About this title: The tale of an Irish boy raised as an Indian in imperial India. It is the story of his coming of age in a world of high adventure, mystic quests, and the "great game" between the British and the Russians for control of Central Asia.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Macmillan and Co., limited, London
Date Published: 1965
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Very Good, In very good dust jacket. 3 p. ? ., 413 p. front., plates. 21 cm. Illustrated by J. Lockwood Kipling. First edition. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Dell, New York
Date Published: 1960
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Signed by previous owner. Nice soft cover, lightly read, some shelf wear to cover, light creases on spine, slant to book, light aging to pages, stk #2051m9. 288 p.; 18 cm. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classic & Loveswept, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1988
ISBN-13:9780553213324ISBN:0553213326
""An at last what wilt thou do?" "At the last I shall die." "And after?" "Let the Gods order it. I have never pestered Them with prayers: I do not think they will pester me. Look You, I have noticed in my long life that those who eternally break in upon Those Above with complaints and reports and bellowings and weepings are presently sent in for haste...No, I have never wearied the Gods. They will remember this and will give me a quiet place where I can drive my lance in the shade, and wait to welcome my sons"
"It is true," he murmured. "Where I have offended thee I have done wrong." "It is more, chela. Though hast loosed an Act upon the world, and as a stone thrown into a pool so spread the consequences thou canst tell how far.""
"Espléndida novela que me recomendó mi amigo Luis Combarro. En la edición que he leído (Grandes Clásicos de Mondadori) hay una interesante introducción escrita por Edward W. Said, que recomiendo leer una ver degustado el libro, ya que centra la historia en la realidad de la India del momento, así como la visión que tenía Kipling de la misma, y la relación de esta historia y su protagonista con otras contemporáneas al autor.
La novela encierra preciosas historias, contadas con la erudición de quien ha nacido y vivido en la India, y que contrastan el mundo occidental con el oriental. El tronco central es la relación de Kim con el lama, que nos muestra una forma muy particular de vivir, y el sentido de la trascendencia budista. Alrededor de ella se teje otra, la de los servicios que presta el protagonista en el Gran Juego, es decir los servicios de espionaje británicos. Kim encarna la simbiosis entre occidente y oriente. Según muchos autores, la novela está escrita con la visión imperialista del autor, en la que se observa la superioridad del hombre blanco sobre las distintas y variadas etnias que conviven en un sistema de castas como el indio.
Bajo mi punto de vista, sale mejor parada la versión oriental de Kim, encarnadora de valores que no posee la occidental, que además los intenta utilizar en beneficio propio. La sabiduría de Kim es oriental, y el aprendizaje occidental no le sirve más que para mentir y espiar.
Kipling ha creado en el mundo de Kim una serie de personajes muy creíbles, y que se entienden mucho mejor después de la lectura de la introducción a a que hice referencia al principio.
En definitiva, me ha encantado la historia y la forma de contarla."
"I loved this book, although that love was overlaid with deep discomfort at times. It has fascinating, complicated characters, suspense and intrigue, and paints a vivid portrait of its complicated and multifarious India. Kim's relationship with the lama is wonderful. Many of the other characters are wonderful.
On the other hand, Kipling is still clearly an imperialist. He's an imperialist who loves India and writes wise, fully human Indian characters and doesn't make the Europeans out to be superior, but at the same time believes in the essential necessity and beneficence of the British imperial project, and he writes a world in which acceptance of the empire is naturalized and accepted by his characters on a very basic level."
"Every review I've read of this book says: it is flawed by its imperialistic point of view; it is hard to follow the dialogue; it is sometimes difficult to determine who is doing what. I suppose that is all true: but this is also a book of great beauty, and an increible meditation on the nature of self and love.
The book is often described as an adventure book, describing Kim's entry into the "great game" of spying in colonial India. But this is a very subdued adventure on the spy side, and much more a study of the relationship between the young and the old, knowledge and self-deception, love and salvation.
For all the claims of imperialism, the book identifies the weakness of the foreign interests and the strength of India through passages that take your breath away."
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