Kim

Description

Kim a picaresque Novel by Rudyard Kipling, was published serially in Mc Clure’s Magazine, before being published in book form in 1901. The story is set in India in the backdrop of the political conflict between Russia and Britain, after the end of second Afghan war which ended in 1881. The book portrays people, culture and varied religions in India.

Kim, a boy of Irish descent who is orphaned and grows up independently in the streets of India, is taken care of by a ‘halfcaste’ woman, a keeper of an opium den. Although out and out an Irish boy, he grows up as a ‘native’ and acquires the ability to seamlessly blend into the many ethnic and religi0us group of the Indian subcontinent.  When he meets a wandering Tibetan Lama who is in search of a sacred river, Kim becomes his follower and proceeds on a journey covering the whole of India. Kipling’s account of Kim’s travels throughout the subcontinent gave him the opportunity to  describe the many peoples and cultures that made the fabric of Indian society at that time. A significant portion of the novel is devoted to such description, which have been lauded both as magical and vivionary, and derided as stereotypical and imperialistic.

Kim eventually comes upon the army regiment that his father had belonged to and makes the acquaintance of colonel creighton who recognizes Kim’s great talent for blending in to the many diverse cultures of India and tains him to become aspy and a mapmaker for the British army. The exploits that Kima has as a spy, his endearing relationship with the Lama, and the craftsmanship of Kipling’s writing have made this adventurous and descriptive novel to stand as va minor classic of historical English litreature.

in  1998, the  Modern  Library  ranked  Kim  No.78 on  its  list  of the 100 best English-Language novel of the 20th century.