Dear Michael
Thank you for your e-mail. Jane & I have written to The Times, and we hope
they publish our letter, which I here reproduce for your information:
To the Editor
The Times
28 February 2002
Dear Sir,
A pun often belittles the user because the effort to be "clever" results in
irresponsible triviality. Jad Adams’s headline: "Kipling’s exceedingly bad
verse is the white man’s burden" is also an example of poor taste. It refers
to a man whose contribution to the English Language is second only to the
Bible and Shakespeare. From his review of David Gilmour’s The Long
Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling (John Murray 2002),
published in The Times, Wednesday 27 February 2002, we learn more about Jad
Adams’s prejudices than of a book with which we have no quarrel.
Kipling wrote over a thousand poems and like all poets who are prolific,
one gets a mix of verse that is good, bad and indifferent. In his best
poems, of which there are many, Kipling redeems himself; and it is a pity
that Mr Adams omitted the one poem which links with the title of the book he
is reviewing. Written for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, at the height of
imperialistic sentiments, Kipling strikes a warning note and offers, "lest
we forget", a sobering vision of the end of Empire.
We wonder why, in an age of imperialists, Kipling should be singled out
and castigated for being a man of his time? It seems to us that his poetry
of Empire, which is less than a tenth of his literary output, is largely
misread and misunderstood. May we advise those who belittle him to read Kim
and his extensive travel writings.
Yours faithfully
Jane Keskar, Honorary Secretary, the Kipling Society,
Sharad Keskar, Editor, the Kipling Journal,
6 Clifton Road, London W9 1SS.
>From: "m.jefferson" <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: "m.jefferson" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Book Review
>Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 13:52:23 -0000
>
>May I draw members attention to the review of Gilmour's book 'The Long
>Recessional' by Jad Adams in today's 'Times'
>The sub-editor's title/comment certainly draws attention:
>'Kipling's exceedingly bad verse is the white man's burden'
>
>February is a little early for the iconoclast's season to open,but then,
>their sense of timing is as poor as their syntax,punctuation and ideas.
>I think this one deserves a response to the Editor of the 'Times'
>
>Michael Jefferson
_________________________________________________________________
Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
