The Day's Work

by Rudyard Kipling

Overview

This vintage book contains a collection of Rudyard Kipling's short stories, first published in 1898. This volume would make for a great addition to any bookshelf, and is highly recommended for fans and collectors of Kipling's work. The stories contained herein include: "The Bridge-Builders", "A Walking Delegate", "The Ship that Found Herself", "The Tomb of His Ancestors", "The Devil and the Deep Sea", "William the Conqueror - Part I", "William the Conqueror - Part II", "007", "The Maltese Cat", and more. Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) was a seminal English short-story writer, novelist, and poet. He is most famous for writing stories and poems concerning British soldiers in India. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now, in an affordable, high-quality, modern edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned biography of the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473375376
Publisher:	Read Books Ltd.
Publication date:	11/27/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
File size:	552 KB

About the Author

Rudyard Joseph Kipling was born in the then named Bombay, India on 30th December 1865. Aged six, he was sent to England to be educated, firstly in Southsea, where he was cared for in a foster home, and later at Westward Ho, a United Services College in Devon. A life of misery at the former was described in his story 'Baa Baa Black Sheep', whilst Westward Ho was used as a basis for his questioning the public school ethic in 'Stalky and Co'. Kipling returned to India in 1882 to work as an assistant editor for the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore. His reputation as a writer was established with stories of English life in India, published there in 1888/9. ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’, ‘Soldiers Three’ and ‘Under the Deodars’ are amongst these early works. Returning to England in 1889, Kipling settled in London and continued to earn a living as a writer. In 1892 he married Caroline Balestier, an American. They travelled extensively in the following four years, including a spell living in America, and it was in this time most of his enduring work was written, not least ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘The Second Jungle Book’. Kipling once again returned to England in 1896 and continued his writing career, although tragedy hit the family when his eldest daughter, Josephine, died in 1899. Nonetheless, in 1901 he completed ‘Kim’, often considered to be his best work. The following year, having settled in Sussex, he published ‘Just So Stories’, a book he had planned to write for Josephine. Having refused the position of Poet Laureate, which was offered in 1895, he did accept the Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first English author to be so honoured. By 1910, however, Kipling’s appeal was waning. His poems and stories were based on values that were perceived as outdated. There was widespread reaction against Victorian imperialism, highlighted by the incompetent management of the Boer War. When World War I came, Kipling had difficulty in adapting to the mood of the public and after his only son, John, was reported missing in action believed killed in 1915, he became very active on the War Graves Commission. After the war he became an increasingly isolated figure, although some of his best writing was to come, with ‘Debits and Credits’ in 1926 and ‘Limits and Renewals’ in 1932. Kipling died in 1936 in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Today, however, he is once again avidly read not just for the quality of his writing and storytelling, but through a renewed interest in the behaviour and values he represented.

Table of Contents

	The Bridge-Builders	1
	A Walking Delegate	37
	The Ship That Found Herself	61
	The Tomb of His Ancestors	81
	The Devil and the Deep Sea	117
	William the Conqueror--Part I	143
	William the Conqueror--Part II	159
	[degree]007	181
	The Maltese Cat	201
	'Bread Upon the Waters'	223
	An Error in the Fourth Dimension	251
	My Sunday at Home	269
	The Brushwood Boy	285