Rudyard Kipling, one of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, is seldom read today. This wonderful collection, edited by Stephen Jones with an introduction by Neil Gaiman, shows Kipling’s story-telling talents to their fullest. I found this 800 page hardcover book in the Bargain Bin at Barnes & Noble for a pittance. If you want a one-volume collection of many of Kipling’s best short stories, this is it.
Table of Contents
The vampire
The dream of Duncan Parrenness —
The city of dreadful night —
An Indian ghost story in England —
The phantom ‘rickshaw —
The strange ride of Morrowbie Jukes —
The unlimited draw of Tick Boileau —
In the house of Suddhoo —
The Bisara of Pooree —
Haunted subalterns —
By word of mouth —
The recurring smash —
The dreitarbund —
Bubbling well road —
The sending of Dana Da —
My own true ghost story —
Sleipner, late Thurinda —
The man who would be king —
The solid muldoon —
Baboo Mookerji’s undertaking —
The joker —
The wandering Jew —
The courting of Dinah Shadd —
The mark of the beast —
At the end of the passage —
The recrudescence of Imray —
The finances of the gods —
The finest story in the world —
Children of the zodiac —
The lost legion —
A matter of fact —
The bridge-builders —
The brushwood boy —
The tomb of his ancestors —
Wireless —
“They” —
With the night mail : a story of 2000 AD —
The house surgeon —
The knife and the naked chalk —
In the same boat —
As easy as A.B.C.: a tale of 2150 AD —
Swept and garnished —
Mary Postgate —
The village that voted the earth was flat —
A madonna of the trenches —
The wish house —
The gardener —
The eye of Allah —
On the gate: a tale of ’16 —
The appeal.
It’s true. I’ve read more about Kipling than I’ve read of him. At one point he was a friend of Henry James, for example. THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING would be a good choice for a “Forgotten Movie” selection. PBS did an adaptation of his “My Boy Jack” a few years ago, with David Haig (who adapted it as a play) as Kipling and Daniel Radcliffe as the pathetic Jack.
I’ve always had Kipling on my “read some day” list but so far that day hasn’t come.
I’ve read plenty of Kipling, Jeff. Today, Kipling is reviled as a “colonial” writer by those who are Politically Correct. I admire Kipling as a great story-teller.
I prefer his historical and adventure stories to his horror and (so-called) fantasy, so this wouldn’t be the go-to collection for me. Thus I’ll stick with my anthologies of The Short Fiction of Kipling, the Kipling Anthology (containing Just So Stories, Kim, Puck of Pook’s Hill, Stalky and Co., the first and second Jungle Books, The Man Who Would Be King and Gunga Din. I also like his verse and have the Complete Verse (“definitive edition” – 840 pages!)
As for political correctness, I could care less what what the PC thought police think.
I’m with you on the PC, Rick. But it has an effect on what authors get taught in schools and colleges. Kipling isn’t taught much anymore.
That adaptation of My Boy Jack was very well done, I thought.
You’re right, Rick. That adaptation of MY BOY JACK was very well done.
That’s what happens when politics, instead of education, rule the classroom.
You’re spot on, Rick! People who know nothing about educating students are calling the shots on curriculum issues.
Um…I think Kipling isn’t reviled by folks who’ve actually read him, and take away the message that he wasn’t All That Impressed by the imperialists.
So-called fantasies, Rick? Why are JUST SO STORIES and THE JUNGLE BOOKs not fantasies?
The literary gatekeepers haven’t read Kipling, Todd. They just know his reputation and his “white man’s burden” line.