登陆注册
4712500000061

第61章

The wind bloweth where it listeth. But the wind of literary inspiration has rarely shaken the bungalows of India, as, in the tales of the old Jesuit missionaries, the magical air shook the frail "medicine tents," where Huron conjurors practised their mysteries. With a world of romance and of character at their doors, Englishmen in India have seen as if they saw it not. They have been busy in governing, in making war, making peace, building bridges, laying down roads, and writing official reports. Our literature from that continent of our conquest has been sparse indeed, except in the way of biographies, of histories, and of rather local and unintelligible facetiae. Except the novels by the author of "Tara,"and Sir Henry Cunningham's brilliant sketches, such as "Dustypore,"and Sir Alfred Lyall's poems, we might almost say that India has contributed nothing to our finer literature. That old haunt of history, the wealth of character brought out in that confusion of races, of religions, and the old and new, has been wealth untouched, a treasure-house sealed: those pagoda trees have never been shaken.

At last there comes an Englishman with eyes, with a pen extraordinarily deft, an observation marvellously rapid and keen;and, by good luck, this Englishman has no official duties: he is neither a soldier, nor a judge; he is merely a man of letters. He has leisure to look around him, he has the power of making us see what he sees; and, when we have lost India, when some new power is ruling where we ruled, when our empire has followed that of the Moguls, future generations will learn from Mr. Kipling's works what India was under English sway.

It is one of the surprises of literature that these tiny masterpieces in prose and verse were poured, "as rich men give that care not for their gifts," into the columns of Anglo-Indian journals. There they were thought clever and ephemeral--part of the chatter of the week. The subjects, no doubt, seemed so familiar, that the strength of the handling, the brilliance of the colour, were scarcely recognised. But Mr. Kipling's volumes no sooner reached England than the people into whose hands they fell were certain that here were the beginnings of a new literary force. The books had the strangeness, the colour, the variety, the perfume of the East. Thus it is no wonder that Mr. Kipling's repute grew up as rapidly as the mysterious mango tree of the conjurors. There were critics, of course, ready to say that the thing was merely a trick, and had nothing of the supernatural. That opinion is not likely to hold its ground. Perhaps the most severe of the critics has been a young Scotch gentleman, writing French, and writing it wonderfully well, in a Parisian review. He chose to regard Mr. Kipling as little but an imitator of Bret Harte, deriving his popularity mainly from the novel and exotic character of his subjects. No doubt, if Mr. Kipling has a literary progenitor, it is Mr. Bret Harte. Among his earlier verses a few are what an imitator of the American might have written in India. But it is a wild judgment which traces Mr.

Kipling's success to his use, for example, of Anglo-Indian phrases and scraps of native dialects. The presence of these elements is among the causes which have made Englishmen think Anglo-Indian literature tediously provincial, and India a bore. Mr. Kipling, on the other hand, makes us regard the continent which was a bore an enchanted land, full of marvels and magic which are real. There has, indeed, arisen a taste for exotic literature: people have become alive to the strangeness and fascination of the world beyond the bounds of Europe and the United States. But that is only because men of imagination and literary skill have been the new conquerors--the Corteses and Balboas of India, Africa, Australia, Japan, and the isles of the southern seas. All such conquerors, whether they write with the polish of M. Pierre Loti, or with the carelessness of Mr. Boldrewood, have, at least, seen new worlds for themselves; have gone out of the streets of the over-populated lands into the open air; have sailed and ridden, walked and hunted; have escaped from the fog and smoke of towns. New strength has come from fresher air into their brains and blood; hence the novelty and buoyancy of the stories which they tell. Hence, too, they are rather to be counted among romanticists than realists, however real is the essential truth of their books. They have found so much to see and to record, that they are not tempted to use the microscope, and pore for ever on the minute in character. A great deal of realism, especially in France, attracts because it is novel, because M. Zola and others have also found new worlds to conquer. But certain provinces in those worlds were not unknown to, but were voluntarily neglected by, earlier explorers. They were the "Bad Lands" of life and character: surely it is wiser to seek quite new realms than to build mud huts and dunghills on the "Bad Lands."Mr. Kipling's work, like all good work, is both real and romantic.

