Choice 评论

This critical investigation of Kipling's fiction is organized around dramatic social and psychological themes, some of which prevailed in the Anglo-Indian tales; others were prominent in the war stories or present in Kipling's fantastic allegories and children's stories. Prominent themes include: "society's importance in creating and maintaining an individual's values and sanity," and alternately, "the claustrophobic restrictions that can accompany life when community is too present"; "the importance of work as a contribution to the general good and as a stabilizing force in one's own life"; and the value of caring craftsmanship, sacrifice, and love, not only to society but to the individual who so frequently in the tales finds himself in darkness, grasping at the edges of a world whose order is crumbling. Bauer warns against reading Kipling as merely an apologist for British Imperialism. She acknowledges that his sympathies were frequently given to the ruling order--these very sympathies were the cause of Kipling's decline in popularity for many years--but his stories evince a deep respect and appreciation for the peoples and cultures of the colonies. Bauer examines Kipling's craft and highlights his sensitivity to visual detail. Concise and accessible, the text and accompanying brief essays provide an excellent guidebook for the Kipling student. Upper-division undergraduate and up. D. Coshnear; formerly, CUNY City College