Kim

So...with Kipling I feel a lot of things. His politics aren't popular today for good reason. He was an unabashed imperialist and a lot of his work is pretty...odd to read in the modern era, to put it lightly. He's also the first Nobel Laureate on this list that I'd heard of prior to beginning this project. Who hasn't heard of "The Jungle Book", "If", "Gunga Din", "The White Man's Burden", "Just So Stories", etc. etc. Kipling is a legend. He's just...a highly problematic legend.

Name: Rudyard Kipling

Year Won: 1907

 Read: "Kim"

 Original Language: English

 Reason: "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration that characterize the creations of this world-famous author" 

About: Let me start with the very important proviso that Kipling wrote a *lot* and a *lot* what he wrote is good. I've read a number of his works that aren't Kim because it's hard to escape Kipling in the modern, English speaking world. He's foundational. But Kim is considered his masterpiece, so there we go.

Kim follows Kimball O'Hara, a poor Irish orphan (queue some not particularly PC bits about his mother dying in birth with him and his father dying of drink) who runs around India. At some point, he decides to become a chela (disciple) to a lama who is searching for nirvana and follows him happily. Everyone assumes that he's Indian because he speaks the language natively (note that Kipling's first language was an Indian language) and dresses and acts locally, until he finds the goal he's been seeking - the Red Bull - aka his father's regiment.

At this point, everyone wants to treat him like a white boy and he's sent off to school. Kim does not much like school, but eventually leaves and becomes useful for foreign intelligence as he can pass as Indian. (FWIW, while modern readers seem to find this preposterous, I don't. Language, dress and behavior is generally a far greater signal to ethnicity and race than physical looks are.) Anyway, Kim travels with the lama some more, and eventually enlightenment is reached. It's quite...meaningful.

What I Liked: It's a great novel. It's short, it's fun, and it describes a vibrant India that you want to dig your toes in and exist in far beyond the 300 pages that it fills up. Also, this is only *one* of Kipling's works. As noted above, he's created a plethora of classics.

What I Disliked: It is hard to avoid the colonialism. One could argue "oh, but that was a different time" except that Kipling was criticized for it during his time, so...it really is an issue. There are stereotypes all over, some positive, some negative, but...they're all there. some probably were even created due to this book. Yay.

Should it have won a Nobel: Probably. I feel that in this case, a lot depends on what someone wants a Nobel to mean. If the goal is to be, "an upcoming author who espouses ideas we want perpetuated" then hell, no. Kipling shouldn't have gotten one. If it's more for great writing that will continued to be read (and have movies made of it) a hundred years from now, Kipling is perpetual. It's a bit sad that it's the most nationalistic, imperialist author on this list who is the best remembered, but history is rarely socially correct.

 Next up: The Saga of Gösta Berling by Selma Lagerlöf (Again, Rudolf Christoph Eucken isn't in my local library)