THE LONG RECESSIONAL: THE IMPERIAL LIFE OF RUDYARD KIPLING
Book ID/图书代码： 00200016B95643
English Summary/英文概要： Rudyard Kipling was a unique figure in British history, a great writer and a great imperial icon. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he added more phrases to the language than any man since Shakespeare, yet he was also the Apostle of the British Empire, a man who incarnated an era for millions of people who did not normally read poetry. A child of the Victorian age of imperial self-confidence, Kipling lived to see the rise of Hitler threaten his country’s existence. The laureate of the Empire at its apogee, he foresaw that its demise would soon follow his death. His great poem ’Recessional’ celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897; his last poems warned of the dangers of Nazism. The trajectory of his life matched the trajectory of the British Empire from its zenith to its final decades. He himself was transformed from the apostle of success to the prophet of national decline, a Cassandra warning of dangers that successive governments refused to face.
Previous works on Kipling have focused on his writing and on his domestic life. This is the first book to study his public role, his influence on the way Britons saw both themselves and their Empire. Based on extensive research in Britain and in the under-explored archives of the United States, David Gilmour has produced a brilliantly illuminating study of a man who embodied the spirit of his country a hundred years ago as closely as Shakespeare had done 300 years before.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： Rudyard Kipling在英国历史上是个独一无二的人物，一个伟大的作家，一个伟大的帝王象征。他得过诺贝尔文学奖，自莎士比亚之后或许他对于语言文字的贡献是最大的。他也是英国帝国的鼓吹者，用诗歌的形式将那个时代具体化，并且介绍给了数以百万计的原本不会去读诗的人。出生在维多利亚时期的他对皇室抱有绝对的自信，但他看到了希特勒威胁到自己祖国的生存。作为帝国鼎盛时期的桂冠诗人，他预见到自己过世之后不久帝国必将消亡。他伟大的诗作《退场》就是为了1897年维多利亚女王执政六十周年而特别创作的，他的最后一些诗作中都提到了纳粹主义的危险。他的生活轨迹其实也就是大英帝国的发展轨迹，从鼎盛逐渐走向最后阶段。他自己就在成功的巅峰看到了未来国家衰落的预言，但这是继任的政府都不愿意正视的未来。
此前关于Kipling的书作大多关注他在国内的生活。这是第一本研究他在公共领域角色的书籍，探究了他对于英国人如何自视以及如何看待大英帝国的影响。本书建立于在英国进行了大量研究并且在美国阅读了大量文献的基础之上，David Gilmour生动地描述了一个几乎如同三百年前的莎士比亚一样代表了国家精神的人物。（LYR）
Awards/获奖情况：这是现有的最好的Kipling传记。Gilmour下笔如有神。（《Scotsman》）
十分吸引人的传记作品，对于那些想要了解作家如何生活、如何寻找写作目标的读者来说是再好不过的。（《每日镜报》）
好作品，描述公正，形容具体。Gilmour在书中展露了恰到好处的同情心、反感和一丝不苟的冷漠中立。（《New Statesman》）
"The best Kipling biography yet written... Gilmour’s account of this driven man shines with intelligence" (Scotsman)
"An enthralling biography of a mind...essential reading for anyone who cares about how a writer finds, and passionately lives, his subject" (Daily Telegraph)
"A fine, fair and generous work... Gilmour’s celebrated life of Curzon demonstrated his mastery of imperial nuance and esoteric character, and he brings to this book just the right combination of empathy, distaste and fastidious detachment" (New Statesman)
"A splendid and much needed reappraisal of Kipling...outstanding for its precise, elegant writing" (Herald)
"A superb short biography...a beautifully written, touching and occasionally very funny book" (Andrew Roberts Daily Mail)
About the Author/作者介绍： David Gilmour的作品中有好几本获奖的传记，包括《Curzon》以及《The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa》等等。他还写了包括《Cities of Spain》以及《The Hungry Generations》以及其他一些有关西班牙和中东政治的书籍。他是皇家文学协会的会员，也曾是牛津圣安东尼学院的教工。他经常为《纽约书评》撰写文章。David Gilmour’s books include the prize-winning biographies, Curzon and The Last Leopard: A Life of Giuseppe di Lampedusa. He is also the author of Cities of Spain, The Hungry Generations and several works on the politics of Spain and the Middle East. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a former Fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford, he is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books.
Format:照片
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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