POST-COLONIAL LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN EDU32PLC Lecture 4 From the Colonial to the Post-colonial: Rudyard Kipling and Kim © La Trobe University, David Beagley 2005

Some references

Binaries The colonial context - Explorer/Discovery Civilized/Primitive Ruler/Ruled Parent/Child All based in the essence of: Superior/Inferior Breaking away from these mutual dependencies is the beginning of post-colonialism

Rudyard Kipling b Bombay, India, d London UK Father a teacher in the Indian Service Kipling brought up by an ayah - Hindustani as 1st language 1871 family returned to Britain 1878 entered United Services College 1882 returned to India as newspaper reporter 1888 began publishing stories, poetry and novels 1901 published Kim 1907 won the Nobel Prize for Literature Buried in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey

Rudyard Kipling – influences? Early childhood culturally Indian, but family Imperial English 1871 left for 5 years in a cruel foster home in England Poor eyesight and mediocre results prevented a military career 1886 becomes a Freemason in an Indian lodge with mixture of cultures 1892 married American Caroline Starr Balestier and moved to the USA 1896 returned to England after death of his daughter, ongoing marriage difficulties 1916 son John killed in WW1

Kipling’s works Many and varied works and styles, such as: Poetry - Barrack Room Ballads (1891) – praising common soldiers on Indian service, incl. Gunga Din, The White Man’s Burden (1912), and many during early WW1 “Imperial” stories – The Man who would be King, Soldiers Three, Stalky and Co. Children’s stories – The Jungle books (1890s), Just So Stories (1902), Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906) – “dry, droll” voice

India – the Jewel in the Crown The major single part of the British Empire Included modern India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka, and extended into Burma and Afghanistan British provided the civil service, social infrastructure, military structure and command, and commercial system (and reaped huge profits). Frequent battles against borders – North West Frontier, Khyber Pass, the Russian threat – the Great Game Hugely multi-cultural with more cultural influence on Britain than it realised Social attitudes (esp. caste system) enabled Britain’s imperial structure to maintain control

Kim - the novel Generally considered Kipling’s best novel, and a key part of him winning the Nobel Prize No. 78 on NY Times’ “Best 100 novels of the 20 th century” (2000) Filmed several times with Errol Flynn, 1987 with Peter O’Toole & Bryan Brown A literary product of its times: vocabulary and grammar, extended structure, background detail, reflecting the nature of reading at that time

Kim – some themes Picaresque novel – the rogue/adventurer on his journey Search for identity –Kim’s or Kipling’s? –Indian or English? –Controlled or independent? –Destiny or Choice? Search for Peace –Lama vs Creighton –Great game vs Mystic river

Kim – the friend of all the world Many cultures, multicultures, of India, and Kim moves through them all Castes and social groups - “High-born”, Low-born”: Sahibs, scholars, traders, priests, soldiers, brothels, spies Does he use, or is he used by (or does he just encounter):  The lama  Colonel Creighton  The regiment and its priests  Mahbub Ali  Hurree Babu  The widow of Kulu Kim, the literary device: an observer of the variety of India, rather than a controller of action.

Spying - Searching - Finding The Great Game - the defence of Empire Kim’s game - hiding, observing Never ending, no final winners The Mystic river Real or metaphorical? River of humanity on the road? Never ending, step in - step out

I am Kim. And what is Kim? Identity is a key theme 1.Kim as a person - who and where is his family? 2.Kim as a citizen - British or Indian, to whom does he owe civic duty? 3.India as a place/nation/culture Must it be ruled by Britain to survive? Does it have its own integrity apart from Britain? Can the British Empire survive without it?