Dear John
Just to add a little to what Alastair has already
sent, there was an Editorial review of a book about
Kipling and Vermont in the Kipling Journal of December
1997. I have appended this at the bottom of this
email.
There was also a longish article (in two parts) by
Donald L. Hill in the September and December Journal
issues in 1963. I can send this to you if it might be
of interest.
At the time that the Landmark Trust bought Naulakha
and restored it in 1994, there were also various
articles published.
Yours sincerely
David Page
Editor, Kipling Journal
-------------------------------
December 1997_______KIPLING
JOURNAL___________________9
EDITORIAL
THE VERMONT YEARS
Kipling's four years at Brattleboro, Vermont, from
1892 to 1896, were quite unlike any other period in
his life and, in retrospect, are fraught with ironies.
He loved the place, and took immense pleasure in the
design and construction of his very singular house,
Naulakha; his creative talent was at a high pitch,
enabling him to produce during those years some
of his best writing, including The Jungle Books,
Captains Courageous and The Seven Seas; and he
revelled in an extremely happy atmosphere of family
life with his wife and their two infant daughters. Yet
it all ended in a bitter and thoroughly unseemly
wrangle with his brother-in-law, Beatty Balestier, in
circumstances of miserable public humiliation
laced with courtroom farce, culminating in an abject
retreat to England. He never saw Naulakha again.
The tale has been often told, but a new book for the
general reader tells it particularly well. This is
Rudyard Kipling in Vermont by Stuart Murray, published
by Images from the Past, Inc., Bennington, Vermont
05201, at US$29 (or in paperback, $18.95), x + 198
pages, lavishly illustrated. It is a thorough and
balanced account, and it brings out effectively
various key factors in the whole wretched episode.
These included Beatty's chronic drunkenness and
irresponsible lack of financial integrity, Carrie
Kipling's woefully bossy tendency to try to 'manage'
her difficult brother, and Rudyard's personal
vulnerability as a vocally patriotic Englishman
resident in the States during what seemed
like a very real prospect of war owing to the
Venezuela boundary crisis.
The complexity of the characters in the domestic drama
is well brought out. Beatty was not a mere boor but
had an intellectual side; while Rudyard's strident
Britishness was mitigated, if not confused, by a
passionate attachment to his American home; and
Carrie's undoubted capabilities were offset by a
tendency to adopt locally provocative airs
and graces. The whole story contains elements of
tragedy, and this book, which sets the Vermont years
in the context of Kipling's overall career, describes
them very readably and fairly.
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