Stalky and Co [Paperback]

Rudyard Kipling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0543895866 | ISBN-13: 978-0543895868

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare s finesse to Oscar Wilde s wit, this unique collection brings together works as diverse and influential as The Pilgrim s Progress and Othello. As an anthology that invites readers to immerse themselves in the masterpieces of the literary giants, it is must-have addition to any library.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: Adamant Media Corporation (November 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0543895866
• ISBN-13: 978-0543895868
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,925,078 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun -- and much more realistic than Hughes, January 5, 2011

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Stalky and Co (Paperback)

While rereading _Tom Brown's Schooldays_ recently, I began to remember that Kipling had also written a "school novel," and I went and found this one -- which turns out to be rather a good antidote for the high-mindedness of Hughes's book. The boarding school it depicts is located in Devon and is based on the United Services College, which Kipling attended in the late 1870s and early `80s. It's a very different sort of operation than Rugby, as its explicit mission is to prepare young men for military careers, mostly via Sandhurst. In fact, three-quarters of the students are the sons of army officers (most were born abroad) and they're inclined to go into the family business, especially in the Indian Army (which is not the same thing as the British Army). There are three main characters inhabiting Study 5, all of them fascinating and each of them a trial to the headmaster and the school's staff. Beetle -- whose goals are journalistic and literary, not military -- is based largely on Kipling himself. Stalky -- whose real name in the book is Arthur Corkran -- and M'Turk also have their real-life counterparts. The trio's adventures are episodic since the chapters originally were serialized in magazines, but there's plenty of internal continuity. In the first section, the boys are hiding out in the cliffside thickets on a nearby landowner's property -- it's a handy and secret place to smoke -- when they espy a gamekeeper shooting at a fox. M'Turk's Irish is up at such ungentlemanly behavior and he forthrightly approaches the landowner and demands an accounting, with the result that the three are given the run of the estate. Of course, that opens up all sorts of possibilities in baiting the school's authorities. Subsequent chapters detail the ways in which the three cause headaches among the staff, especially the pompous and officious Mr. King, the classics master, who's just asking for it (and whom the other masters don't much like, either). Interestingly, Stalky and his cohorts never dishonor themselves by lying, or even by breaking the more important rules, and they take their thrashings phlegmatically when they get caught. What they do is lay logical traps for the powers that be, and for self-important seniors among the student body. Nor are they unintelligent. And they have great respect, even love, for the headmaster himself, as shown in the chapter about the possible diphtheria outbreak. They're also perfectly aware of what their futures may hold, as they read the posted news stories about ex-student army officers who have died in Her Majesty's service. ("That's nine of ours, now, right?") The epilogue is set a decade or more later when a number of the Old Boys, now mid-level military officers and engineers and colonial administrators, hold a reunion and catch up on each other's lives. This includes being entranced by the stories of how Stalky (now Capt. Corkran) and his company of Sikhs have ingeniously revisited some of his old school tricks on the enemy in the Punjab. Even though he was a romantic when it came to the Empire, Kipling also was keen on describing the details of the real world. Stalky is very much not Tom Brown.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic childhood adventure, September 26, 2010

By 

Ward Wilson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalky and Co (Paperback)

A masterful work of prose fiction, Kipling's labor of love fictionalizing his own riotous school days in a British boarding school is what we used to call a classic work of literature (before "classic" became advertising argot for "last year.") This work has stood the test of time because of the intelligence of its heros, the sheer fun of their adventures and the pitch-perfect dialogue, in which Kipling shows himself at his best. I love this book and am neither British not do I think as highly of colonialism as Kipling did. It's marvelous fun and I recommend it unreservedly.