The Day's Work

A Kipling anthology. Say what you like about the imperialism and period racism (although Kipling respects other races) they are an extremely good read written by a master of the writing craft.

Recommended.

This is a collection of some of Kipling's finest short stories which dates to the time (1898) when he was living in the US, making regular trips across the Atlantic, and feeling intensely homesick about Englad. Although there is no real organising theme many of the stories are about machines, ships, steam engines, trains and mechanisms (The Ship that found Herself - about a ship whose parts come together in a grand symphonic cacophony as a consequence of her maiden voyage) and men who work or make machines (The Bridge-Builders - about the mystic interaction between a man who designs and builds a bridge across the Ganges and the Hindu gods and goddesses of the River; or 'Bread upon the Waters' - about a Scottish engineer who is sacked by show more a shipping company for refusing to push a ship harder than he thought was safe and who gets his own back by cashing in on the salvage of another ship which is driven to destruction by its foolish owners). THe other theme is animals, though to tell the truth many of the machines are animate as well. This includes one of Kipling's most famous stories, The Maltese Cat, about a polo pony, though A Walking Delegate is another story about horses that also shows Kipling's capacity for characterization. The latter story also includes a repellant anti-Union and anti-Socialist message with a strong under-current of violence. As well as these there are stories about you men of Jingoistic virtue and muscular militarism who Do Their Duty, and typically earn the love a fair lady. WIlliam the Conqueror is about a young couple who are thrown together in the relief effort of a famine in India. William is actually a woman but in Kipling's tale she has the same insouciant devotion to virtue that marks out his imperial saints. Finally, 'The Brushwood Boy' is a romantic fancy about a young man of superhuman capacity: head boy, military genius, adored by his men, who also maintains a busy dream life. He maintains his virginity intact until finally - literally - meeting the girl of his dreams, a woman whose dream country he had been visiting since they were children. A number of stories are marred by anti-Semitism. The 'dream girl' of the last story has a real name - Miriam (a Jew name as the hero announces) - which is swept aside when she affirms her real name is the one for the hero's dream girl, AnnieanLouise.

Not every story is perfect but most are distinguished by clever characterization and odd snatches of mysticism, not to mention the animated machines and humanised animals, that are the hallmark of Kipling's universe. show less

This is a collection of twelve stories, published in 1898, written largely in Vermont, between 1893 and 1896. Four appeared in various magazines in December 1895 – that Christmas it would seem that no matter which magazine you bought to while away a train journey, you were bound to get a story by Kipling. They are set variously in India, America, England, and at sea.

William the Conqueror is on British officers working to relieve famine in India, remarks, ‘It’s all in the day’s work’, and this is the focus of the stories – work, men’s work and duties, generally carried out by pukka junior officers of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, or by Kipling’s favorite type of man, the engineer.

Another consistent thread is show more personification or ventriloquism. A Walking Delegate and The Maltese Cat are both about horses who talk and organize things. The Ship that Found features a ship whose parts speak and argue among themselves. .007 features American steam locomotives who speak & welcome a new recruit to the line. Ian Fleming later garnered 007 from this title, yet it has nada to do with agents.

A number of the stories are in good or wry humor. An Error and My Sunday at Home are comedies about Americans misunderstanding the English; compare and contrast with the fictions on the same subject of Kipling’s friend, Henry James. Stories listed:
"The Bridge-Builders"
"A Walking Delegate"
"The Ship that Found Herself"
"The Tomb of His Ancestors"
"The Devil and the Deep Sea"
"William the Conqueror - part I & part II"
".007"
"The Maltese Cat"
"Bread upon the Waters"
"An Error in the Fourth Dimension"
"My Sunday at Home"
"The Brushwood Boy" show less