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Papermac, 1990, softcover, illustrated, index, 399 pages, condition: as new.
The standing of Rudyard Kipling, barrack room balladeer to the common man and poet laureate of the high noon of Empire, has suffered at the hands of our changing social values in the five decades since his death. Now Martin Seymour-Smith has taken advantage of the lifting of constraints so long imposed by the Kipling family with the granting of extensive access to Kipling's personal papers. The resulting biography contains an investigation into Kipling's sexuality as a mainspring of his creativity, and the author's introduction to this edition offers a response to the criticism which his analysis provoked.
This book missed being published in the late 1940s due to Rudyard Kipling's daughter's (Emily Bambridge) absolute refusal to give her permission. There is nothing salacious in the book nor scandalous. It was published after her death and the death of the primary author, Frank Seymour-Smith who was Martin Seymour-Smith's father.
Why did she refuse to provide her permission? Rudyard Kipling during his life was adored by the British public as well as many in the intelligentsia. He is buried at Westminster Abby in Poet' s Corner between Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens. He had been the Poet Laureate of the Empire and won the Nobel Prize.
After reading the book, I can attest that Rudyard Kipling was not a simple soul. He is sometimes mentally tortured and at the end of his life, physically tortured from within. In addition, he chose a loyal yet domineering wife. These were Elsie's complex and tormented parents. Why do you think she withheld her permission to publish?