thread: 2007-01-19 : The Jungle Books
On 2007-01-19, Ron Edwards wrote:
I grew up with both too. In fact, for a long time the first volume was lost, so I knew the second book best, until I bought a new copy.
What sticks with me ...
The similarity between the doggerel poetry in the second volume with the verses in lots and lots of Howard short stories, including a fair number of Conan ones, and with Howard's poetry in general. It struck me right away as a 12-year-old when I started reading Howard, and I would not be surprised if that were a direct literary lineage.
Bagheera. (jeez)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. What a bad-ass, and what a great pair of villains; Naghaina can rightly take her place next to Grendel's mom. The secondary characters are fun too. I like calling attention to posters' behavior at the Forge by likening it to Chuchundra, the rodent who runs around and around the baseboard, but cannot come into the center of the room. I'm given to understand that there is an animated version that's been around for a long time, but have not seen it.
A lot of people don't pay attention to the later Mowgli stories, probably because the Disney movie set the parameters for most. But they are savagely, morally unswerving, and I think that the first Tarzan novel (another book whose perfect resolution was invalidated by sequels and adaptations) comes straight out of those.
All the natural history is really solid stuff. I was impressed by discovering how accurate it was when I worked in the Mammal Division at the Field Museum of Natural History, and when I took advanced mammalogy classes during grad school. The profs in that class knew too - they referenced Kipling frequently when describing the variations of wolves, bears, hyenas, sea mammals, and others.
