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Biography
Joseph Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling was called a chameleon man: no one could ever tell what he really was, always finding himself between two worlds.
A white man born in India; the hope of the family and an abandoned child; a storyteller and "the singer of British imperialism".
He was born on December 30, 1865 in India, in Bombay.
Compared to the prim, foggy England, Bombay, with its warmth and bright colors, resembled a fairy tale.
Alice and Lockwood Kipling met in England, at Rudyard Lake, and they decided to name their son after the place of their first meeting.
Kipling's parents were creative people.
John Lockwood Kipling ran the Bombay School of Applied Arts, and it was said of Alice Kipling (nee MacDonald): "Boredom and Mrs. Kipling never meet in the same room."
His father explained to the boy from an early age that everything needs to be experienced by himself.
When Rudyard was six years old, he and his three year old sister Alice were sent to England, to a private boarding school in Southsea.
Rudyard recalled the next six years with horror.
The prim lady Mrs. Holloway, with whom he lived, beat him for any offense.
After learning that the boy likes to read, Holloway began to take away his books as punishment for bad behavior.
The next educational institution - the Devon Military School was a turning point in the fate of the young man.
"Order teaches a person to unquestioningly fulfill his role in society, instills a sense of duty and corporate spirit" - he wholeheartedly accepted this principle, along with a deep respect for military service.
The headmaster of the school, Cormell Price, became a real spiritual mentor of the future writer.
It was Price who first realized that Kipling was a gifted writer.
After graduating from college, his father found Rudyard a job in the editorial office of the Civil and Military Newspaper, in India.
Kipling called the newspaper he worked for his "first mistress and true love".
Assistant editor in chief, Rudyard enthusiastically and enthusiastically led the gossip column, wrote reports, stories and poems to the newspaper.
In these stories there was life itself, the real life of India: Kipling, as a boy, admired the secrets and secrets of this country These stories for the newspaper were included in the first collections of Kipling, and when they became known in England, one of the influential critics said: "A genius has been born."
Soon he went on a trip along the route India Burma - Singapore China Hong Kong Japan USA England.
He had a goal: he was going to conquer London.
H. G. Wells described Kipling as follows: "This small man in glasses, with a mustache and a massive chin, gesticulating vigorously, Lyrically reveling in the colors, colors and aromas of the empire with boyish enthusiasm... he has become almost a national symbol."
Together with Walcott, Rudyard wrote the novel "Naulaka": Kipling was the author of the Indian chapters, Balestier – the American ones.
This novel was unsuccessful, unlike the other – Kipling's novel with Caroline.
Rudyard liked the active, practical and independent American woman very much - and his mother did not like her.
"There is as much romance in our life as it is useful for us.
Sometimes even more, " Kipling wrote.
Caroline was three years older than Rudyard, and many biographers painted her with gloomy colors: someone believed that she was always a little out of her mind, someone called her one of the most unhappy women of her generation, they said that Kipling married her only because he loved strong, powerful women.
Anyway, the wedding took place in January 1892.
New England is an amazingly beautiful place.
Here Rudyard began the "Jungle Book" , and Caroline gave birth to Kipling's favorite daughter Josephine.
This happened in December 1892.
Josephine's birthday was 29, Rudyard's birthday was 30, Caroline's birthday was December 1: "What a wonderful sense of time!" said the young father.
Soon Kipling built his own house, which he called "Naulaka" - "priceless treasure" ("nine hundred thousand rupees") The Kiplings ' second daughter, Elsie, and son, John, were born in Naulak.
we went to South Africa.
There it was just going to the Anglo Boer war.
Kipling enthusiastically promoted it, being proud of his imperialist views.
It became so popular that British officers imitated the lifestyle and manner of speech of Kipling's heroes until the very beginning of the First World War.
Propaganda and glorification of the empire brought the writer not only fame, but also contempt, and sometimes hatred of his compatriots.
One after another, misfortunes fell on Kipling.
First, his beloved uncle died, then his sister Alice became seriously ill.
And in 1899, Rudyard himself and his eldest daughter fell ill with pneumonia.
Rudyard was in critical condition for a long time, and Josephine did not cope with the illness.
She died, but the writer was not told about it, fearing that the news of Josephine's death would kill the weakened Rudyard.
Kipling's father later wrote: "Poor Rudyard told his mother how he sees the girl when the door opens or a seat at the table is empty, how she comes to him from every shady corner in the garden, comes out radiant and tears his soul apart."
After this loss, Rudyard, along with the remaining family members, left America forever and settled in England.
He finished and published the main novel of his life - "Kim".
The Earth, Water, Air and People seemed to conspire to give me ten times more material than I could use..."
The books were received with triumph and were translated into more than twenty languages during Kipling's lifetime.
And a year after the publication of the stories about Puck, he was awarded the highest of all possible awards in the world: in 1907, Kipling became the Nobel Laureate, the first English writer and the youngest of those awarded this prize.
His record has not yet been broken: Kipling was only 42 years old at the time of the award.
Kipling was always very gentle with his children, tried to fulfill all their wishes - but as far as principles were concerned, he could not back down.
His wife, Caroline, once expressed their common opinion: "Why does the son of our friends or neighbors have to die in order for our own son to stay alive?"
John Kipling was not taken into the army because of myopia, but Rudyard used his connections to get his son accepted into the Irish Guards.
The dream went missing.
After the First World War, he lived in seclusion.
It even got to the point that one of the magazines announced his death.
"I just found out that I'm dead," Kipling wrote in response.
"Please donot forget to remove me from your list of subscribers."
He outlived his two children, many friends and his own fame.
In 1935, Kipling unexpectedly took up an autobiography.
3 he did not have time to finish it: in January 1936, Rudyard Kipling died.
At his funeral, there were only "people of business": the coffin, covered with the British flag, was carried by Prime Minister Stebly Baldwin and Field Marshal Montgomery.
Telegrams of condolences came from the king, queen and members of the royal family, the ambassadors of France, Brazil, Italy, and Belgium attended the funeral.
In his obituary, George Orwell wrote: "At the age of 13 I idolized Kipling, at 17 I hated him, at 20 I admired him, at 25 I despised him, and now I am again under his influence, unable to free myself from his charms."
He always wrote about people like himself - about those who do their job well and appreciate order.
He read his stories aloud to his family and always knew how to laugh at himself.
He loved his wife and was gentle with his children.
Despite all the gossip, "iron Rudyard" was actually an ordinary person, a "little Pilgrim", as he called himself in the stories.
© Natalia Mostakova.
Stavropol 2009.
©
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