Rudyard Kipling

by Helen Pike Bauer

This study of representative stories from the enormous body of short works by Rudyard Kipling reflects the recent revival of serious critical interest in the author perhaps best known for such children's stories as "'Rikki-tikki-tavi'" and "How the Camel Got His Hump." Helen Pike Bauer explores the full range of his short fiction, from the coming-of-age tales of Mowgli the jungle boy to the tragicomedy of "The Man Who Would Be King" to the spirituality of "They.". Earlier views of Kipling gave short shrift to the complexity and sophistication of his narrative technique and the profoundness of his thematic concerns. Here Bauer both considers those aspects of his work that have always been part of his appeal - a vivid evocation of exotic setting, a compelling treatment of men and women in crisis, an understanding of the pains and pleasures of childhood - and explores newly discovered areas of interest - a complex narrative line, an ironic and ambivalent tone, and a poetic use of language