Kim (Rudyard Kipling)

[ase]

There is nothing more beautiful than the university library's copies of good books. They feel like the library. They smell like my paternal grandparents' guest bedroom. And they endure grab and go abuse much better than modern paperbacks. (Which I shouldn't be saying, after the grief I've handed out to people who hurt my books.)

Anyway. Classic adventure story of espionage in British India. The plot wanders across India in ways that made me long for a map. Very much rooted in its time; British rule of India is an unquestioned constant, opposed only by evil Russian agents and the mad, and women are extremely secondary to the plot. A variety of characters are vividly drawn on a dizzying background of casually mentioned cultural subgroups (religions, castes, etc). Seeing India from Kim's point of view is great fun - he's an irrepressibly cheerful character who's willing to talk to anyone. The novel makes me think Kipling really loved India, even if he did lay on the "hail Britannia" stuff pretty thick. The descriptions alone make me long to travel there and see the Himalayas rising from the hot, dusty plains with my own eyes. What's a paltry century or two going to do to that sight?

Comments

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Yay Kim! Wonderful book! Hooray!

Kipling's love for India is fully clear, especially if you read his poems. One thing to remember, is that for Indians at the time, having British overlords wasn't particularly different from their native rulers. Something around half of India was ruled by native princes, (the Native States) with British advisors.

The question of Russian involvement in the Great Game is tricky. In the study I've done of it, it was 1) Very clearly considered a real threat. 2) Not entirely clear today whether it was an intended threat by Russia.

However, I do really disagree with the conclusion of one of the books I read on it. The authors interviewed an Indian Civil Servant who had been active on the Northwest Frontier, who said "In the end, it didn't matter. In 1979 the Russians did invade Afghanistan, and nothing special came of it. We thought it would be the worst thing in the world, but it really wasn't." He's ignoring a lot.

Differences:
1) India and Pakistan were now self-governing states, highly unlikely to revolt against themselves.
2) Russians highly opposed by Afghans who are heavily supported by outside forces (US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan) with top noch weapons, and are trying to occupy, not pass through to better terrain.
3) Cold War restrained options rather more than direct conflict with UK would have done.
4) Russia far more expansionist then than USSR was. For all that USSR appeared trying to dominate world, and I think there was something to it, their involvement in Afghanistan was intended to prop up a pro-Soviet government and secure their hazardous Central Asian border, not obtain new territory. Russia of 19th century not so apparent.

So anyway, I love this topic, Kim, and Kipling.

[ase.livejournal.com]

So anyway, I love this topic, Kim, and Kipling.

I can tell. It seriously was called the Great Game? I need to brush up on my history.

When did you read Kim, BTW? And any recommendations for further Kipling reading?

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was. Not sure when the term was coined.

I am afraid to admit I read it last semester. But I've read a pair of other books on the subject (one academic, the other more popular) plus having picked up elsewhere.

Other Kipling: The Light That Failed, Jungle Book, Barracks Room Ballads and Departmental Ditties. Last two are poetry collections. Be sure to read "Gunga-Din" before you consider issues of racism. Culturalism, maybe, but I think that's stretching it.

[cathydalek.livejournal.com]

Am I right in thinking Kipling did the Just So Stories? IIRC, the second volume is more "adult" than the first, although both are really more directed at children than adults. But I recall really liking them. If you can get an old, un-pc version, you can see where they've been edited. We had my mom's childhood copy and I recall getting a lecture on not using the "n" word.

[kd5mdk.livejournal.com]

I believe he did, though I haven't read them. I don't the the Jungle Book was precisely as Disney portrayed it, either.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Yes, they're by Kipling. And yes, some of them - e.g., "How the Leopard Got His Spots" - were distinctly un-PC.

[cathydalek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Leopard one is the one I'm think of. Just as well they changed it to "plain black's good enough for me"

[ase.livejournal.com]

Re: the "Great Game": it's a very lighthearted term for something as potentially risky as espionage. I'm not sure whether to be amused or worried by the mindset. Thanks for the recs - Kipling seems to have a very pro-British Empire mindset, but that's very much of his time and cultural background.

[filkferengi]

Get thee to the library, and check out _The Game_ by Laurie R. King *right now*. I just read it yesterday. Russell, Holmes, & Kim; further deponent sayeth not.

If you're looking for more Kipling, someone put _All the Mowgli Stories_ into one volume with that title. If you can find it, it reads like a novel; the stories work much better when they're all together, rather than spread out over multiple _Jungle Book_ volumes.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Get thee to the library, and check out _The Game_ by Laurie R. King *right now*.

What d'you think inspired me to read Kim? *EG*