同类推荐
  • 杨炯诗全集

    杨炯诗全集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 竹斋诗余

    竹斋诗余

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上一乘海空智藏经·七宝庄严经

    太上一乘海空智藏经·七宝庄严经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Birds

    The Birds

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 齐俗训

    齐俗训

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 失业英雄

    失业英雄

    就算你拯救过世界现在不还是一个穷光蛋吗?既然回到家了就找份工作赚钱养家吧!
  • 星际之最强女战神

    星际之最强女战神

    流落到外星系,为了生存泽思弦带着两个包子女扮男装,硬生生的把自己活成了一个腹黑闷骚暴力男,打遍星际无敌手。小剧场:泽思弦看着外面围攻她的百艘星舰,轻抚着自己的脸颊深深的叹了一口气:“唉~整个星际都觊觎我的俊美的脸庞,真是天涯海角都不放过我…”夏乔冷笑着从她身后走出来,抬手拧着她的耳朵,一使劲:“我帮你回忆一下这些星舰都是怎么回事?你为什么把星球长的女儿从车上踹下来?为什么劫盟友的运输舰?为什么要抢人家小王子?为什么指着女帝鼻子骂人家老妖婆?阿?!为什么?”泽思弦:“……”无男主无男主,--别再问我了,无男主。
  • 邺中记

    邺中记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan

    The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 萌学园之等你

    萌学园之等你

    主要是讲艾瑞克和乌克娜娜的。新手!第一次写文!谢谢!你知道吗?我一直在等,用我所有的岁月在等,等一人归。——艾瑞克我和她你选谁?——乌克娜娜
  • 五千五百佛名神咒除障灭罪经

    五千五百佛名神咒除障灭罪经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 至高审判长

    至高审判长

    新兴的曙光已经升起,旧日的余晖犹自在挣扎。当隆隆的坦克取代了骑士的冲锋,当轰鸣的炮火击溃了巫师的魔法,当呼啸而过的飞机占据了属于神灵的天空,当人类的贪婪第一次超过了底线……这是一个最辉煌的时代,也是一个最落寞的时代。罗德:如果有一天,修行被科技征服,那我愿意为旧时代守灵。新书《最强角色扮演》已经发布,欢迎捧场!
  • 绝心冷后

    绝心冷后

    一道圣旨将两人联系到了一起.也因为一道圣旨,他们分道杨镖....她;十岁以前是一个木衲的不受宠的将军俯小姐.在一次意外中丧生,可是这个被认定为已死的人,却突然睁开了她的双眼.那一是双怎样的眼睛?凌厉而冰冷.天下间,一瞬间风起云涌,皇储之争.烽烟四起.他;本是一个可有可无的皇子,一个从小被送出皇宫的皇子,可身为皇子的他又怎可独善其身?...他;是江湖第一杀手,为她所救,从此后为她命是从.只求能够呆在她的身边守护.他;是京城的第一公子,为她才情所折服,丢了一颗心.他;是最年轻的丞相,为那个总是冷眼看待一切人,莫名感到心疼.还有他,他,他..都被他吸引,随她而引起情绪的波动......QQ群;136264520(紫凝的小窝),敲门砖书中主角名加潇湘VIP会员号...推荐自己的完结文〈冰霜女王爷〉〈冷宫清妃〉《寒王冷妻》推荐好友的文文苹果儿;《夜枭哑后》吴笑笑;《天价皇后》懒离婚;《凤御万兽》倾城殇;《黑道之魁首争爱》红传说;《王的俘虏》桃花女王《重生—我本妖孽》
  • 异能皇后

    异能皇后

    本是全国击剑种子选手,却因意外穿越到了古代,还带着个吃货专属的食物系统,想吃什么就有什么。但是在这世间,人们都视她为草包,遭遇家中的庶姐、庶母们各种陷害,未婚夫也致她于死地。待看李清乐如何斗庶母,杀战场,寻宝藏。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 医绽芳心,追妻套路深

    医绽芳心,追妻套路深

    那年,我和他开始了长达两年的同居生活。同在一屋檐下,却不知对方姓名。我们是彼此最亲密的陌生人。直到——“从明天开始,我不会再来这套公寓。”“我知道了。”正式宣告结束,才是真正的结束。我爱上的那个男人,直至分开我连他是谁都不知道。四年后再遇,一句“幸会”,我侥幸的以为那个男人已经忘了我。可是为什么,在那之后他的一举一动都在告诉我,他全都记得?!