Kipling and Orientalism (Routledge Revivals)

By Bart J. Moore-Gilbert

Book Overview

First published in 1986, this book sets Kipling firmly in the historical context not only of contemporary India but of prior Anglo-Indian writers about India. Despite his enthusiastic reception in England as 'revealer of the East', in India he seems to have been regarded as just one more Anglo-Indian writer. The author demonstrates the traditionalism of Kipling's use of the themes of Anglo-Indian fiction - themes such as the 'White Man's grave', domestic instability, frustration and loneliness. In particular, Kipling is shown to be writing in a strongly conservative idiom, concentrating on the role of the British hierarchy as the determining factor in a response to India, on British insecurity and fears of a repeat of the 1857 mutiny, and regarding Indian institutions only in so far as they represented a threat to British rule. Conservative critiques of liberalism are also discussed.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1138799165
• ISBN13: 9781138799165
• Release Date: May 2014
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"