Plain Tales from the Hills (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) [Paperback]

Rudyard Kipling (Author), H. R. Woudhuysen (Editor), David Trotter (Editor, Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0140183124 | ISBN-13: 978-0140183122 | Publication Date: December 30, 1991

Originally written for the "Lahore Civil and Military Gazette", the stories were intended for a provincial readership familiar with the pleasures and miseries of colonial life. For the subsequent English edition, Kipling revised the tales so as to recreate as vividly as possible the sights and smells of India for those at home. Yet far from being a celebration of Empire, Kipling's stories tell of 'heat and bewilderment and wasted effort and broken faith'. He writes brilliantly and hauntingly about the barriers between the races, the classes and the sexes; and about innocence, not transformed into experience but implacably crushed.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set principally in Shimla, the mountain town and summer capital of the Raj, Kipling's 40 short stories on the manners and mores of British settlers in India are well observed and masterful character studies. Martin Jarvis begins beautifully; his warm voice is a rich and textured instrument, and he becomes Kipling's narrator effortlessly; rather like Fitzgerald's Nick Carraway, Kipling's stand-in casts a camera-like view on the intrigue, pettiness, and genuine tragedies in his little world. There is wit that borders on the Wildean (She was wicked, in a businesslike way. There was never any scandal; she had not generous impulses enough for that). It would be a nearly flawless listen—but for Jarvis's inaccurate and rather cringe-inducing accents for the Indian characters. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

"Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known."  —Henry James

"A prophet of British imperialism."  —George Orwell

"As the age of the European empires recedes, he is recognized as an incomparable, if controversial, interpreter of how empire was experienced.  That, and an increasing recognition of his extraordinary narrative gifts, make him a force to be reckoned with."  —Douglas Kerr, author, George Orwell

"These stories are the best account of the nature of the Victorian Raj ever written."  —Griff Rhys Jones, actor and editor, The Nation's Favourite Twentieth Century Poems

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (December 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140183124
• ISBN-13: 978-0140183122
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,177,156 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia for 60 year olds, August 12, 2006

By 

D. S. Winefield "Stalky" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Plain Tales from the Hills (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

I bought this book to recall the halcyon days of my secondary schooling in the years 1957 - 61. Then the book was an assigned text for all students in English in New Zealand. The language and the concepts were then frankly beyond the comprehension of 15 year olds. As I grew older, I became aware of the position Kipling held in the Late Victorian era, and the period following the end of the First World War.

I came to understand a little of what the British Empire meant in those times, and the great debt owed by the world to the British Army which subdued Iraq, Pakistan, and the Indian Continent for almost 200 years.

Without the benefit of the bomb, with a tiny armed service, and a desire to provide fair and equitable government, the Raj governed fearlessly through the efforts of the thirds sons of many of the great English Families, while the fourth sons provided the humanity of the Church. Patterns we could well emulate again today!

This was bread and butter to Kipling. In his early years as a huge supporter of the system, as a spiritualist after the death of his son in the First World War, and in his later years as the designer of the huge Military Cemetaries established in France and Belgium after the War to the Empire's dead, he truly became in his own words a "Builder of the Silent Cities".

In 2006, the concepts of his writings are remote from many. In terms of the trials of people, and their attempts to rise over their circumstances through a sense of duty and moral propriety, Kipling's works are without peer. For those starting out to discover him, start with "Stalky and Company", and move to this book, and his other works as extended learning. I hope you come to love his simple characters as I have, and that your School System, and its weird sense of Boyhood Literature does not destroy the desire to read Kipling until your late 60's

This book has brought great joy to someone in the prime of life, and brings back some important memories of Scouts, Church and Honour in a time when these are so sadly lacking.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reading, one of my favorites, March 12, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Copperas Cove, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Plain Tales from the Hills (Hardcover)

My copy has 36 stories, but Kipling's Plain Tales tells about life in British-occupied India from every imaginable angle. It's touching, it's funny, and at times it's unbelievably sad. Don't let the author put you off, this is a highly readable book. My personal favorites are "Thrown Away" and "Beyond the Pale", but be careful; they're sad.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the finest collections of short stories in english., May 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Plain Tales from the Hills (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) (Paperback)

Rudyard Kipling writes concisely and with great insight on a wide range of issues. With each story only taking up a few pages the depth of characterisation is superb. 'The gate of one-hundred sorrows' is one of the finest short stories ever written.