On Kipling.

Today’s must read, Rudyard Kipling unburdened by Roger Kimball.

The conclusion of the essay:

The key word is “civilization.” Kipling was above all the laureate not of Empire, but of civilization, especially civilization under siege. Henry James once sniffed that there was only one strain absent in Kipling: that of “the civilized man.” It’s a frequent refrain. But in a deeper sense, Kipling was about almost nothing else—not the civilization of elegant drawing rooms, but something more primeval and without which those drawing rooms would soon be smashed and occupied by weeds. Kipling, Evelyn Waugh wrote toward the end of his life, “believed civilization to be something laboriously achieved which was only precariously defended. He wanted to see the defenses fully manned and he hated the liberals because he thought them gullible and feeble, believing in the easy perfectibility of man and ready to abandon the work of centuries for sentimental qualms.” Kipling endeavored to man those defenses partly through his political oratory, but more importantly through a literary corpus that taught the explicit lessons and the implicit rhythms of emotional continence and restraint.

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Posted by ligneus1 on Apr 2, 2008 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

6 Comments

  1. zee
    Apr 2, 2008

    …he hated the liberals because he thought them gullible and feeble, believing in the easy perfectibility of man and ready to abandon the work of centuries for sentimental qualms.

    I see that they have always been a despicable lot then….

    …taught the explicit lessons and the implicit rhythms of emotional continence and restraint.

    Wow, what an antidote to today’s bloated preoccupation with sensuality and self-absorbed angst.

  2. Just Another Richard
    Apr 2, 2008

    Careful with that garlic ligneus1, you’ll scare the children, or maybe vaporize them :)

  3. Just Another Richard
    Apr 2, 2008

    Kipling, as I recall was one of the first well known writers to be excoriated by the modern progressive intellectual crowd, and at the time I wondered why, for his work appeared to me to stand upon its own worth. But then the assault against ‘dead white males’ gathered steam and it become somewhat self evident that someone was telling porkies, someone was hiding something, and a little digging revealed just what ….. that they were busy burying the truth, so then the next question was why, but it didn’t really dawn on me till I asked one last question … WHO. And then the pieces fell naturally into place; the arguments and all their mean spirited tactics became clear.

    Any philosophy which must use subterfuge in order to advance its cause, is no philosophy which can stand the test of time, and most certainly is not a fit concept around which to organize any community, for what starts as a lie, will always end as a lie.

  4. Aurora
    Apr 2, 2008

    Kipling, as I recall was one of the first well known writers to be excoriated by the modern progressive intellectual crowd, and at the time I wondered why

    Heh, if someone is castigated by the ‘progressives’, it’s always a good sign they’re something extraordinary on a reciprocal scale.

    Interesting background on Kipling. I’ve always kind of liked him. I like that phrase ‘something more primeval’ about the instinct to fight and protect one’s own culture. That’s what we need, a bit of primeval survival instinct rather than the endless, mindless posturings of the Left.

  5. ligneus1
    Apr 2, 2008

    Zee, I thought you’d pick up on that!

    JAR. Um, I guess I’m a bit slow but I don’t get the garlic reference.
    And yes, poor old Kipling has had his share of assaults from both the politically correct crowd and some who should know better.

    Aurora. I’m glad you’ve ‘always kind of liked him’. He’s one of those writers that academics and intellectuals like to look down their noses at because he is readily understood by ordinary people. Reminds me of Bertrand Russell when he said, ‘Professional philosophers would like to dismiss me because I write in plain English but since I could explain it in Symbolic Logic if I wanted to they have to take me seriously’.

    The battle continues.

  6. Just Another Richard
    Apr 7, 2008

    Hi ligneus1 “I don’t get the garlic reference”.

    Just a reference to your holding up the mirror to all those zombies out there.

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