A New York Times Notable Book of 2019 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 figures-including Freud
and William James-was pervasive and profound. But in recent decades
Kipling's reputation has suffered a strange eclipse. Though his
body of work still looms large, and his monumental poem "If-" 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 States-a rarely discussed but critical piece of evidence in
our understanding of this man and his enduring legacy. Benfey
traces the writer's deep involvement with America over one crucial
decade, from 1889 to 1899, when he 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 wrote The
Jungle Book and Captains Courageous. Had a family dispute not
forced his departure, Kipling almost certainly would have stayed.
Leaving was the hardest thing he ever had to do, Kipling said.
"There are only two places in the world where I want to live," he
lamented, "Bombay and Brattleboro. And I can't live in either." In
this fresh examination of Kipling, Benfey hangs a provocative "what
if" over Kipling's American years and maps the imprint Kipling left
on his adopted country as well as the imprint the country left on
him. If proves there is relevance and magnificence to be found in
Kipling's work.
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