This volume contains a short autobiography of the seminal English poet and author, Rudyard Kipling. It offers a unique insight into the life and mind of this prolific man of letters, who strove to uphold the Victorian values of patriotism, duty, and obedience; yet simultaneously sympathized with outlaws and children. This autobiography outlines his unhappy childhood years in the 'House of Desolation', his doting parents, and the pride he took in his work. The chapters of this book include: "A Very Young Person", "The School Before Its Time", "Seven Year's Hard", "The Interregnum", "The Committee of Ways and Means", "South Africa", "The Very-Own House", etcetera. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) was a seminal English short-story writer, novelist, and poet. We are republishing this vintage book now in an affordable, modern edition, complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 -1936) was an English journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. He was born in India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including "The Man Who Would Be King" (1888). His poems include "Mandalay" (1890), "Gunga Din" (1890), "The Gods of the Copybook Headings" (1919), "The White Man's Burden" (1899), and "If-" (1910). He is seen as an innovator in the art of the short story. His children's books are classics; one critic noted "a versatile and luminous narrative gift." Kipling in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was among the United Kingdom's most popular writers.

This unfinished autobiography by Rudyard Kipling offers a glimpse into the author's early life, and some of the periods he spent working on his most famous books and poems. Little of this autobiography refers to the private life of the author, his purpose instead being to shed light on the creative inspirations which he saw and which inspired Kipling's celebrated literary works. However, Kipling does mention early recollections, such as how as a child in Southsea he was introduced to the ideas of adventurous travel by his father. A bookish person by nature, Kipling also remembers the stories he enjoyed in these formative years. Once the narrative reaches his young adulthood, Kipling reminisces on the appearance and atmosphere of far-flung locales in which he lived and travelled. Life in colonial India and South Africa is described in detail; the duties Kipling had and times spent with the garrison soldiers and others at the British Club, the culture of the locals and everyday life in the villages and towns. As such, we gain an impression of the life which inspired acclaimed works such as the Jungle Book, and Kipling's characteristic verses that remain well-recognized in the modern day.

Excerpt from Something of Myself: For My Friends, Known and Unknown Far across green spaces round the house was a marvellous place filled with smells of paints and oils, and lumps of clay with which I played. That was the atelier of my Father's School of Art, and a Mr. Terry Sahib, his assistant, to whom my small sister was devoted, was our great friend. Once, on the way there alone, I passed the edge of a huge ravine a foot deep, where a winged monster as big as myself attacked me, and I ed and wept. My Father drew for me a picture of the tragedy with a rhyme beneath. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."