France At War: On the Frontier of Civilization
Written by Rudyard Kipling
Narrated by Tim Bulkeley
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About this audiobook
The collection of journalistic pieces is preceded by a poem, "France", that had been published before the outbreak of war (in 1913) which has a more overblown jingoistic feel to it than the reflections on war itself. The poem does, though, show Kipling's love of France, as well as his sense of the destiny of imperial dreams.
Kipling himself was an ardent and effective writer of propaganda directed primarily against German treatment of civilians. The "rape of Belgium" in 1914 and the sinking of the Lusitania earlier in 1915 were particularly shocking. In Kipling's eyes such "total war" was a renunciation of civilisation. The heat of his reaction is associated with his militarism. Although not a soldier, Kipling was educated at the United Services College (a school for the sons of officers which prepared students to enter Sandhurst and Dartmouth - the British army and navy officers training establishments). His writing is deeply imbued with notions of military service as honorable and, among civilised people, restrained and governed by rules.
Kipling encouraged his son John to enlist, and perhaps used his connections to get John enlisted despite poor eyesight and two earlier refusals. John died on 27th September 1915, just ten days after these articles were published (6th -17th September 1915).
Thus Kipling's account (not least in view of his reputation today as a supporter of British imperialism, and his jingoism) is still interesting one hundred years later as we try to understand our ancestors' experience. (Summary by Tim Bulkeley)
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling was born in India in 1865. After intermittently moving between India and England during his early life, he settled in the latter in 1889, published his novel The Light That Failed in 1891 and married Caroline (Carrie) Balestier the following year. They returned to her home in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Kipling wrote both The Jungle Book and its sequel, as well as Captains Courageous. He continued to write prolifically and was the first Englishman to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 but his later years were darkened by the death of his son John at the Battle of Loos in 1915. He died in 1936.
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