RUDYARD KIPLING
English author (1865-1936)
Biography:
Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, in 1865. He spend his childhood in Italy and he was sent to England to study. In 1882 he went back to India, where he collaborated in Lahore Civil and Military Gazette and later on, in Pioneer (1887-1889). At the age of 21 he published his first compillation of poems, Departamental Ditties (1886) and the following year, his first short-story book Main Tales from the Hills (1887). His tales are told in a vivid and direct style, imitating the Indian jargon of soldiers.
In The Seven Seas (1896) he reproduced the mailings between Japan and United States, but he feels tempted by novels and tries his best in The Light that Failed (1891). He sets off in a long journey and meets Caroline Storr Balestier, to whom he gets marries in 1892. They settle down in Vermont, where he writes his best known novels, influenced by America: The Jungle Book (1894), The second Jungle Book (1895) and Captains Courageous (1897). He opens up a series of books for children, followed by the publication of Just So Stories for Children (1902) and Puck of Pook's Hill (1906). Some of his other great novels are Soldiers Three (1888) and Kim (1901), the story of an Irish child who follows a Tibetian monk.
In 1896, Rudyard Kipling goes back to England and settles definitively in a samell village in Surrey. He was given the Novel Prize in 1907. He died in London in 1936.
Rudyard Kipling, author of illustrated works:
Le Livre de la Jungle, illustrated by Maurice de Becque, Kra, 1930.
Just So Stories, illustrated by Thea Kliros, Dover Children's Thrift Classics, 1992.
The Story of Mowgly in The Jungle Book, illustrated by Thea Kliros, Dover Children's Thrift Classics, 1995.
La Baleine et son gosier, illustrated by Pauline Baynes, Delagrave, 1984.
Le Livre de la jungle, illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus, Rouge et Or, 1987.
Le chat qui s'en allait tout seul, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1992.
L'Histoire de la baleine et de son gosier, illustrated by May Angeli, Le Sorbier, 1993.
Comment le rhinocéros s'est fait la peau, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1993.
Comment le léopard s'est fait des taches, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1993.
Comment il pousse une bosse au chameau, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1993.
L'Eléphant d'éléphant, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1994.
Le papillon qui tapait du pied, Le Sorbier, 1994.
Le Livre de la Jungle, illustrated by Anne Tonnac, Hachette, 1994.
Comment on fabriqua l'alphabet, éditions du Sorbier, 1995.
La première lettre, illustrated by May Angeli, Le Sorbier, 1995.
Le Refrain du vieux kangourou, illustrated by May Angeli, éditions du Sorbier, 1996.
Le crabe qui jouait avec la mer, illustrated by May Angeli, Le Sorbier, 1996.
Le début des tatous, illustrated by May Angeli, Le Sorbier, 1996.
Histoires comme ça !, illustrated by May Angeli, Le Sorbier, 1998.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, illustrated by Danuta Mayer, Gründ, 1999.
Critical analysis on Rudyard Kipling:
"Le mystère Kipling ou le syndrome de Lahore", documentary film by Francis Gillery (2000)