thread: 2007-01-19 : The Jungle Books
On 2007-01-23, Neel wrote:
Isn't it odd that his place in English Lit isn't secure?
Not really, at least in India. It's never terribly fun to read about yourself as the alien other. It's basically the same reason that Uncle Tom's Cabin does not receive a terribly enthusiastic response from American blacks.
My favorite poem by him is "The Old Issue", which neatly encapsulates his perceptions and his blind spots. It's a poem about how governments use the exigencies of war as an excuse for tyranny, and it was written to advocate the second Boer War (the war that bequeathed the phrase "concentration camp" to the English language).
