English 207 Twentieth Century Literatures in English Dr. Kate Scheel www.sfu.ca/~scheel Teaching Assistants: Kasim Husain Matt Reisling Tutorials will be held this week. Bring Kim to tutorial. 1 M T W R F 8:30 Engl 207 lecture Engl 207 lecture AQ 3154 AQ 3154 9:30 Tut. D 1.01 AQ 5019 Tut. D1.05 AQ 4140 Tut. D1.02 AQ 5029 Tut. D1.06 AQ 5015 10:30 Tut. D1.04 BLU 9655 Tut. D1.07 AQ 5048 Rudyard Kipling – brief biography • Named for his parents meeting place at Rudyard Lake, England • 1865 b. Bombay, India • Period of the British “raj” • Raj from Hindi word for ‘reign’ • Father – professor of architectural sculpture • Impressive literary and artistic lineage – his mother’s 3 sisters were married to the thrice prime minister Stanley Baldwin, and the painters Edward Burne Jones and Edward Poynter 2 Kipling • 1871, at 6, sent to school in England – despised it; only respite were the holidays spent with the Burne-Jones • 1876 – Queen Victoria declared ‘Empress of India’ • India ruled by Viceroy (British) Kipling • 1878 – at 13, sent to military prep school; led to his later collection of short stories: Stalky and Co; most of his peers were sons of military officers • Found unsuitable for military career • Oxford University out of reach due to finances and grades 3 Kipling • Father, now a curator of Lahore Museum and Principal of Mayo College of Art in India • Kipling senior got his son a job • 1882, at 17, Rudyard Kipling returned to India to work on Civil and Military Gazette • Reporter and assist editor, but also submitted his stories to the paper • 1888 – Departmental Ditties (poetry) • 1888 – Plain Tales from the Hills • 6 more collections of stories followed 4 Kipling • Transferred to The Pioneer newspaper in Allahabad; was a special correspondent in Rajastan • 1889 – fired from the paper and got 6 mos severance pay • Went to London via Asia and the U.S.; met Mark Twain • Arrived in London as a well known author • 1891 - The Light that Failed ; semi- autobiographical account of an orphan who becomes a correspondent in Sudan • 1892 – Barrack-Room Ballads ; collection of poems, many of which became well-known (“Gunga-Din,” “Mandalay”) 5 • 1892 – became engaged to Caroline Balestier, sister of an American writer and friend • Married in the middle of an influenza epidemic and Henry James gave the bride away • Couple honeymooned in Japan and the U.S. and eventually moved to Vermont • Bought 10 acres and built a home near Caroline’s brother • Wrote the two Jungle Books , began Kim • Had two daughters, became friends with Arthur Conan Doyle 6 • Increasing family and political tensions: • Caroline’s brother was dissolute and a serious dispute developed; led to assault charges and a court case • U.S. and British relations were at a low point • Kipling was attacked in the press • Kiplings moved to England • Novel Captains Courageous published - concerned with men who fish off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland • 1897 – son John born • wrote poem, “Recessional”, for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee • Intertextual reference to Kaiser Wilhelm’s declaration of a higher law; origin of the phrase “lest we forget” • 1899 – declines offered knighthood 7 • Wrote “The White Man’s Burden” in response to U.S. imperialist takeover of Philippines and Cuba; dedicated poem to Teddy Roosevelt • Both poems are controversial: propaganda? satire? • 1899 daughter dies of pneumonia during trip to U.S. • 1901 – publishes Kim • 1902 – purchased Bateman’s in Sussex, England; 33 acres with historical home; no electricity or bathroom; • Now a National Trust property 8 • Refuses knighthood a second time • 1907 awarded Nobel Prize for literature • Used portion of prize money to build rose garden at Bateman’s • 1906 – Puck of Pook’s Hill • 1910 – Rewards and Fairies ; included now heavily anthologized poem, “If” • See change in direction in his work • 1915 – son died at Battle of Loos • Led to poem, “My Boy Jack” • Recent television dramatization of the play • Also wrote Epitaphs of the War , which included the lines: “If any question why we died Tell them, because our fathers lied” 9 Cover of Time Magazine from September 1926 • 1936 – died of perforated ulcer • buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey • Only living daughter never married; no heirs 10 • Current assessments of Kipling’s work are divided • Kim – generally seen as Kipling’s best work • However, issues of race, ethnicity, class, imperialism, gender that may trouble 21 st century readers • What do you think? Epigraph to Chapter 1 of Kim “O ye who tread the Narrow Way By Tophet-flare to Judgement Day. Be gentle when ‘the heathen’ pray To Buddha at Kamakura! (Kim 3) From Kipling poem, “Buddha at Kamakura” Kamakura Centre of Buddhism in Japan 13 m high, cast in 1252 11 Buddhism • Only constant is change • No deity • Founded by Siddhartha Gautama in what is now Nepal • Search for enlightenment • Existence is a cycle of birth, death, rebirth • Suffering arises from desire expressed as greed, ignorance and hatred • Reach enlightenment or nirvana by overcoming attachment, desire “Who hold Zam- Zammah, that ‘fire- breathing dragon’, hold the Punjab, for the great green- bronze piece is always first of the conqueror’s loot” (Kim Kim’s Gun – Lahore, (Pakistan) (from www.ualberta.ca/~rnoor/kim_gun.html) 3). 12 Zam-Zammah or Kim’s gun • Made in Lahore in 1757 • 4.3 m long • Ahmed Shah had it built to conquer India • Shah later won Battle of Panipat in 1761 • Gun called the Zam-zammah • 1762, gun captured by Hari Singh Bhangi • Gun is loot in several wars that follow • During period of the text, the gun is in Lahore (Pakistan does not yet exist) Lahore Museum 13 • Kipling’s father was curator at Lahore Museum form 1875-1894 • Museum has a large collection of antiquities from Tibet, Nepal, the Punjab • Here, called Ajaib-Gher or Wonder-House 14 Juxtaposition of Two Monuments • Both objects cast of metal • Both survived history • Both objects are monuments; represent ideologies that people wish to perpetuate • Immediate tension created between spirituality and military conquest • The statue represents • The gun represents heightened spiritual state successful conquest, of enlightenment; triumph of one person or ‘winning’ or overcoming one nation over another personal weakness within • linked to war, death, • Attempt to overcome hatred desire • desire for territory, power, • Espouse peace plunder • Cyclical time • Establishes hierarchy between conqueror and the victims • Sequential time 15 How are we to reconcile these two dominant images of the book? 16.