Lispeth

Last updated

"Lispeth" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on 29 November 1886; its first appearance in book form was in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and it later appeared in subsequent editions of that collection. The tale is an interesting example of Kipling's attitudes to different races and cultures, which is less simple than many accounts of his beliefs allow.

Contents

Authorship

Rudyard's sister Alice "Trix" Kipling may have been involved in the writing of some of the stories in Plain Tales from the Hills, including "Lispeth": "As is widely acknowledged by Kipling scholars, Alice was a prime contributor to previous Kipling collection, among them Echoes (1884) and Quartette (1885)...In "Trix—The Other Kipling" (Kipling Journal, September 2014), Barbara Fisher...speculates that signs of Trix’s sensibility can be found in 'Lispeth', 'Three– and an Extra', 'Miss Youghal’s Sais', 'Bitters Neat', 'Yoked to an Unbeliever', 'False Dawn' and 'Cupid’s Arrow[sic]" (48). In all of these stories, Fisher locates central narrative strands concerning unrequited love, unhappy marriages, star-crossed lovers, and unhappy maidens—themes, as noted above, that concerned the eighteen-year old Alice more as they concerned Rudyard less." [1] An anonymous article published in The Youth's Companion in 1924 also hints at this: “Rudyard Kipling was so seldom in Simla that I have always felt convinced that his sister helped him a great deal in the ground work of his tales and ditties; she had a more intimate knowledge than he of Simla and its society." [2]

Plot summary

The story is set in Kotgarh, a valley about 55 miles (89 km) by road from Simla, the "summer seat of the British Government of India". It is the home of Sonoo and his wife Jadeh, who, after the maize fails and bears raid their opium poppy field, turn Christian. Their daughter is Elizabeth, or 'Lispeth' in "the Hill or Pahari pronunciation." [3] Cholera kills Sonoo and Jadeh, and Lispeth becomes servant/companion to the Chaplain's wife at Kotgarh. She grows very lovely, "a stately goddess, five feet ten in her shoes." [3] One day on her walk ( "little constitutionals...between Kotgarth and Narkunda" consisting between 20–30 miles (32–48 km) says Kipling, with fine irony and huge admiration of the hill people) she finds an unconscious Englishman whom she carries back to the Mission, announcing that she has found her husband. [3] This scandalises the Chaplain and his wife, and they "lectured her severely on the impropriety of her conduct." [3]

The stranger, a traveler hunting plants and butterflies, recovers. He enjoys flirting with Lispeth, although he is engaged to an English "girl at Home." [3] When he decides to leave Kotgarh to return to England, the Chaplain's wife advises the Englishman to tell Lispeth that he will marry her. Of course, the Englishman does not return, and after three months of Lispeth's waiting and weeping, the Chaplain's wife tells her the truth, saying "it was 'wrong and improper' of Lispeth to think of marriage with an Englishman, who was of a superior clay..." [3] Upon learning that she has been deceived by the Englishman and the Chaplain's wife, Lispeth returns to live among her own people, marrying a wood-cutter "who beat her after the manner of paharis ." In response to Lispeth's rejection of Christianity the Chaplain's wife concludes: "'There is no law whereby you can account for the vagaries of the heathen...and I believe that Lispeth was always at heart an infidel.” [3] At this point in the story the 'native' is shown as honest, simple and admirable, and it is the Christians who are the hypocrites and liars. It is not quite as simple as that: Kipling also suggests that he has heard this story from Lispeth herself, who "when she was sufficiently drunk, could sometimes be induced to tell the story of her first love-affair" - which may seem a rather patronising European attitude to 'the natives.' [3]

The Woman of Shamlegh in Kim

"The Woman of Shamlegh," John Lockwood Kipling, 1901. JLKipling Kim The Woman of Shamlegh.jpg
"The Woman of Shamlegh," John Lockwood Kipling, 1901.

