The Unwritten #5

[lurkslikefox]

We finished the last issue on a cliffhanger, so naturally it makes sense for us to pick up with the life story of Rudyard Kipling.
We start on the 27th June 1907, Oxford. Kipling is talking to Sam Clemens, better known to us as Mark Twain. Clemens says that they got Kipling good. Kipling mentions his daughter and says that he doesn't know what to do. As he walks away, the narrative remarks that his gift for words has failed him, as it always did when he needed it most.





Kipling's unsympathetic editor takes extended leave: 'He had contracted malaria- very bad luck in swamp-free Lahore.' He was then given free reign and becomes increasingly popular. In 1905 he left India for London.

Unfortunately, London already has its literary hero in the shape of Oscar Wilde.



Wilde is arrested and sent to jail for sodomy. Kipling prospers once more, preaching the gospel of empire, and is blessed with three children by his wife Carrie. Josephine, Elsie and John.





Before they leave the US, Josephine catches influenza and Kipling tries to write what Locke asked of him, but the words won't come. He leaves Josephine's room to go to bed and our old frind Pullman smothers her with a cushion.

For a year, kipling doesn't touch a pen. Then his muse stirs and he writes 'How the whale got his throat'. It's a real pity that I can't post that here, cos it's a really cool version they do. And if you haven't read the story then you totally should. Find it here.



Kipling continues to write stories where small and powerless protagonists lay low bigger agressors. He also often writes about the monster that conceals its true size.

The predictions Lock made in the States are coming true with WWI, in which Kipling's son John is fighting: 'The war in france had already begun, and he knew where his duty lay. Duty, after all, was a word that had become synonamous with my name. Which was his name, too...'

John is reported missing in action, and Kipling goes to find Locke.



Kipling says that he will save John himself, wrap him in stories. Locke says that it is too late, and that the power that resided in Kipling is now gone. The next morning, Kipling hears that John is dead.



Next issue we return to the story of Tommy Taylor.

Comments

[iskander]

I saw "my boy Jack" not long ago. Yikes...

[glprime]

Likewise. How Kipling must have felt like a right ass after sending so many young boys off to war. Not that he could regret what "needed" to be done, but more how he did it; "...because our fathers told lies..." and all that.

I remember randomly choosing Kipling as a poet to dissect for a high school assignment. Little did I know how deep his work ran. The interesting dichotomy of "Us and Them" still peeks my interest to this day. He was an Imperialist, but he also knew about those that toiled to build the empire and suffered from it as casualties.

I'd honestly define him as "human" if anything else. The guy knew how to sling words for ideology, but he also knew the real world circumstances.

[geoffsebesta]

it's "piques," not "peeks."

And you have piqued my interest in Kipling, I believe I shall read some more.

[glprime]

Mea culpa. I've been losing my head about grammar/spelling a lot lately.

And yes, do investigate some more. I'll say I still love Samuel Clemens more than any of these bastards ;)

[geoffsebesta]

I read how the Whale Got His Throat last night.

Man, I really like Unwritten.

[taggerung301]

does anyone else think that the writer went a little overboard with the use of bolded, emphasized words?

[sherkahn]

Actually I think it works, to drive the point of the exchange home.

[taggerung301]

I dunno
in some parts it seems to work, and in others the bold just seems unnecessary
but I suppose it just depends on individual perception

[sherkahn]

I get the feeling that we aren't reading actual words but getting a real voice...

[taggerung301]

yes, I'm aware of that
when I read this I read it as though someone was speaking
it still seems to me that there is a little too much emphasis though - in conversation, you usually don't emphasize something in every single sentence

but again, I suppose it just depends on individual perception

[geoffsebesta]

it's sorta old-school, I agree.

[lurkslikefox]

To be honest, they get abused so much in comics that I just don't notice them any more.