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American Notes / Puck Of Pook's Hill

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We've all heard of Puck, the mischievous sprite from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". And even if we haven't, we know the type. The ancient trickster sprite found in every land around the world is a common creature. In "Puck of Pook's Hill", however, Rudyard Kipling establishes Puck as the very soul of England itself. Using Robin Goodfellow as a guide, Kipling is able to adeptly describe a range of important factors that lead to the glory of late nineteenth-century Britain. The result is an enchanting story featuring a beloved literary figure.

Two children living in England decide to act out a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on Midsummer Night itself in an old fairy ring of darkened grass. In so doing, the two accidentally conjure up Puck incarnate. Puck is as old as the land itself, and while all the other fairies and sprites have long left England (all thanks to Henry the VIII, as it happens) he remains. Over the course of the next months, Puck is able to bring forward figures from the English past to speak with the children and tell them stories. These figures include a knight carrying a runic sword, a Roman conqueror (born and raised in England), an artist, and a Jewish money lender who is responsible for the signing of the Magna Carta.

Admittedly, it would help to have a basic working knowledge of English history when approaching this text. Know your Saxons from your Normans. Understand the reasons the Picts hated the Romans (though Kipling is clearly on Rome's side in that struggle). Other details are easily filled in by the author himself, and Kipling is more than willing to use Puck to fill in gaps and misunderstandings for his readers. The piece of land the book takes place on was the actual English land that Kipling himself owned at the time. The modern reader will find a couple usual stereotypes of the era. Africans are like children, ditto the Picts, and I won't even go into the Chinaman included. The Jews, by comparison, are shown a great deal of compassion by the author. Kadmiel (the Jew in question) is an impressive figure that speaks with more nobility than any other figure in the book. So kudos to Kipling for at least one interesting and three-dimensional minority. Bravo indeed.

Some will find this particular Kipling outing slow going. I, personally, thought the book was written quite well. I felt no shudders when I lifted the book up again to peruse it, and despite its deceptively long length it's a quick read. Anyone who wishes to have a basic working knowledge of fairy doings in merry old England would do very well to give old Kipling a look-see.