An anonymous review of Kim published in the Yale Literary Magazine in 1901 suggested that the character of the Woman of Shamlegh in Kipling's novel might be Lispeth: "The Hill woman who helps Kim and the Holy man may be none other than Lispeth, whom we knew in 'Plain Tales from the Hills.' For she too, when a girl at the mission house, had nursed back to health a 'Sahib' who said he would return and wed her, but never did return. So she had gone back to her people. But, though lost to the 'Ker-lis-te-ans,' if she is indeed Lispeth, still in 'Kim' by service does she 'acquire merit beyond all others.'" [4] Information on the Kipling Society's website gives a similar interpretation: "She next appears in Kim as the 'Woman of Shamlegh', and makes unsuccessful overtures to him although he does give her a kiss on the cheek. This is an interesting link between Kipling’s first book on India and his last and somewhat of a contradiction in the fate of Lispeth in this story and her more successful life in Kim, where Lockwood Kipling’s illustration shows her as a well-built and obviously prosperous woman." [5]

In Narratives of Empire: The Fictions of Rudyard Kipling Zohreh T. Sullivan argues: "Sexually exploited and abandoned, [Lispeth] suggests the larger betrayal of the Indians by their colonizers (McClure 1981 : 75-6). Kim will refuse her sexual invitation, not only to show his moral superiority over callous Sahibs, but also to prove that he has passed a crucial test of colonial manhood–the denial of sexuality." [6]

Critical response

In 1890 The Atlanta Constitution published "Lispeth" in their newspaper and wrote that it "has a good deal of the cynicism with which Mr. Kipling is credited." [7] An anonymous review of Plain Tales for the Hills published in The Derby Mercury in 1899 made mention of "Lispeth": "the author illustrates one of the difficulties of missionary work." [8]

An anonymous letter entitled "Mr. Kipling's Theology," published in The Outlook in 1900 argued that: "both Lispeth and Ameera [another Kipling character] exemplify true feminine devotion, and none the less perfectly because they are heathen." [9]

Bhupal Singh argues that "the same cynical attitude of Kipling towards missionaries is illustrated in the return of the heart-broken Lispeth to her ancestral gods. The satire, however, spoils this story, which is essentially tragic." [10]

Harold Bloom argues that "while the denser of [Kipling's] contemporary English readers might have overlooked the irony and simply interpreted [Lispeth] as either an affirmation of their beliefs on miscegenation and the "White Man's Burden" or a quaint tragedy about true love lost, perceptive readers were forced to ask themselves just what good the missionaries brought to this girl's life and whether the same holds true for the imperialist enterprise as a whole." [11]

Shahin Kuli Khan Khattak praises the story for its message, while acknowledging the inaccuracy of Kipling's depiction of Lispeth's behavior with the Englishman: “The moral of the tale is laudable, notwithstanding the fact that Indian girls of all religions are very demure in their attitude to marriage, and would seldom have behaved as depicted." [12]

Dane Kennedy argues that "Kipling panders in this story to the British Indian community's widespread distrust of missionaries, who were accused of fostering expectations of equality on the part of indigenous peoples that were bound to cause disappointment and discontent. At the same time, however, he offers a far more sweeping commentary on the relationship between the British and the inhabitants of the hills. Lispeth serves as the symbol of a paradisiacal people who are too simple, too gentle, too fragile to survive the encounter with the West." [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudyard Kipling</span> English writer and poet (1865–1936)

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.

This is a bibliography of works by Rudyard Kipling, including books, short stories, poems, and collections of his works.

<i>Kim</i> (novel) Picaresque novel by Rudyard Kipling

Kim is a novel by Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling. It was first published serially in McClure's Magazine from December 1900 to October 1901 as well as in Cassell's Magazine from January to November 1901, and first published in book form by Macmillan & Co. Ltd in October 1901. The novel is notable for its detailed portrait of the people, culture, and varied religions of India. "The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions, and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road." The story unfolds against the backdrop of the Great Game, the political conflict between Russia and Britain in Central Asia. The novel popularized the phrase and idea of the Great Game.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> 1894 childrens book by Rudyard Kipling

The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who is raised in the jungle by wolves. Most stories are set in a forest in India; one place mentioned repeatedly is "Seeonee" (Seoni), in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Lockwood Kipling</span> English artist

John Lockwood Kipling was an English art teacher, illustrator and museum curator who spent most of his career in India. He was the father of the author Rudyard Kipling.

<i>Plain Tales from the Hills</i> 1888 collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling

Plain Tales from the Hills is the first collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. Out of its 40 stories, "eight-and-twenty", according to Kipling's Preface, were initially published in the Civil and Military Gazette in Lahore, Punjab, British India between November 1886 and June 1887. "The remaining tales are, more or less, new."

"Miss Youghal's Sais" is a short story in Rudyard Kipling's collection Plain Tales from the Hills (1888). It is the first appearance in book form of the fictional character Strickland.

