Rudyard Kipling - Softcover

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

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)