Rudyard Kipling, Life's Handicap

Douglas Kerr (University of Hong Kong)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1891

Places

India (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story Collection

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Kipling was 25 and already a phenomenon when

Life's Handicap

was published in London and New York in 1891. Only three of the volume's 27 tales appeared here for the first time, the others having first seen the light of day in various magazines and other collections. Almost all the tales are set in India and they testify to Kipling's vocation, to educate and thrill the British (and the Americans) with an inventory of the sounds and colours, delights and horrors, duties and passions to be experienced in the East.

The volume is subtitled “Being Stories of Mine Own People”, suggesting that Kipling was already taking himself seriously as the storyteller of a national or ethnic experience; but to judge by the contents of the tales, Kipling's “Own People” included Indians, and the book

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1138 words

Citation: Kerr, Douglas. "Life's Handicap". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3939, accessed 20 April 2024.]

Save this article