How the Just So Stories were made : the brilliance and tragedy behind Kipling's celebrated tales for little children / John Batchelor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Batchelor, John, 1942- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936. Just so stories.

Just so stories (Kipling, Rudyard).

Authors, English--20th century.

Authors, English.

Children's stories, English--History and criticism.

Children's stories, English.

Physical Description:

xii, 224 pages : illustrations (black and white), maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2021]

Summary:

From "How the Leopard Got Its Spots" to "The Elephant's Child," Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories have delighted readers across the world for more than a century. In this original study, John Batchelor explores the artistry with which Kipling created the Just So Stories, using each tale as an entry point into the writer's life and work, including the tragedy that shadows much of the volume, the death of his daughter Josephine. Batchelor details the playful challenges the stories made to contemporary society. In his stories, Kipling played with biblical and other stories of creation, and imagined fantastical tales of animals' development and man's discovery of literacy. Richly illustrated with original drawings and family photographs, this account reveals Kipling's public and private lives, and sheds new light on a much-loved and tremendously influential classic.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. How the Whale got his Throat

2. How the Camel got his Hump

3. How the Rhinoceros got his Skin

4. How the Leopard got his Spots

5. The Elephant's Child

6. The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo

7. The Beginning of the Armadilloes

8. How the First Letter was Written

9. How the Alphabet was Made

10. The Crab that Played with the Sea

11. The Cat that Walked by Himself

12. The Butterfly that Stamped

13. The Tabu Tale and Ham and the Porcupine.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0300237189

9780300237184

OCLC:

1184240417