KimFilled with lyrical, exotic prose and nostalgia for Rudyard Kipling's native India, "Kim" is widely acknowledged as the author's greatest novel and a key element in his winning the 1907 Nobel Prize in Literature. It is the tale of an orphaned sahib and the burdensome fate that awaits him when he is unwittingly dragged into the Great Game of Imperialism. During his many adventures, he befriends a sage old Tibetan lama who transforms his life. As Pankaj Mishra asserts in his Introduction, "To read the novel now is to notice the melancholy wisdom that accompanies the native boy's journey through a broad and open road to the narrow duties of the white man's world: how the deeper Buddhist idea of the illusion of the self, of time and space, makes bearable for him the anguish of abandoning his childhood." |
Common terms and phrases
acquire merit bazar begged Benares Bengali Bennett better Buddh Gaya Charles Dickens charm chela child Colonel Creighton cried curse dark Delhi didst disciple English evil eyes Father Victor feet Friend Game give Gods Grand Trunk Road hakim hand Hast thou head heard heart Hills Hindu Holy honour horses Huneefa Hurree Babu India Kamboh kilta Kim's Kipling's knew Kulu Lahore lama lama's laughed looked Lucknow Lurgan Sahib madrissah Mahbub Ali Mahbub Ali's native never night O'Hara old lady Peshawur priest Punjab Red Bull regiment remember River road rosary round Rudyard Kipling rupees Saddhu Search Shamlegh Sikh Simla smiled soldier soul tale talk te-rain tell thee things thou art thou hast thou wilt thought told turned Umballa Urdu veranda verree village voice walk Wheel woman Wonder House Xavier's young