half his head shot away"). But, all the way through this biography there is a sure-handed, mellow expertise evident. --Adam Roberts

Review:

Conducts us through [Kipling's] life and times with authority, dispassion and clarity. This is an excellent biography, with everything in its place (Lawrence James LITERARY REVIEW)

Well researched and finely written ... Anyone who wants to learn about this curious figure in our culture could do no better than to start here (Simon Heffer COUNTRY LIFE)

Richly detailed ... will still be read after the latest psychohistories and literary deconstructions have deconstructed one another to bits (Noel Malcolm SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.