The Portable Kipling (Viking Portable Library)

Rating:
Summary: Kipling's stories and poems
Review: Kipling is one of the most maligned of all authors. He was too clever, too successful, and too unfashionable in his beliefs to be anything other than derided and envied by his colleagues in the artistic world. That derision carries over to the present day in which Kipling is still regarded as a racist, an imperialist, and a crypto fascist. Actually, Kipling's views seem to me to have been similar to those of Winston Churchill, although he was more sympathetic than Churchill to the people under the British yoke of empire.

Be that as it may, Kipling was a great writer of short stories and poems. "The Portable Library" offers a representative sample of his work, although any Kipling fan will take exception to excluded treasures. Did the editor inexcusably exclude Kipling's most famous poem? If "If" is in the book I haven't found it. And where is "Mowgli's Brothers" from "The Jungle Book" - perhaps Kipling's most famous and influential story, inspirer of Tarzan, the Boy Scouts, and half a dozen movies? Also missing is "Rikki-tikki-tavi" the tale of a fight between a mongoose and a cobra that has thrilled generations of children. "Fuzzy Wuzzy" isn't here either with those famous lines of admiration for a brave opponent, "So `ere's to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your `ome in the Soudan; You're a pore benighted `eathen but a first-class fightin' man."

Most of Kipling's classic stories are here: "The Man who Would be King" which became one of the best adventure movies ever made; "Dayspring Mishandled," a complex and difficult story of literary revenge; "The Church that Was at Antioch,"a tale of early Christianity that sums up the struggle between Jew and Gentile about as well as anything I have ever read; and a tender story of bi-racial love, "Without Benefit of Clergy." The stories included in this collection illustrate Kipling's enormous range - from barrooms and barracks in India to the workings of a future society.

Kipling's poems are famously quotable: "Mandalay, Gunga Din,", and "Recessional." ("Lest we forget -- lest we forget!") Unlike most other writers of exotica such as Somerset Maugham (his rival as the best short story writer in English, in my humble opinion), Kipling was able to imagine himself as other than a modern Englishman. His ability to speak in the voice of his characters - be they a lowly Cockney soldier, a lonely old woman, a fuzzy-headed soldier of Allah, or a politician of the distant future - is unmatched.

Despite the omission of several of Kipling's best works, this collection includes a number of gems that everyone should read.

Smallchief


Rating:
Summary: An excellent introductory sample of Kipling's work.
Review: The only difficulty with collections of Kipling is that he was so prolific that some pieces must be left out. Since this book's very goal was to be "portable", it suffers slightly from this. But the stories included are generally well-chosen. They span Kipling's entire literary career and range of subjects, from early stories of India to a 1930's science-fiction story. I particularly enjoyed the hilarious "Village that Voted the Earth was Flat", the interview with Mark Twain (a classic), and the devious "Dayspring Mishandled", which were new to me. I was also introduced to the author's series of stories of Privates Ortheris, Mulvaney, and Learoyd by this book. I had previously read "Stalky and Company", and this was like "Stalky and Co. Join the Army". However, several amusing favorites from other books were missing, such as "The Ship That Found Herself" and the story about the Army's animals talking to each other. If you haven't read much Kipling and would like to be introduced to this teller of tales, by all means get this book. If you have read Kipling, be sure to give the Table of Contents a scan for stories you might have missed.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent introductory sample of Kipling's work.
Review: The only difficulty with collections of Kipling is that he was so prolific that some pieces must be left out. Since this book's very goal was to be "portable", it suffers slightly from this. But the stories included are generally well-chosen. They span Kipling's entire literary career and range of subjects, from early stories of India to a 1930's science-fiction story. I particularly enjoyed the hilarious "Village that Voted the Earth was Flat", the interview with Mark Twain (a classic), and the devious "Dayspring Mishandled", which were new to me. I was also introduced to the author's series of stories of Privates Ortheris, Mulvaney, and Learoyd by this book. I had previously read "Stalky and Company", and this was like "Stalky and Co. Join the Army". However, several amusing favorites from other books were missing, such as "The Ship That Found Herself" and the story about the Army's animals talking to each other. If you haven't read much Kipling and would like to be introduced to this teller of tales, by all means get this book. If you have read Kipling, be sure to give the Table of Contents a scan for stories you might have missed.