Benfey鈥檚 new book reviewed in the New Yorker
Mount Holyoke professor Christopher Benfey鈥檚 new book on Rudyard Kipling was reviewed in the New Yorker.
Christopher Benfey, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English, recently had his book on prolific author Rudyard Kipling reviewed by the New Yorker.
Kipling, an avowed defender of the British Empire, lived in Brattleboro, Vermont, for four years. It was there that he wrote some of his most well-known works, including 鈥淭he Jungle Book鈥 and the first draft of 鈥淜im.鈥
In Benfey examines this sojourn in Kipling鈥檚 life, 鈥渃atching nuances that some biographers have missed,鈥 according to the review.
Benfey examines Kipling鈥檚 attempt to turn himself into a specifically American writer, and discusses the family dispute that drove him from Vermont.
Kipling once lamented, 鈥淭here are only two places in the world where I want to live, Bombay and Brattleboro. And I can鈥檛 live in either.鈥