“If
history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” –
Rudyard Kipling
Born
to British parents in India on this date in 1865, Kipling wrote one of
literature’s most innovative tales, The Jungle Book. But
despite its lasting success, during his own lifetime (he died in 1936) it was
not ranked at the top of the many great stories he authored. In his
day his novels Kim and Captains Courageous; his
short story "The Man Who Would Be King;” and his poems "Mandalay,”
and "Gunga Din” were considered even better and more
popular. Those works and many, many others by this great
writer are not only still in print but also extensively studied in writing
programs everywhere.
One
of the most popular writers in the British Empire in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, Kipling was also a journalist, travel
writer, and science fiction editor and
writer. His cumulative writing skills earned him the Nobel Prize in
Literature at age 42, both the first English-language writer and the youngest
person ever to earn this pinnacle writing award.
“We
are,” Kipling said, “the opening verse of the opening page of the chapter of
endless possibilities.”
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