Indian Topic in R. Kipling’s early Creative Art («Plain Tales from the Hills», 1888): An Alternative View

Posudiyevska, Olga

doi:10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.79.29

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Indian Topic in R. Kipling’s early Creative Art («Plain Tales from the Hills», 1888): An Alternative View

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Abstract:

This article presents the study of Rudyard Kipling’s early pieces of writing (the collection of stories Plain Tales from the Hills, 1888). The author proposes an alternative view to the consideration of the writer’s literary heritage from the position of jingoism and propagation of the civilizing mission of the British Empire, which can still be encountered in academic research. The analysis of Plain Tales from the Hills suggests that the praise of British imperialism was not the main idea of Kipling’s early works. The researcher comes to the conclusion that Kipling did not regard India as a conquered barbarous land which the British people had to civilize. This remote exotic country became a motherland for a representative of Anglo-Indian society, who was born in Indian environment. Kipling’s love for India is felt in his strive to give a detailed description of exotic locations and ethnographic peculiarities and even to restore the manner of speech of Indian population. The reader of Plain Tales from the Hills can perceive the author’s respect for the English and Indian people, working in harsh climate, his interest and great sympathy with the aboriginal population, living in hard social conditions under the British rule. The sarcastic remarks of his characters, which reflect Kipling’s doubt in the beneficial role of the British Empire in the lives of the Indian people, finally refute the statement about the writer’s glorification of the imperialistic policy of Great Britain as the main aim of his creative art.

Info:

Periodical:

International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences (Volume 79)

Pages:

29-32

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.79.29

Citation:

O. Posudiyevska, "Indian Topic in R. Kipling’s early Creative Art («Plain Tales from the Hills», 1888): An Alternative View", International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, Vol. 79, pp. 29-32, 2017

Online since:

October 2017

Authors:

Olga Posudiyevska

Keywords:

Anglo-Indian Unity, Civilizing Mission, Exotic Space, Jingo-Imperialistic Position, Motherland, Own/Alien Environment, Tolerance to the «Alien»

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Open Access

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

References:

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