Plain Tales from the Hills

By Dart Veider

Plain Tales from the Hills Rudyard Kipling's first collection of short stories established his reputation and brought India to the British imagination. Including the stories 'Lispeth' 'Beyond the Pale' and 'In the Pride of His Youth' they tell of soldiers wise children exiles forbidden romances and divided identities creating a rich portrait of Anglo-Indian society. Originally published for a newspaper in Lahore when Kipling was a journalist the tales were later revised by him to re-create as vividly as possible the sights and smells of India for readers at home. Far from being a celebration of empire these stories explore the barriers between races classes and sexes and convey all the tensions and contradictions of colonial life. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140432876
• ISBN13: 9780140432879
• Release Date: June 1987
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A terrific introduction to Kipling (Penguin softcover details)

Here we have a compendium of forty-two brief (3-8 pages each) tales of Colonial life, and originally targeted for those already familiar with an existence in India. Most of these charming stories were originally published in the Lahore "Civil and Military Gazette" (1888) but Kipling subsequently revised the tales (1890, as "Plain Tales from the Hills"), injecting them with more of the details and flavours of India so that...

Great stories, decent edition

The stories are wonderful. I've read a decent amount of Kipling and am always pleased to find more of them. This particular collection contains a bunch of really charming tales that range from funny through tragic. These types of short stories remind me why I love Kipling so much. As with all Kipling, it's worth noting that he was a product of his time and some of his writing could be considered offensive to the modern...

Nostalgia for 60 year olds

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...

One of the finest collections of short stories in english.

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.

Excellent reading, one of my favorites

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.