English, Scottish, & Welsh Fiction, Short Story Collections (Single Author), Politics & Social Issues - Fiction

Plain Tales From The Hills

Name: Plain Tales From The Hills
Author: Rudyard Kipling
ISBN: 9781142007171

by Rudyard Kipling

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Overview

Witty, wry, sometimes cynical, sometimes pathetic, the Plain Tales with their brevity and concentration of effect are a landmark in the history of the short story as an art-form.

First published in 1888, Plain Tales from the Hills was Kipling's first volume of prose fiction. Most of the stories it includes had already appeared in the Civil and Military Gazette; all were written before he reached the age of 22; and they show a remarkably precocious literary talent. His vignettes of life in British India a hundred years ago give vivid insights into Anglo-India at work and play, into barrack-room life, and into the character of Indians themselves.

This edition contains two stories which appeared in the original series but were not included in the collected volume.

This volume contains a selection of powerful stories about life in British India.

About the Author, Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Joseph Kipling was born in Bombay in 1865. In 1982 he started work as a journalist in India, and while there produced a body of work, stories, sketches and poems – notably Plain Tales from the Hills (1888) – which made him an instant literary celebrity when he returned to England the following year. In 1901 Kim appeared and was followed in 1902 by the Just So Stories. Tales of every kind – including historical and science fiction – continued to flow from his pen, but Kim is generally thought to be his greatest long work, putting him high among the chroniclers of British expansion. He was the first English writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize, in 1907. He died in 1936 and his autobiographical Something of Myself was published the following year.