If: The Untold Story of Kipling's American Years

If: The Untold Story of Kipling's American Years

A unique exploration of the life and work of Rudyard Kipling in Gilded Age America, from a celebrated scholar of American literature

At the turn of the twentieth century, Rudyard Kipling towered over not just English literature but the entire literary world. At the height of his fame in 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming its youngest winner. His influence on major figuresâ€”including Freud and William Jamesâ€”was pervasive and profound. But in recent decades Kiplingâ€™s reputation has suffered a strange eclipse. Though his body of work still looms large, and his monumental poem â€œIfâ€”â€ is quoted and referenced by politicians, athletes, and ordinary readers alike, his unabashed imperialist views have come under increased scrutiny. In If, scholar Christopher Benfey brings this fascinating and complex writer to life and, for the first time, gives full attention to Kipling's intense engagement with the United Statesâ€”a rarely discussed but critical piece of evidence in our understanding of this man and his enduring legacy.
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Benfey traces the writerâ€™s deep involvement with America over one crucial decade, from 1889 to 1899, when heÂ lived for four years in Brattleboro, Vermont, and sought deliberately to turn himself into a specifically American writer. It was his most prodigious and creative period, as well as his happiest, during which he wroteÂ The Jungle BookÂ andÂ Captains Courageous. Had a family dispute not forced his departure, Kipling almost certainly would have stayed. LeavingÂ was the hardest thing he ever had to do, Kipling said. â€œThere are only two places in the world where I want to live,â€ he lamented, â€œBombay and Brattleboro. And I canâ€™t live in either.â€
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In thisÂ fresh examination of Kipling,Â Benfey hangs a provocative â€œwhat ifâ€ over Kiplingâ€™s American years and maps the imprint Kipling left on his adopted country as well as the imprint the country left on him.Â If proves there is relevance and magnificence to be found in Kiplingâ€™s work.
Country USA
Brand Penguin Press
Manufacturer Penguin Press
Binding Hardcover
Color Cream
ReleaseDate 2019-07-09
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780735221437

Country	USA
Brand	Penguin Press
Manufacturer	Penguin Press
Binding	Hardcover
Color	Cream
ReleaseDate	2019-07-09
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780735221437

If: The Untold Story of Kipling's American Years

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