Plain Tales from the Hills

Here we have a compendium of forty-two brief (3-8 pages each) tales of Colonial life, and originally targeted for those already familiar with an existence in India. Most of these charming stories were originally published in the Lahore "Civil and Military Gazette" (1888) but Kipling subsequently revised the tales (1890, as "Plain Tales from the Hills"), injecting them with more of the details and flavours of India so that the folks back in England could cognitively read of the Empire in the East. Featured are highlights of the lives of the British soldiers in late 19th-Century (Colonial) India as well as those of their wives, lovers, Indian associates, and even their horses. Kipling punctuates levity and outrageous behavior with sorrow and humility. He knew quite truly that one cannot cast shadows without light. Kipling's writings are much akin to tales scribed by eastern European and Middle-Eastern Arab and Persian authors: ergo, he told each of his stories as the details entered his head with an eye to the journey rather than to the destination. Here you will find an odd mesh of the subtle wit of Anatole France ( A Mummer's Tale / The Red Lily (The Irresistible Stories of Anatole France series, Vol. 6) ) meshed with a Dostoyevsky-ish slant on man's dark side (The Brothers Karamazov.) These encounters are all quite savory and gratifying to the avid reader of classic literature. Various critics have remarked on Kipling's insensitivity toward foreign cultures but, given that he wrote these tales more than 100 years ago, I see this commentary as a revisionist posture -- Kipling's views on ethnicity were shared by most of the English peoples of his era. I should also mention that the insightful and informative introduction written in the Penguin softcover edition by David Trotter prepares one to great advantage in digesting Kipling. Highly recommended.

The stories are wonderful. I've read a decent amount of Kipling and am always pleased to find more of them. This particular collection contains a bunch of really charming tales that range from funny through tragic. These types of short stories remind me why I love Kipling so much. As with all Kipling, it's worth noting that he was a product of his time and some of his writing could be considered offensive to the modern reader. This particular Kindle version is quite good with proper formatting and few if any typos. My only complaint (and only reason that this lacks a full 5 stars) is the lack of hyper-links in the Table of Contents. This makes it very difficult to jump to specific short stories.

I bought this book to recall the halcyon days of my secondary schooling in the years 1957 - 61. Then the book was an assigned text for all students in English in New Zealand. The language and the concepts were then frankly beyond the comprehension of 15 year olds. As I grew older, I became aware of the position Kipling held in the Late Victorian era, and the period following the end of the First World War. I came to understand a little of what the British Empire meant in those times, and the great debt owed by the world to the British Army which subdued Iraq, Pakistan, and the Indian Continent for almost 200 years. Without the benefit of the bomb, with a tiny armed service, and a desire to provide fair and equitable government, the Raj governed fearlessly through the efforts of the thirds sons of many of the great English Families, while the fourth sons provided the humanity of the Church. Patterns we could well emulate again today! This was bread and butter to Kipling. In his early years as a huge supporter of the system, as a spiritualist after the death of his son in the First World War, and in his later years as the designer of the huge Military Cemetaries established in France and Belgium after the War to the Empire's dead, he truly became in his own words a "Builder of the Silent Cities". In 2006, the concepts of his writings are remote from many. In terms of the trials of people, and their attempts to rise over their circumstances through a sense of duty and moral propriety, Kipling's works are without peer. For those starting out to discover him, start with "Stalky and Company", and move to this book, and his other works as extended learning. I hope you come to love his simple characters as I have, and that your School System, and its weird sense of Boyhood Literature does not destroy the desire to read Kipling until your late 60's This book has brought great joy to someone in the prime of life, and brings back some important memories of Scouts, Church and Honour in a time when these are so sadly lacking.

Rudyard Kipling writes concisely and with great insight on a wide range of issues. With each story only taking up a few pages the depth of characterisation is superb. 'The gate of one-hundred sorrows' is one of the finest short stories ever written.

My copy has 36 stories, but Kipling's Plain Tales tells about life in British-occupied India from every imaginable angle. It's touching, it's funny, and at times it's unbelievably sad. Don't let the author put you off, this is a highly readable book. My personal favorites are "Thrown Away" and "Beyond the Pale", but be careful; they're sad.