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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Bits of Kiplingana 

More News from the Empire


If you can find each copy of this God-forsaken twaddle
Unearth the final, ugly illuminated special ed
The pirated one put out by Hurst & Co.
And every bloomin' scrap o' paper with "If"
Printed orn it - and trash and burn each one
And bust the mouth of 'im 'oo dares to quote it
I don't know if you'll be a man, but you'll have done us all a big favour.

— J. Eager Retard, "Thoughts about Kipling"

Something not many people know: ".007" was originally the name of a steam locomotive described by Rudyard Kipling in a story of the same name, an eight-wheeled American "loco", and kind of shy and self-deprecating among his more arrogant yard-fellows. The story is usually found in the collection The Day's Work (1898), which is now somewhat neglected.

Perhaps people have been a trifle hard on Kipling. In later years he was a somewhat subdued figure, having lost his son in the war, and I suspect many of his views were tempered by events of the early 20th century.

On the other hand, his popularity was enormous at its peak. It is probably impossible for a writer these days to enjoy anything remotely like it. Not only is the readership not there but people have more and better ways of entertaining themselves.


— posted by P. Drāno at 7:16 PM 0 Comments

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