I'm wondering whether anyone knows if research has been done on Kipling
and the artists who illustrated his stories in magazines.
This train of thought has been sparked off by the (I think) rather good
illustrations by J.Dewar Mills for 'The Gardener' in the Strand
Magazine, May, 1926.
I'm wondering whether Kipling chose which moments of the story to
illustrate (I know that this was a question that Dickens, for example,
was very picky about) and whether he would have discussed the story with
illustrators.
The 'Gardener' illustrations certainly seem to show that Mills had read
the story sensitively. His pictures of Helen show her with very closed,
rigid body language, which seems to contradict the authorial statement
that she was 'open as the day' - but the pictures would maybe have
helped readers to understand that that statement (and much else) is
ironical and unreliable.
For those who do not know the pictures, I have put two of them on my
website at:
http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/the-gardener-in-the-strand/
I'd be interested in any thoughts that occur to readers, on the
pictures, or on the story.
George
--
George Simmers's research blog is at:
http://greatwarfiction.wordpress.com
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