Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Public Domain Books (2005), Kindle Edition
Description
This anthology of tales by Rudyard Kipling contains some of the most memorable and popular examples of the genre of which he is an undisputed master. The Man Who would be King (later adapted as a spectacular film) is a vivid narrative of exotic adventure and disaster.
User reviews
LibraryThing member mrtall
This story of two English adventurers determined to raise themselves into rulers in trackless Afghanistan is vintage Kipling. It's deadly serious, yet playful and ironic; detailed, yet broad in scope; fanciful, yet strangely plausible. His characters leap off the page, demonstrated vividly in here.
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The Man Who Would Be King is freely available at Project Guttenberg, and is an excellent point of entry for Kipling's work. Show Less
LibraryThing member DomingoSantos
A short story that makes for a quick and entertaining read. I was a bit thrown by some of the spellings in the dialogue, but, thanks to phonics, was able to figure out most of the strange, if not misspelled, words. The surprise was the references to the Order of Masons, and the pre-existence of the
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Masonic symbol. Show Less
LibraryThing member JimElkins
What happens when you read something in which the form, public, content, style, content, and voice are entirely familiar, to the point where they do not register as objects of thought, but only as tokens of the familiar? That's my experience reading "The Man Who Would Be King." Kipling is an author
Reading is an empty experience: how can any of the reality effects work? How can any of the bids for drama and affect produce the effects they were apparently intended to have? Nearly everything runs automatically. I am not impatient to know what happens; I am impatient at my own reading speed. Nothing disturbs my racing eye. My thoughts are placid, distracted. Every once in a while, a character says something colorful, and I make a mental note to remember it, but it's so trivial, so uninteresting, that I immediately forget it: I had only noticed it because everything around it was so blank, so free of interest. Kipling has died a cultural death: the work is empty, and there isn't even any reason left to mourn for it.
But then again, this must be the experience of millions of readers who consume murder mysteries, romances, and any other formula fiction.
If I did feel anything reading "The Man Who Would be King," I would have to question how much I had thought about the books I have read, and the movies I've seen, depicting the British colonial experience. I'd have to wonder whether I had ever considered what generates the interest in epic adventures and romantic journeys. I would have to do some serious reconsidering of my own capacity to reflect on what I read. There can't be a thrill here, if everything that presents the thrill is such a frail cliché. If you like Kipling in the twenty-first century, you have to be an unreflective reader.
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who does not need to be read to be experienced, because every mannerism, every narrative move, each racist and colonialist cliché, is already lodged in our culture. I'd seen the movie, which is a John Huston epic, and I had thought the book must be long: but on my e-reader it's only 80 pages, and Kipling only needs one-third of that to tell his story. The speed of his narrative might be an indication that even for him, the subjects and interests of the story were so familiar they only needed to be telegraphed.Reading is an empty experience: how can any of the reality effects work? How can any of the bids for drama and affect produce the effects they were apparently intended to have? Nearly everything runs automatically. I am not impatient to know what happens; I am impatient at my own reading speed. Nothing disturbs my racing eye. My thoughts are placid, distracted. Every once in a while, a character says something colorful, and I make a mental note to remember it, but it's so trivial, so uninteresting, that I immediately forget it: I had only noticed it because everything around it was so blank, so free of interest. Kipling has died a cultural death: the work is empty, and there isn't even any reason left to mourn for it.
But then again, this must be the experience of millions of readers who consume murder mysteries, romances, and any other formula fiction.
If I did feel anything reading "The Man Who Would be King," I would have to question how much I had thought about the books I have read, and the movies I've seen, depicting the British colonial experience. I'd have to wonder whether I had ever considered what generates the interest in epic adventures and romantic journeys. I would have to do some serious reconsidering of my own capacity to reflect on what I read. There can't be a thrill here, if everything that presents the thrill is such a frail cliché. If you like Kipling in the twenty-first century, you have to be an unreflective reader.
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LibraryThing member Pondlife
I'd seen the film version years ago, so I already knew the story when I read the book. I was surprised to find that it was a short story rather than a novel - I'd assumed that the film had condensed the book, but soon realised that it had just about the same content.
Reading the book made me realise
All in all, this was a good enjoyable short story. I found the observations on collonialism a bit too obvious, but still enjoyed it as a humerous adventure yarn.
Reading the book made me realise
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how good the casting of Michael Caine and Sean Connery in the film was. I found myself reading Peachy's lines in Michael Caine's voice, and Daniel's in Connery's voice.All in all, this was a good enjoyable short story. I found the observations on collonialism a bit too obvious, but still enjoyed it as a humerous adventure yarn.
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LibraryThing member fromkin
A brief, punchy story that John Huston made into a wonderful film with Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Huston and Gladys Hill kept to the outline of Kipling's story (the story is actually an outline itself), and fleshed out the characters unforgettably. This is really Peachy Carnahan's story, and
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his telling of his and Daniel Dravot's adventures in Kafiristan (northeast Afghanistan)is heartbreaking, despite the con artists' hubris and stupidity. I suppose this is a microcosm of the British experience in Afghanistan - as well as the Russians'. Whether colonialism writ large, or colonialism writ small, it all seemed doomed from the start. Show Less
LibraryThing member armysparkey
I was slightly dissapointed with the length of this book having seen the film .normaly large portions of a book are cut out to make a film ,here howeverthe filmbuilt on the books plot,much the same as the legend of sleepy hollow.
LibraryThing member RajivC
This is a short book. I saw the movie years ago, starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. I thought that the movie was brilliant.
This book, short that it is, packs in a punch.
It is rich in imagery, it is rich in style. Not one word is wasted.
You are left thinking deeply about the imaginary events
It is a story of megalomania, it is a story of superstition. It is a painting cast in words.
It's a story for a lost time, yet one that is alive today.
This book, short that it is, packs in a punch.
It is rich in imagery, it is rich in style. Not one word is wasted.
You are left thinking deeply about the imaginary events
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that would have taken place in the mountains of Afghanistan.It is a story of megalomania, it is a story of superstition. It is a painting cast in words.
It's a story for a lost time, yet one that is alive today.
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LibraryThing member dulac3
Is it wrong for me to say that I thought the movie was better? Generally I don't find this to be the case, but perhaps this was one place where the exception proved the rule. Still it's a great tale that I do remember enjoying...maybe if I had read it before seeing the movie I wouldn't have felt
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this way. It just seemed to me that the movie was actually a bit more fleshed out in a few areas of plot and character than the story was. Show Less
LibraryThing member Elpaca
Should I have been looking for some parallel to the ongoing situation in the -stan's? Or just enjoy the story?
LibraryThing member AliceAnna
Good adventure story as well as a nice character study. Power corrupts ...
LibraryThing member kevn57
Short adventure story of a pair of British rouges trying to set themselves up as kings.
Language
Original publication date
1888