The Study On Kipling’s Novels And Short Stories

Rudyard Kipling was born on December30th,1865and died on January18th,1936. Hewas an English author and poet, who was born in Bombay, British India. The controversyabout him continued for much of the20th century. It seems that those various criticisms standin diametrical opposition to each other. In1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature,making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and he remains itsyoungest-ever recipient. But his literary mainstream position is still controversial. Kiplingalso came to be seen as a “prophet of British imperialism” and many saw prejudice andmilitarism in his works, but in the socialist Soviet Union，America，France and Canada, hewas deeply loved by people who can fairly freely recite his works aloud. In the literaryworld, his master’s position has been questioned; however, many of his works are enduringclassics of literature.On the basis of thematic and narrative studies, the paper tries to explain the Kipling’sview of the relations of nature, society and humankind, and also the particularity of Kipling’sworldview and concept of history. Kipling irreverently recognizes the human crisis associatedwith technological civilization, and proposed people-oriented concept, which refers to theessence of all human activities to be people’s survival, security and self-esteem. He alsodenies the effectiveness of democracy in the specific implementation process, and stresses thenecessities of centralization.This paper includes three parts: the introduction chapter, five body chapters and theconclusion chapter.The introduction will give a brief review on the cultural environment of the societyduring the last decade of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century inBritain. The paper will illustrate that Kipling acquired a new quality and aesthetic characterwith the expansion of the material world and the lost of spiritual world. The Paper will alsotry to discover the inevitable result on the literature method and try to summarize that Kiplingnot only inherited but also went beyond traditional realism and deepened it under the newsituation in Britain. Meanwhile Kipling’s works are also the inspiration of the moderncivilization; his best works speak to a versatile and luminous narrative gift. This chapter willsummarize worldwide study on Kipling, including translations in China，and researches withKipling’s novels，and will include with existing inadequacies and shortcomings with currentresearch areas. The chapter will illustrate the topic, and the necessity and urgency of theresearch，which will determine the value and significance of the Paper.The main body of the thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter and the second chapter analyze the features of the theme, the narrative characteristics, and symbolism,allegory and personification of the Kipling’s novels. This paper considers that his novel hasinherited and developed the simplicity of previous novels, while with more modernity.Then, this paper from three aspects (the narrator, narrative focalization and narrative time)analyzes the narrative characteristics of the novels. Although his narrative style is unique, itcarries typically realistic features of the Vitoria times. On the basis of the text analysis, thisthesis has gradually explained the connotation of the Kipling’s thought.Chapter three, Chapters four and five are about the thought of the novels. It aims toresolve the relations between “Man and Nature”,“man and society” and “Man and the self”.Thus it indicates value of the existence of the human spirit and the depth of concern andexploration. The fourth chapter analyzes the aesthetic feature of the novels, and points out thesubversive deconstruction of absolute justice and morality, and emphasizes justice and moralvalues. The fifth chapter discusses the concept of connotation of his novels.The conclusion part mainly discusses how Kipling presents the traditional moral themein a new way, which is regarded as the prominent quality in defining him as a modernnovelist. This part makes the overall evaluation and elucidation of Kipling’s novels, whichare recognized as an ultra-era inspiration and forward-looking interpretation, with theliberation and spiritual salvation of humans from material bondage.