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Loading... Kim (Norton Critical Editions) (original 1901; edition 2002)by Rudyard Kipling, Zohreh T. Sullivan (Editor)
Work InformationKim [Norton Critical Edition] by Rudyard Kipling (1901)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Unfortunate that an otherwise very thought-provoking and well-constructed collection of background and critical material ended with a hard-core Freudian/Lacanian essay on how the anxieties of Empire spring from displaced desire to kill one’s father and have sex with one’s mother. Written by the editor of this edition. Oh well. There was a lot of that sort of criticism going around once upon a time, so this has archival value. Acquired this volume after a first reading of Kim but certainly plan to reread Kipling’s novel in the light of the many fascinating ideas raised by the critics Sullivan has selected. Fortunately she did not limit herself to those who share her critical position. I think the reason so much criticism has been written on this book is because there are many out there who feel as I do -- that this is a delightful, even beloved novel... but we only wish it took a strong enough stance against British imperialism and other social ills to be a *perfect* book. It's not a perfect book, it is an undeniably problematic book. But beloved nonetheless. I've now listened to this book over the past several weeks and I honestly don't know what I think about it. It makes sense this was originally a serial in a magazine and I think it would have been more enjoyable that way. It was a long story of numerous adventures and the storytelling was definitely interesting as was learning about 19th century India. 'Kim', taken solely on its own terms, is a late 19th century adventure tale, an early spy story, a travelogue of northern India, a coming-of-age story all set in the midst of the Great Game, the Russo-British contest for imperial dominance in Central Asia. It's a good tale well told, if the language is somewhat dated for the modern reader. But, of course, 'Kim' is generally not simply taken on it own terms because its author Rudyard Kipling came to personify British imperialism as much as Lord Kitchener. The Norton Edition includes excellent articles that provide historical context as well as several critical essays. I consider myself an anti-imperialist, but also admittedly somewhat of a romantic about the British Empire, and I did not detect jingoism in 'Kim'. At the end of the day, 'Kim' is quite a good adventure tale and a book that really need to read for yourself. no reviews | add a review
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"Kim (1901) is Rudyard Kipling's story of an orphan born in colonial India and torn between love for his native India and the demands of Imperial loyalty to his Irish-English heritage and to the British Secret Service. Long recognized as Kipling's finest work, Kim was a key factor in his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. Our text is the 1901 first English edition, fully annotated for undergraduate readers and accompanied by maps of India and the Grand Trunk Road." ""Backgrounds" collects selections from Kipling's autobiography, letters, short stories, and poems; four contemporary assessments, including that of the Nobel Prize Committee; an excerpt from Charles Carrington's biography of Kipling; and contextual essays by Blair Kling and Ann Parry." "The thirteen interpretive essays in "Criticism" explore the novel's central themes and suggest the range of Kipling criticism from the 1950s to the present. Noel Annan, Irving Howe, Edward Said, Ian Baucom, A. Michael Matin, John A. McClure, Michael Hollington, Parama Roy, Sara Suleri, Patrick Williams, Suvir Kaul, Mark Kinkead-Weekes, and Zohreh T. Sullivan provide their varied perspectives." "A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are also included."--Jacket. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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