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Kiplings Indian Adventure

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Although a bit controversial in his reputation in India. I personally will call him an Indian. He was born in India, his writing are set in India, he drew his inspiration for his writing in India ,and he got his Nobel prize while in India.
 
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Although a bit controversial in his reputation in India. I personally will call him an Indian. He was born in India, his writing are set in India, he drew his inspiration for his writing in India ,and he got his Nobel prize while in India.

As far as I recall Kipling left India in 1889 never to return- are you saying he was in India in 1907 when he got his Nobel?

On the broader subject you raised, I doubt he was Indian. He was fascinated and charmed by India but he never forgot that he was an Englishman and a white man first and foremost. He was dead set against the national movement for a large portion of his life- his opinions were fairly conservative. He spent most of his life outside India, having left it -IIRC- at the age of 23 or 24. He was a fervent supporter of the 'empire builder' school of thought (re 'White Man's Burden') and that's as far from being Indian as one can get, IMO.

Lovely writer for all that.
 
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As far as I recall Kipling left India in 1889 never to return- are you saying he was in India in 1907 when he got his Nobel?

On the broader subject you raised, I doubt he was Indian. He was fascinated and charmed by India but he never forgot that he was an Englishman and a white man first and foremost. He was dead set against the national movement for a large portion of his life- his opinions were fairly conservative. He spent most of his life outside India, having left it -IIRC- at the age of 23 or 24. He was a fervent supporter of the 'empire builder' school of thought (re 'White Man's Burden') and that's as far from being Indian as one can get, IMO.

Lovely writer for all that.

His might not have been a part of Indian national movement, and given his origins, I don't expect him to be. However, I have to disagree that he though himself to be white man first and foremost. He was a rebel and went out of the norms of white men of those days. He was a quite a libertine. He was a hippie and quite unlike white men of those days

The point I am making is he understood India better than most Indians. His stories were as if they were from an Indian. His description of India of those times is as if he lived all his life in India and understood the soul of India.
 
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