<i>In Black and White</i> (short story collection) 1888 collection of eight short stories by Rudyard Kipling

In Black and White is a collection of eight short stories by Rudyard Kipling which was first published in a booklet of 108 pages as no. 3 of A H Wheeler & Co.’s Indian Railway Library in 1888. It was subsequently published in a book along with nos 1 and 2, Soldiers Three (1888) and The Story of the Gadsbys, as Soldiers Three (1899). The characters about whom the stories are concerned are native Indians, rather than the British for writing about whom Kipling may be better known; four of the stories are narrated by the Indians, and four by an observant wise English journalist. The stories are:

"False Dawn" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"The Other Man" is a short story by the British writer Rudyard Kipling, first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on 13 November 1886, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"Thrown Away" is a short story by British author Rudyard Kipling. It was published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"Yoked with an Unbeliever" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on December 7, 1886, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888. It also appears in subsequent editions of that collection.

"Cupid's Arrows" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"Consequences" is the title of a short story by Rudyard Kipling, first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on December 9, 1886; and first in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on April 28, 1887, and first in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection.

"A Germ-Destroyer" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on May 17, 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection. The story is one of Kipling's essays into farcical humour – with his frequent sardonic glances at the oddities of the way that the world works: here, the administrative world of the British Raj. He tells of the new Viceroy who has arrived with a Private Secretary called Wonder, who is trying to run the Indian Empire.

The Rudyard Kipling story "Kidnapped" was first published in the Civil and Military Gazette on March 21, 1887, in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills (1888), and in subsequent editions of that collection. outline Kipling starts by announcing, "We [British] are a high-caste and enlightened race", but suggesting that arranged marriages are preferable to Western notions of love matches. "The Hindu notion - which is the Continental notion, which is the aboriginal notion - is sound", he writes. The story that follows is designed to illustrate this.

"His Wedded Wife" by Rudyard Kipling ...was published in the Civil and Military Gazette on February 25, 1887, and in book form in the first Indian edition of Plain Tales from the Hills in 1888, and in subsequent editions of that collection. It is one of the short stories that J. M. S. Tompkins classifies as a tale of 'revenge', but it has elements of those classified as 'farce'.

<i>Under the Deodars</i> Collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling

Under the Deodars is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.

The Civil and Military Gazette was a daily English-language newspaper founded in 1872 in British India. It was published from Lahore, Simla and Karachi, some times simultaneously, until its closure in 1963. The archives are owned by Lahore-based businessman Humayun Naseer Shaikh and have been digitized by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Citizens Archive of Pakistan.

References

  1. ↑ "The Kiplings and India: Plain Tales From the Hills (1886-1887): Digital Edition". The Kiplings and India: A Collection of Writings from British India, 1870-1900. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "When the Plain Tales First Reached the Hills." The Youth's Companion [Boston, Massachusetts], vol. 98, 7 Aug. 1924, pp. 531-32. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Plain Tales from the Hills, by Rudyard Kipling : Lispeth". ebooks.adelaide.edu.au. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  4. ↑ The Yale Literary Magazine. Herrick & Noyes. 1902.
  5. ↑ "Lispeth - notes". www.kiplingsociety.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2018.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, Zohreh T. (1993). Narratives of Empire: The Fictions of Rudyard Kipling . Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp.  175. ISBN   0-521-43425-4.
  7. ↑ "With the Magazinists". The Atlanta Constitution. 4 May 1890. p. 7. ProQuest   194119272.
  8. ↑ "The New Edition of Kipling". The Derby Mercury. 19 July 1899.
  9. ↑ R B B (24 March 1900). "Mr. Kipling's Theology". Outlook. New York. 64 (12): 692. ProQuest   136959242.
  10. ↑ Singh, Bhupal. "Rudyard Kipling: A Survey of His Indian Stories." Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, edited by Sharon K. Hall, vol. 8, Gale, 1982. Literature Criticism Online, http://link.galegroup.com/ . Accessed 25 Mar. 2018. Originally published in A Survey of Anglo-Indian Fiction, by Bhupal Singh, Oxford University Press, 1934.
  11. ↑ Bloom, Harold (2004). Rudyard Kipling. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers. p. 71. ISBN   0-7910-7591-5.
  12. ↑ Khattak, Shahin Kuli Khan (2008). Islam and the Victorians: Nineteenth-Century Perceptions of Muslim Practices and Beliefs. Tauris Academic Studies, an imprint of I.B. Tauris Ltd. p. 69. ISBN   978-1-84511-429-9.
  13. ↑ Kennedy, Dane Keith (1996). The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 80. ISBN   0-520-20188-4.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.