The Light That Failed

by Rudyard Kipling, Paul Fox (Editor)

Overview

First published in 1891, 'The Light that Failed' is Rudyard Kipling's semi-autobiographical first novel. Critics who had praised his Anglo-Indian short stories were shocked by the unhappy ending and deviation from his usual style. None, however, could deny the power of Kipling's writing. 'The Light that Failed' tells the story of war artist Dick Heldar, his doomed relationship with Maisie, and his descent into blindness. Through Dick, Kipling considers the relationship between Art and Life, espousing his belief that the artist has a duty to paint only what he knows to be true. This scholarly edition includes: critical introduction; author biography; suggestions for further reading; explanatory notes; contextual material.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906469191
Publisher:	Victorian Secrets
Publication date:	02/01/2011
Edition description:	Victorian Secre ed.
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet and novelist. Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901) and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899) and "If-" (1910). He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story; his children's books are classics of children's literature and one critic described his work as exhibiting "a versatile and luminous narrative gift". Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Henry James said: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known." In 1907, at the age of 42, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English-language writer to receive the prize and its youngest recipient to date. He was also sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, both of which he declined.