Off the Cliff

1. Kipling's autobiography is quite fascinating except when he starts being Kipling. Which is not what you're thinking, though there's some of that there too. More, the 'wakaru hito wa wakaru' aspect ('those who know will understand'): opaque sentences referring to some aspect of Indian army life or newspaper editing under the Raj or even his school's headmaster. *He* knows what he's talking about; those who were in the army or the newspaper or the school know what he's talking about; the rest of us don't, and sucks to be us. (Off the top of my head, I associate this opacity most with Stalky and Co, where I never know what on earth is going on, or why. Thi is why Kipling so often fantods me.)

Kipling in fact wasn't bad at rising above his innate prejudices. But in minor details he loses my sympathy. Do not whine to me about the heat of India that drives a man mad, and in the next breath say no really it's an absolute necessity to dress for dinner and you'd like a word or two with those modern slackers who sneer at the notion of wearing waistcoats and jackets in the sweltering months.
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