Dear Alastair,
There were three short mentions of the story in Richard Le Gallienne's 'Rudyard Kipling; a criticism' (1899), https://archive.org/details/rudyardkiplingcr00lega
here is the biggest one (with some context):
One would think it a country too hot for
Englishmen to love in. But, indeed, no.
As befits a true impression, the all-pervad-
ing presence of woman is here too; and
story after story illustrates woman as the
goddess in the great machine of Anglo-
Indian government. These men sweat and
count up their weevils — for some woman.
If they rise high in the service, be sure Mrs.
Hauksbee is somewhere behind ; if they go
under, suspect Mrs. Reiver; and, in addi-
tion to civilised, flirtatious woman, there
is always the so-called " brown " woman,
" fair as bar gold," on whom Mr. Kipling
seems to have lavished nearly all the ten-
derness he has to spare for women as a sex,
and " niggers " as a race — which really
means that he knows and loves essential
woman, who is always best as a simple,
gentle savage, with no pretence to mascu-
line " civilisation."
A CRITICISM 83
" I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner,
greener land " —
apparently represents Mr, Kipling's own
leanings on the most important of all sub-
jects. Generally speaking, though one
mustn't forget the delightful exception of
"William the Conqueror," his civilised
woman is represented by " The Vampire,"
the vampire for whom poor Wressley of
the Foreign Office wrote his great book, an
absurd tribute of the intellect at the feet of
the sensual doll.
Regards,
Yan S.
A> Does anyone know if the tale "William the Conqueror" (collected in /The
A> Day's Work/ in 1898) was reviewed _at the time_?It was exceptional in
A> that it was first published in two magazines specifically for women,
A> /The Ladies' Home Journal/ in the USA, and /The Gentlewoman /in the UK,
A> both at the end of 1895, before being collected//a couple of years later
A> in /The Day's Work./
A> It has been extensively discussed by later critics and biographers, as
A> we have noted in our New Reader's Guide entry for the tale, but in view
A> of the tale's two themes -- the "New Woman" and imperial service in
A> India, it would be interesting to know if reviewers at the time made any
A> comment.It seems improbable that a story, even one by Kipling, in a
A> woman's magazine would have attracted the attention of a main-stream
A> review, but /The Day's Work/ ought to have done so.A basic 'Google' has
A> produced nothing.
A> /Alastair Wilson/
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